I think this is a very astute comment.

It reminded me that for a while all SIM everywhere seemed to come from one european chip plant, although now I say it I wonder if they were just the assembly & packaging and fabrication was offshore?

In both cases (tpm and sim) the cynic would say it's only deciding which economy owns the back-door.

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Bengalilol 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It was Gemplus. The backstory about how CIA and NSA got control over it is fascinating.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemalto#Gemplus>

	▲	Bengalilol an hour ago \| parent [-]
		More here: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TPG_Inc.>

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formerly_proven 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

You are probably referring to NXP (formerly Philips) and Infineon (formerly Siemens), both of which have produced crypto processors, smartcards (including SIMs) and other secure elements for a really long time. Infineon is/was actually a really common supplier for the little 20-pin TPM/LPC modules.

	▲	ggm 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yes i think you're right. The nexus of sim, smart card and tpm seems strong. I e used thales and Luna (now also thales) HSM which are in hypothesis glamorous, but ultimately remarkably pedestrian secure devices. I wonder if they include logic from these companies. Supply chain behind FIPS120 class stuff would be an interesting story.