Press Release, 21 October 2025
Soitec (France) and CEA‑Leti have announced a strategic collaboration focused on improving the hardware security of connected vehicles using fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) substrates. As modern cars can contain 100 + microcontrollers each offering a possible entry point for hackers the partners aim to provide intrinsic protection against sophisticated physical attacks known as fault injection.
In tests, FD-SOI technology showed strong resilience: compared to traditional 28 nm bulk silicon, a 22 nm FD-SOI substrate required up to 150 times more effort (and higher laser power) to induce faults dramatically raising the bar for potential attackers. This partnership not only addresses emerging standards like ISO/SAE 21434 focusing on automotive cybersecurity, but also sets the stage for wafers that become active parts of the protection framework via innovations like embedded sensors, optical barriers and physical unclonable functions (PUFs).
According to Christophe Maleville, CTO of Soitec: “This study demonstrates how substrate engineering itself can be a security enabler… paving the way for wafers that actively contribute to cybersecurity.” Meanwhile, Sébastien Dauvé, CEO of CEA-Leti, added that “our collaboration … proves that scientific insight can directly translate into safer automotive electronics – a cornerstone of Europe’s strategic autonomy in secure semiconductors.”
In short, this alliance brings hardware-level cybersecurity to vehicles — showing that the fight against cyber threats isn’t only about software updates, but also about the very silicon our cars are built on.
