OpenTitan Becomes the First Open-Source Silicon Root of Trust to Ship in Commercial Hardware as Google Targets Data Centers Next
Google's seven-year open-source hardware security project reaches production in Dell Chromebooks with post-quantum cryptography, and data center deployment planned for later this year.
Overview
OpenTitan, the open-source silicon root of trust (RoT) project launched by Google and partners in 2019, has reached a defining milestone: it is now shipping inside commercially available Chromebooks. The achievement, announced by the OpenTitan team on the Google Open Source Blog, makes OpenTitan the first open-source hardware RoT to reach production, and the first to support post-quantum cryptographic secure boot in a shipping consumer device.
The first devices to incorporate the chip are the Dell Chromebook 11 CC11260 and the Dell Chromebook 11 CC11260 2-in-1, with the silicon manufactured by Nuvoton, according to the Google Open Source Blog. Google has also confirmed plans to deploy OpenTitan within its own data centers later in 2026, as reported by TechRadar.
What We Know
A root of trust is the foundational security layer of a computing device. It verifies that firmware and system software have not been tampered with before allowing execution, forming the anchor from which all other security properties are derived. Traditionally, RoT chips have been proprietary and opaque, requiring users to trust the manufacturer’s claims without independent verification.
OpenTitan takes a fundamentally different approach. Its design is fully open source under the Apache 2.0 license, allowing anyone to inspect, audit, and verify the security architecture. According to the Google Open Source Blog, both individual IP blocks and the top-level Earl Grey design achieved functional and code coverage above 90 percent to industry standards, with over 40,000 nightly tests ensuring long-term quality.
The project has produced two top-level system-on-chip designs that have reached commercial production: Earl Grey, a discrete root of trust chip, and Darjeeling, an integratable SoC subsystem that can be embedded within larger chips.
A notable security feature is the ownership transfer mechanism. Unlike proprietary alternatives, OpenTitan allows users to take full ownership of the device’s security configuration, operating independently without requiring manufacturer co-signing for updates, as described in the Google Open Source Blog post.
Post-Quantum Cryptography
OpenTitan is the first commercially available open-source RoT to support post-quantum cryptography (PQC) secure boot, based on the SLH-DSA algorithm, according to the Google Open Source Blog. This is significant because quantum computers, once sufficiently powerful, could break the RSA and elliptic-curve cryptography that underpin today’s secure boot mechanisms.
The project team is already developing a second-generation chip that will add lattice-based PQC algorithms, specifically ML-DSA and ML-KEM, for secure boot and attestation, as noted in the same blog post.
Community and Ecosystem
Since its public launch in November 2019, OpenTitan’s community has grown substantially. The project now counts over 29,200 commits (up from 2,500 at launch), more than 275 code contributors, and over 3,200 GitHub stars, according to the Google Open Source Blog. The project is actively maintained by lowRISC C.I.C., an independent nonprofit based in Cambridge, UK, and its founding partners include Google, Western Digital, and ETH Zurich.
The intellectual property created for OpenTitan is designed for reusability, meaning other semiconductor companies can incorporate the designs into their own chips. Organizations can either purchase implementations from commercial partners like Nuvoton or manufacture the silicon themselves, maintaining full end-to-end control over the supply chain.
What We Don’t Know
Several questions remain unanswered. Google has signaled that OpenTitan could eventually appear in Pixel devices and broader hardware lines, as TechRadar reported, but no timeline has been given. The performance implications of using an open-source RoT versus Google’s existing proprietary Titan chip are also unclear. And while the project’s open licensing enables any manufacturer to produce the silicon, it remains to be seen how many will adopt it beyond Nuvoton.
The data center deployment planned for later this year will be a critical test. Server environments demand different reliability and performance characteristics than consumer laptops, and Google has not disclosed which specific infrastructure components will incorporate the chip.
Analysis
OpenTitan’s arrival in shipping hardware marks a meaningful shift in how the industry approaches foundational security. For years, security researchers and enterprise buyers have had to accept proprietary RoT chips on faith. An open-source alternative that has passed commercial-grade verification and supports post-quantum cryptography addresses two of the most pressing concerns in hardware security: transparency and future-proofing.
The project also demonstrates that open-source hardware, long seen as impractical for security-critical silicon, can meet production standards. If Google’s data center deployment proceeds as planned, OpenTitan could establish open-source roots of trust as a viable default rather than a niche alternative.