Open Source Security Chip Baochip-1x Unveiled by Andrew bunnie Huang for DEF CON 34

For decades, the electronic badge handed to attendees walking into the annual DEF CON hacker conference in Las Vegas was celebrated primarily as an intricate piece of interactive circuit-board art. Packed with custom LED pattern generators, cryptographic mini-games, and elaborate mechanical mechanisms, these collectible electronics served as badge-life iconography. However, at DEF CON 34, legendary hardware hacker and security researcher Andrew “bunnie” Huang—famed for reverse-engineering the original Microsoft Xbox, authoring Hacking the Xbox, and pioneering open-hardware initiatives like Precursor and Betrusted—fundamentally transformed that convention. Huang, in collaboration with badge co-designer CHEESO, unveiled an official conference badge built around a groundbreaking silicon architecture: the Baochip-1x.

Rather than relying on off-the-shelf microcontrollers shrouded behind opaque corporate non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and proprietary IP, Huang introduced a purpose-built, highly inspectable open source security chip designed to upend traditional supply-chain trust models. Distributed to an estimated 27,000 to 30,000 conference attendees, the device represents the largest mass deployment of production-qualified, verifiable silicon in cybersecurity history. By placing tens of thousands of physically inspectable security modules directly into the hands of the global hacker community, Huang and the DEF CON team are demonstrating that radical silicon transparency and open-source Register-Transfer Level (RTL) design create a dramatically stronger security baseline than industry-standard secrecy.

Silicon Architecture: Inside the Dual-Core Baochip-1x Topology

At the engineering core of the Baochip-1x lies a sophisticated multi-core hybrid architecture designed to decouple high-level security logic from raw, deterministic real-world input/output (I/O) processing. Manufactured on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TSMC) mature 22nm process node and taped out in partnership with Crossbar, Inc., the silicon package combines high-efficiency RISC-V computing elements with specialized hardware security primitives.

The system-on-chip (SoC) is architected around two distinct processor clusters, alongside advanced memory architectures and embedded security blocks:

• Primary Processing Core: A 350 MHz Vexriscv RV32-IMAC CPU core serves as the main application and security host. This core executes Xous, a pure-Rust microkernel operating system built around asynchronous message passing and hardware-enforced memory protection.
• Bao I/O Coprocessor (BIO): A high-throughput 700 MHz quad-core PicoRV engine dedicated exclusively to deterministic real-world interfacing. Each PicoRV core within the BIO features 4 KB of dedicated local RAM for code and data execution, register-mapped general-purpose input/output (GPIO) channels, and DMA whitelisting to prevent I/O operations from bypassing host CPU security boundaries.
• High-Density On-Chip Memory: The die houses 4 MB of non-volatile Resistive RAM (ReRAM) alongside 2 MB of static RAM (SRAM). The integration of ReRAM provides instant-on performance, zero-power key preservation, and enhanced resilience against physical memory-scraping attacks.
• Hardware Cryptographic Accelerators: Dedicated logic blocks handle high-speed AES encryption, Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), hashing routines, one-way hardware counters, and a True Random Number Generator (TRNG).
• Physical Countermeasure Suite: The chip incorporates on-die security meshes, voltage and frequency glitch sensors, and anti-tamper circuitry to mitigate fault-injection attacks.

This dual-cluster layout allows the Baochip-1x to manage low-level sensor timing, high-speed LED displays, or bus protocols via the BIO coprocessor without exposing the primary Vexriscv core’s secure memory space to real-time timing attacks or malicious peripheral manipulation.

Reinventing Supply Chain Assurance: The Open Source Security Chip and IRIS Verification

Modern semiconductor manufacturing suffers from a critical structural flaw: extreme opacity. Enterprise hardware buyers, defense contractors, and consumers are forced to trust that chip foundries, packaging facilities, and third-party IP vendors have not inserted malicious backdoor registers, shadow RAM blocks, or hardware Trojans during fabrication. Traditional microcontrollers are encased in opaque black epoxy resins, rendering physical inspection impossible without destructive acid de-encapsulation that destroys the chip in the process.

The Baochip-1x solves this dilemma through a methodology developed under the Betrusted initiative known as Infra-Red In-Situ (IRIS) inspection. Silicon substrates are naturally transparent to near-infrared (NIR) light at wavelengths above 1.1 micrometers. By custom-engineering the chip’s physical package to utilize IR-translucent compounds and back-side substrate polishing, Huang engineered the Baochip-1x for non-destructive, in-situ physical auditing.

