As connected devices become part of everyday life and cybersecurity regulations reshape markets, security has become a decisive factor in customer trust, product success, and long-term competitiveness.
To meet this challenge, STMicroelectronics is scaling its long-standing security expertise embedding Security by Design more broadly across the company, starting from product definition and continuing through the product lifecycle.
With new regulations such as the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) raising customer expectations across the industry, security has evolved into a shared responsibility across ST and serves as a core enabler of trusted, future-ready technologies.

Security has long been a specialized discipline. Why is it becoming such a strategic topic for ST today?
The role of security has fundamentally changed across the industry. Historically, security was often perceived by the market as a constraint, something that added complexity, cost, or development time. Today, connected products are everywhere, and a security failure can have major consequences, from service disruption and data loss to reputational damage.
As a result, security is no longer treated as an afterthought or a standalone feature. It has become a core business requirement that directly impacts customer trust and market success. For ST, this means expanding discipline from a specialized engineering discipline into a broader mindset, structured process, and organizational capability that influences how products are specified, designed, manufactured, maintained, and supported throughout their lifecycle.

ST talks about the benefits of a company-wide Security by Design approach. What does that mean in practice?
Security by Design means that security considerations begin as early as possible, ideally when a product is first defined.
Rather than treating security as a final verification step, we aim to integrate it seamlessly from the start and throughout development, manufacturing, deployment, and maintenance. The goal is to build the optimal level of security into products naturally and efficiently.
The earlier security is factored into the product life cycle, the better we can anticipate evolving regulatory and customer needs, address potential risks, and develop solutions that are simultaneously uncompromised on security and competitiveness.

Is ST starting from scratch on this journey?
This initiative builds on decades of established expertise in hardware and software security, with billions of chips shipped to customers across banking, identification, consumer electronics, automotive and industrial applications.
In ST, we already have deep expertise in secure technologies, from advanced cryptography and secure hardware to vulnerability analysis, attack resistance, and embedded security. But also, in areas such as secure IP, security evaluation, attack emulation, and embedded security technologies.
ST’s strength lies in combining hardware, software, and product security expertise under one roof. That allows us to address security consistently from silicon and embedded software to evaluation, validation, and lifecycle support. Our Integrated Device Manufacturer (IDM) model gives us the flexibility to adapt the technologies used in our products and deploy secure solutions efficiently across our portfolio.
What Security by Design does is connect these capabilities together more systematically across ST and make them available on a broader scale.

How is the EU Cyber Resilience Act influencing ST’s approach?
The EU Cyber Resilience Act is one of the major drivers behind the evolution of security practices across the industry. The regulation affects a large portion of products sold in the European Union and introduces stringent requirements covering product security, reporting obligations, documentation, governance, and lifecycle management. It requires seamless coordination across multiple functions, far beyond traditional engineering teams.
For ST, compliance naturally involves product organizations, security experts, legal teams, public affairs, communications, human resources, IT, and many others. This perfectly illustrates why security can no longer be confined to a few specialists and has become a company-wide operational capability.

Beyond regulation, what future technology trends are shaping ST’s security roadmap?
Two trends are influencing our plans: the emergence of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and AI.
First, the emergence of PQC: although quantum computers capable of breaking today’s cryptographic algorithms are not expected in the immediate future, the transition to quantum-resistant solutions will take years. That is why our customers need to prepare now, so that their products are ready when these new technologies are deployed. ST’s ST54M secure mobile chip is an example of this proactive approach.
Second, AI is accelerating both defensive and offensive security capabilities. It can help identify vulnerabilities faster, automate protection mechanisms, and improve analysis. At the same time, it also provides new tools for attackers. The challenge for the entire industry is learning how quickly organizations can adapt to this evolving environment.

Building a security culture requires collaboration. How is ST bringing teams together?
Broad collaboration across the company is essential to make Security by Design a reality. Our Security Platform, established in 2022, has accelerated progress on strategic topics such as post-quantum cryptography and cross-product security solutions. Teams from multiple organizations have worked together to develop and share technologies across product groups.
Building on this momentum, we launched the Product Security Affinity Team in 2025, bringing together experts from multiple areas such as hardware, software, cryptography, system security, and attack analysis. This community enables knowledge-sharing and helps align security practices across the company.
Our objective is to ensure that security expertise is not isolated within specific teams but becomes a strategic capability that powers the technologies we bring to market.

What does success look like for Security by Design?
Success means reaching a point where security is no longer seen as a constraint, but as a way to help customers build trust, reduce risk, and bring competitive products to market with confidence.
We want security to be seamlessly integrated into technologies, development methodologies, business processes, and company culture. When teams factor security from the start, they can make better decisions, respond more effectively to customer expectations, and prepare for future challenges more confidently.