The Korean telco said the new chips will improve security of IoT products
Korean telecommunications firm SK Telecom announced the development of a prototype of an ultra-small quantum random number generator (QRNG) chip.
SK Telecom said that QRNG generates true random numbers without any kind of pattern, which is ideal for use in cryptography.
The Asian company said that with the successful development of an ultra-small QRNG chip, it expects that it will soon be able to embed QRNG to a wide variety of the internet of things (IoT) products, including autonomous vehicles, drones and smart devices.
The telco said that the addition of the new chips will dramatically enhance the level of security for IoT services. Although the price of each QRNG chip has not been set yet, the company said that it will be the lowest price ever for a QRNG.
Meanwhile, SK Telecom confirmed that it is also developing a QRNG in the form of USB and PCIe. While the QRNG chip has to be embedded from the beginning of the product development, QRNG in the form of USB or PCIe can be simply connected to any product already on market, the telco said.
“Understanding the importance of data and data security, SK Telecom has focused on developing quantum cryptography technologies to guarantee secure transmission of data in areas including artificial intelligence (AI), IoT and autonomous driving,” said Park Jin-hyo, senior vice president and head of network R&D center of SK Telecom. “We will continue to work with partners, both home and abroad, to accelerate the popularization of quantum cryptography and strengthen our presence in the global market.”
SK Telecom ended 2016 with 21.07 million LTE subscribers, surging 11.1% year-on-year. During 2017, SK Telecom said it will continue to create more value in the media and internet of things business areas based on its position in the mobile network operation business. At the same time the company plans to secure new growth engines by converging artificial intelligence platform and commerce with other industries.
