BTQ Technologies teams up with ITRI to test next-gen cryptographic chip

BTQ Technologies, which provides end-to-end quantum-secure solutions for the blockchain and semiconductor sectors, is joining forces with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to validate BTQ’s Quantum Compute In Memory (QCIM) security chip in silicon, according to a Wednesday press release.

QCIM is BTQ’s advanced cryptographic accelerator chip built for the post-quantum era, enabling secure, high-performance encryption while reducing power consumption and system complexity.

The project will assess how efficiently QCIM can run post-quantum cryptography workloads, including speed and power consumption, producing benchmarks to guide product development.

The step moves the QCIM program into early silicon validation, aimed at verifying that the chip functions correctly, meets performance expectations, and remains reliable under real-world conditions. It is a key milestone before the technology can be commercialized and sold.

“This collaboration with ITRI is a meaningful step in moving QCIM from architecture to validated silicon,” said Olivier Roussy Newton, CEO of BTQ Technologies. “Early silicon results help de-risk the roadmap and support our commercialization efforts as we work toward quantum secure solutions that can perform in real-world environments.”

The initiative complements BTQ’s ongoing work with ICTK to develop a fully integrated, production-ready post-quantum chipset.

By moving QCIM from research architecture to validated silicon, BTQ is taking a key step toward delivering scalable, quantum-secure hardware for critical networks, blockchain, and financial systems.

“As quantum threats accelerate, this program addresses the high computational cost of post-quantum cryptography by evaluating the feasibility, performance, and energy efficiency of PQC workloads using compute-in-memory approaches,” said Dr. Chih-Cheng Lu, Manager of ITRI’s Electronic and Optoelectronic System Research Laboratories.