Using a standard optical microscope modified with an inexpensive near-infrared USB camera, researchers can focus light through the physical casing of an intact, operational device. This allows hardware auditors to perform several critical verification checks:

1. Transistor Pattern Matching: Security auditors can optically capture high-resolution images of internal metal layers, gate arrays, and memory structures right through the packaging.
2. RTL-to-Silicon Equivalence: Auditors can compare observed layout geometries against the exact open-source Register-Transfer Level (RTL) source code published on GitHub, verifying that no unauthorized compute logic or extra memory blocks were added during the tape-out process.
3. Proof-of-Space Measurement: IRIS turns an effectively unbounded search for hidden hardware backdoors into a tractable mathematical proof-of-space audit, ensuring hidden hardware trojans cannot lurk in unmapped silicon regions.

This structural breakthrough proves that an open source security chip can be manufactured at volume while offering verifiable hardware assurance down to the physical transistor level.

Beyond DEF CON: Transforming Badges into Hardware Security Modules

To ensure that the Baochip-1x serves a purpose long after DEF CON 34 concludes in Las Vegas, the badge was engineered around a modular, detachable core board architecture. Attendees can unsnap the central processor module from the larger electronic badge frame, transforming it into a fully functional, personal hardware security key.

Running the Xous microkernel, the post-conference module provides enterprise-grade cryptographic services:

• FIDO2 / WebAuthn Authenticator: Functions as a hardware-backed passwordless security key for web services, SSH access, and multi-factor authentication.
• TOTP Token Generator: Manages Time-based One-Time Passwords within an isolated secure enclave using internal hardware key stores.
• Hardware Security Module (HSM): Performs asymmetric signing routines and secure key generation directly inside the isolated Vexriscv core.
• Privacy-Focused Camera Module: Integrates a low-resolution optical sensor specifically tuned for scanning QR-code authentication challenges. The low resolution guarantees that the sensor cannot be repurposed for unintended environmental surveillance or secret image capturing.

To extend this ecosystem beyond DEF CON attendees, Huang launched the Dabao Evaluation Board via Crowd Supply. Offered at a low cost-entry point of $9.50, the Dabao board mounts the Baochip-1x on a cost-optimized two-layer printed circuit board (PCB). This opens the door for embedded developers, hobbyists, and security researchers worldwide to prototype commercial hardware projects anchored by verifiable silicon.

Photonic Considerations and Threat Models: Openness vs. Secrecy

Engineering a transparent chip package introduces unique physical challenges that highlight the tradeoffs of hardware security design. In semiconductor physics, every silicon transistor fundamentally acts as a phototransistor; exposure to visible or ultraviolet (UV) light can induce photo-generated currents that alter bit states or interfere with internal clock signals. During development, community discussions addressed whether ambient light in bright environments—such as the intense Nevada sunlight outside DEF CON venue halls—could destabilize an exposed die.

Huang confirmed that while high-intensity photon flux can interact with silicon junction layers, the Baochip-1x’s translucent packaging provides sufficient light dispersion to prevent bit-flips under normal operating conditions. For production deployments where absolute photonic isolation is required, developers can apply an opaque epoxy overcoat after conducting their initial IRIS infrared audits.

More importantly, the Baochip-1x redefines how the security industry calculates threat vectors. Traditional vendor secrecy relies on “security through obscurity”—assuming adversaries cannot read proprietary microcode or reverse-engineer black-box silicon. However, nation-state actors and well-funded intelligence agencies possess the resources to breach opaque chips via destructive focused-ion-beam (FIB) milling and electron microscopy. Proprietary NDAs only serve to keep legitimate security auditors in the dark.

By publishing the processor core, firmware, bootloader, cryptographic engines, and I/O coprocessor logic under permissive open-source licenses, Huang eliminates asymmetric vendor advantages. Non-physical attacks are rendered significantly harder because thousands of independent global security researchers can audit the Rust codebase and RTL logic for flaws prior to deployment.

A Turning Point for Semiconductor Trust

The debut of the Baochip-1x at DEF CON 34 marks a milestone in digital security culture. By proving that a high-performance RISC-V SoC featuring advanced cryptographic accelerators, ReRAM, and inspectable infrared packaging can be mass-manufactured and deployed at scale, Andrew “bunnie” Huang has challenged the semiconductor industry’s status quo.

As enterprise IT infrastructure, cloud computing centers, and critical defense networks face unprecedented supply-chain threats, the argument for opaque “black-box” hardware is rapidly collapsing. The Baochip-1x proves that true digital trust cannot be granted by corporate decree or enforced through non-disclosure agreements. Trust must be earned through rigorous mathematical proof, fully open architecture, and physical evidence that any researcher can verify down to the microscopic gate.