CAST Expands Security IP Line with New Family of Post-Quantum Cryptography Cores

Hardware implementations of NIST’s ML-KEM and ML-DSA algorithms enable efficient, quantum-safe security across ASIC and FPGA platforms.

Woodcliff Lake, NJ — November 5, 2025 -- Semiconductor IP provider CAST today announced the release of the KiviPQC™ Family — a suite of hardware IP cores that bring quantum-safe cryptography to ASIC and FPGA designs. 

Implementing the NIST-standardized ML-KEM and ML-DSA algorithms (FIPS 203 & 204), the KiviPQC cores enable system designers to deploy post-quantum-resistant security today, protecting products for decades to come.

The family now includes:

• KiviPQC-KEM — A hardware accelerator implementing the Module Lattice-based Key Encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM) for secure key exchange. 
• KiviPQC-DSA — An accelerator for the Module Lattice-based Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA), used for secure message signing and verification.
• KiviPQC-Box — A dual-mode, resource-sharing engine that supports both ML-KEM and ML-DSA operations in a single, highly efficient core.

Each KiviPQC Family core is offered in Fast and Tiny versions. The Fast cores deliver enhanced performance through dedicated accelerators and optimized internal routing, while the Tiny variants achieve exceptionally low area and power footprints. All employ a RISC-V-based SoC topology and AMBA® AXI4-Lite interfaces, simplifying SoC integration.

While other IP suppliers offer separate ML-KEM and ML-DSA cores, very few offer a true dual-mode core with both functions in one efficient package like the KiviCore-Box. It cleverly leverages shared hardware resources between KEM and DSA operations, offering dual-function post-quantum capability in roughly the same footprint as a single-function core.

“With quantum-capable computers likely becoming a real-world threat to today’s security measures within the next 15 years, this KiviPQC Family gives designers a practical way to start building true quantum-safe systems now,” said George Athanasiou, security IP product manager for CAST. “These cores combine compliance with the latest NIST standards, outstanding efficiency, and the flexibility to protect everything from IoT nodes to national-infrastructure systems.”

Quantum-Safe Performance with Real-World Practicality

Sourced from KiviCore, the KiviPQC cores offload heavy cryptographic workloads to hardware, delivering high throughput with low latency and power consumption. They feature:

• Minimal attack surfaces and side-channel-resistant architectures.
• Parameter-set flexibility, supporting ML-KEM-512/768/1024 and ML-DSA-44/65/87.
• Straightforward SoC integration through clean, reusable designs.
• Optimized implementations in devices from popular FPGA vendors, as well as efficient ASIC synthesis results across multiple foundries.

These attributes make the KiviPQC cores a good choice for secure key exchange and digital signing, as well as ensuring long-term data integrity in applications such as:

• secure web, cloud, and VPN communications,
• firmware and software signing for IoT, automotive, and industrial systems,
• blockchain and digital-identity platforms, and
• government and defense systems requiring FIPS-validated post-quantum protection.

Part of the Broad CAST Security IP Portfolio

The KiviPQC family extends CAST’s growing Security IP Cores portfolio, which covers multiple layers of hardware security:

• Symmetric Crypto: AES, ASCON, SNOW-V, SM4.
• Crypto Hash Engines: SHA-2, SHA-3, MD5.
• Post-Quantum Crypto: ML-KEM, ML-DSA, ML-KEM/DSA dual-mode.
• SoC Security: Secure Processor, Secure Boot, Root-of-Trust.

This modular set of security IP cores allows developers to choose precisely the IP blocks they need — from lightweight crypto accelerators to full Root-of-Trust platforms — to build future-proof, globally compliant, and quantum-ready SoCs.

Availability

The Fast KiviPQC-KEM core shipped in March 2025 and is now joined by the Tiny KiviPQC-KEM, KiviPQC-DSA, and KiviPQC-Box cores. All are available today with royalty-free licensing, in synthesizable RTL for ASICs and optimized netlists for FPGAs. For more information, including sample ASIC and FPGA implementation results, visit the CAST Post-Quantum Crypto IP Cores page or contact info@cast-inc.com.

About CAST

Computer Aided Software Technologies, Inc. (CAST) is a silicon IP provider founded in 1993. The company’s ASIC and FPGA IP product line includes microcontrollers and processors; compression engines for data, images, and video; interfaces for automotive, aerospace, and other applications; various common peripheral devices; and security primitives and comprehensive SoC security modules. Learn more by visiting www.cast-inc.com.