• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy
    • Terms of use
  • Advertise
    • Advertising
    • Case studies
    • Design
    • Email marketing
    • Features list
    • Lead generation
    • Magazine
    • Press releases
    • Publishing
    • Sponsor an article
    • Webcasting
    • Webinars
    • White papers
    • Writing
  • Subscribe to Newsletter

Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

  • Home
  • News
  • Features
  • Editorial Sections A-Z
    • Agriculture
    • Aircraft
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Automation
    • Autonomous Vehicles
    • Business
    • Computing
    • Construction
    • Culture
    • Design
    • Drones
    • Economy
    • Energy
    • Engineering
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Humanoids
    • Industrial robots
    • Industry
    • Infrastructure
    • Investments
    • Logistics
    • Manufacturing
    • Marine
    • Material handling
    • Materials
    • Mining
    • Promoted
    • Research
    • Robotics
    • Science
    • Sensors
    • Service robots
    • Software
    • Space
    • Technology
    • Transportation
    • Warehouse robots
    • Wearables
  • Press releases
  • Events

Fake chips have been around forever, so how can manufacturers fight them?

October 26, 2023 by Mark Allinson

There is a wide disparity between different organizations’ assessments of the revenue and job losses caused by counterfeit chips.

In 2017, the US Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) pegged the losses at $170 billion.

That same year, the Semiconductor Industry Association estimated that counterfeit chips cost the chip industry $7.5 billion annually.

But all of this happened before the Covid-19 epidemic, which caused severe chip shortages and long wait times in markets such as automobiles and appliances, especially for 8-inch mature process chips.

So far, the losses caused by these chip shortages have not been well estimated. However, there has been much research on how to recognize and prevent counterfeit chips.

When we had a chip shortage, the number of counterfeit chips went up. This is because there is a demand for the chip in the market and the counterfeiters know this so they will try to bring to market chips that are in demand.

In addition, most of the chips in shortage are actually made with older technology rather than state-of-the-art technology.

“As the supply chain expands, so does the growing problem of chip counterfeiting, which is more serious than most chip makers can imagine,” says Konrad Bechler, brand protection and anti-counterfeiting security consultant at Infineon.

When it comes to consumer products such as watches or designer clothing, getting them at bargain prices in strange places may indicate that they are counterfeit.

Fake chips also have the potential to be life-threatening; think about if an airbag doesn’t deploy properly in a car accident, or if a medical device like an automated electronic defibrillator doesn’t work in a life-threatening situation.

These are just two use cases, but semiconductors are already such an integral part of our daily lives that fake chips could very well lead to a person’s death.

How to avoid fake chips

Stopping the flow of fake chips requires a concerted effort across the supply chain. The situation is being improved, but not all types of chips are having the necessary measures taken.

“Some solutions have become more acceptable and easier to implement,” says Tehranipoor.

“For example, recycling is actually quite easy to detect. If you put an ‘odometer’ in your chip, which is very inexpensive, it will easily tell you if the chip has been used and for how long.

“More and more companies seem to be embracing the idea of incorporating low-cost measures such as odometers into their integrated circuits to help solve this problem.

“Re-tagging is also easily solved using electronic chip ID, but this applies mainly to large circuits. Cloning and overproduction of fake chips, on the other hand, are difficult to address.”

What can chip manufacturers do?

Harrison points out that other segments of the electronics industry are catching up.

“If we look at the Internet of Things, it may be slightly behind the automotive industry. But there’s a huge vision there because these semiconductor suppliers are losing money, so it’s in their interest to focus on anti-counterfeiting.”

For chip suppliers, it’s always a question of cost versus risk. “Let’s say Company X sells a lot of analog chips,” says Tehranipoor, “and some of them are sold at 5 cents a unit, would you add the cost of a 1-cent anti-counterfeiting solution on top of that?

“The answer is clearly no. As a result, many companies do their own risk analysis to determine whether to include anti-counterfeiting solutions in their chips.”

Nonetheless, Tehranipoor wants semiconductor OEMs to know that counterfeiting is easier to detect than they think if all precautions are taken early in the design process.

“Imagine you have a small authentication IP that you can put into a chip and that IP will tell you if the chip is going to be recycled, cloned or relabeled.”

He said, “It’s easy to do for chips with more than a couple million logic gates, and it’s worth it. It gives everyone peace of mind. When we move to smaller chips, the issue is risk-cost analysis.”

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this:

  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window) Telegram
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket

Related stories you might also like…

Filed Under: Computing Tagged With: chips, circuits, fake, semiconductor

Primary Sidebar

Search this website

Latest articles

  • Maximizing ROI with AI in Electrical Takeoff
  • Underwater robots take to the deep to map unexplored oceans
  • Italian scientists demonstrate flying humanoid robot
  • Is it Time for the Trades to Take Over the Tech Space? One Industry Already is
  • 3 AI Video Tools That Are Great for Marketing Agencies
  • Opinions: IEEE experts weigh in on future of remote robotic surgery and AI in healthcare
  • Appetronix unveils new fully autonomous fast-food restaurant design concepts
  • Plus One Robotics launches new depalletizing solution
  • Inside automatica 2025: What’s driving the next wave of robotics and automation?
  • The rise of embodied AI: Robots that learn by doing

Secondary Sidebar

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT