Swiss security firm SealSQ has signed a strategic deal with French chip designer IC’Alps for automotive security in driverless cars as it looks to buy the company.
The deal will see SealSQ’s post-quantum secure technology will be integrated into the IC’Alps ISO26262 functional safety designs, providing cryptographic resistance against the threat of quantum computers.
The two companies are also co-developing methodologies to ensure safety goals are traceable and measurable
IC’Alps, which has an automotive design centre in Toulouse, France, has extensive experience in designing chips for systems requiring high Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASILs), including analog LED drivers, PMICs, DCDC converters, high-precision current sensors among others, and (embedded microcontroller, hardware accelerators for data signal processing, ensuring resilience against both systematic and random hardware failures.
At the same time SealSQ, which also has its own RSIC-V microcontroller design, has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire 100% of the share capital and voting rights of IC’ALPS, subject to appropriate due diligence and approval by the French regulatory authorities. The value of the deal is not disclosed.
“Joining forces with SealSQ will accelerate IC’Alps’ growth while elevating our ASIC development solutions. This strategic move will fuel our innovation pipeline and enable us to deliver even greater value to our customers around the globe. It will also strengthen our position in the EU market as a provider of high-performance integrated circuits,” said Jean-Luc Triouleyre, CEO of IC’Alps.
“The collaboration exemplifies the dynamic and innovative spirit of the French semiconductor ecosystem,” said Jean Pierre Enguent, CTO of SealSQ. “This proposed acquisition demonstrates how mid-size high-tech companies can combine their strengths to develop next-generation products that rival larger corporations. By combining agility with innovation, we are confident that we will set a new benchmark for excellence in the global semiconductor industry.”
IC’Alps also has expertise in automotive power management ICs, quality design, test-fault coverage and Failure Modes, Effects and Diagnostic Analysis (FMEDA). SealSQ says this will create a new class of a quantum-secure ASICs with functional safety.
ASIC development in automotive contexts requires close collaboration between IC designers and system architects to accurately translate ASIL requirements into chip-level safety mechanisms.
The co-developed methodologies range from FMEDA analyses to integrated diagnostics and self-monitoring circuits, supported by IC’ALPS’ expertise in application-level validation, debug with design teams, and mature knowledge of functional safety ASIC design methodology.
The ASICs allow system integrators to consolidate multiple functions into a single chip, reducing component count, improving reliability, and enhancing system efficiency. The IATF16949-ready design methodology and rigorous test fault coverage for quality assurance, combined with the cryptographic IP, provides secure, deterministic, and highly customized semiconductors.
The ASICs with native post-quantum cryptography with embedded secure elements and fail-safe mechanisms also reduce system complexity through the integration of digital, analog, RF, and power management functions. This also provides more real-time responsiveness with deterministic behaviour and low-latency performance for safety-critical decisions in autonomous driving systems.
Beyond compliance, the collaboration prioritises optimisation so that the safety features do not unnecessarily inflate development cycles or costs, while providing project support to streamline integration for OEMs, preserving the competitive edge for automotive clients.
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