AMD, Intel and Qualcomm will integrate Microsoft Pluton security chip into CPUs

Microsoft is working on a security processor called Pluton. The company does this in collaboration with AMD, Intel and Qualcomm. Those manufacturers will integrate the chip into their own processors. The technology comes from the security of the Xbox One.

Microsoft sees the Pluton security processor as the successor to the Trusted Platform Modules now used in Windows PCs. These modules are separate from the processor and are used to, for example, store passwords and verify the integrity of the system. Windows Hello and BitLocker, among others, use the TPM.

AMD-apu with Pluton integration

The new Pluton security processor is not separate from the processor, but is part of it. Microsoft is therefore working with AMD, Intel and Qualcomm. Those companies will integrate the Pluton processor into their own processors. AMD gives the most concrete example of this: the company reports that the Pluton security will be integrated in upcoming APIs and CPUs for consumers. AMD places the security processor next to its own AMD Security Processor. Both are integrated on the die, as shown by AMD in a schematic representation. How much space the Pluton security processor will take up is not yet known.

Intel said in a press release that it is partnering with Microsoft and that “ the security enhancements ” will be built into future consumer processors. Microsoft’s announcement shows that Qualcomm is also integrating the chip in its own socs. “We believe an on-die hardware-based Root-of-Trust like Microsoft Pluton is an important part,” the company said. It is not yet known when processors or socs from AMD, Intel and Qualcomm with the Pluton processor will be released.

The new integrated security processor should protect against CPU vulnerabilities such as Specter and Meltdown. Similarly undiscovered vulnerabilities should also be able to be caught by the Pluton security. According to Microsoft, the security processor makes it significantly more difficult for attacks to hide inside the hardware, outside of the operating system.

The technology in the Pluton security processor comes from the Xbox One. Microsoft developed it in collaboration with AMD, among other things as copy protection for the console. The Xbox One has been on the market since the end of 2013 and the security has not yet been cracked. The Pluton technology has thus built up a good reputation. Microsoft is already using the technology with Azure Sphere for the security of IoT equipment.

Microsoft presentation from 2019 on the security of the Xbox One, on which Pluton is based.