The Prague-based company has been collecting feedback and performance data on their open prototype chip for Bitcoin hardware.
Tropic Squarethe startup it supports SatoshiLabsthe company behind Safeare testing their new TROPIC01 chip, according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine.
Prototypes of the chip arrived from UMC, a Taiwanese manufacturing company, in December 2022. Testing of the chip with secure elements should continue during the first half of 2023.
The press release describes how “initial test results are very positive and have already shown that development of the chip can continue as originally planned – to produce a second prototype next year and then, after verification, begin mass series production.”
Tropic Square’s goal with chip design and manufacturing is to create an open source security chip for use in Bitcoin hardware. Bitcoin Magazine previously covered announcement of the chip in August 2022, in which the Tropic Square team described how “open source will allow the company to make improvements based on community and expert feedback.”
According to Tropic Square CEO Evzen Englbert, the testing “brings us closer to mass production and closer to introducing the first transparent solution. These chips will then have the opportunity to fundamentally change the existing security standards in the market.”
Jan Pleskač, CTO of Tropic Square, describes how “Reviewing and checking the chip from all possible angles will help ensure the quality and reliability of the final product that goes out into the world.”
The press release details the company’s plans to build final pre-production prototypes in the next year, then hopefully start mass production and launch its product on the market in 2025.