NXP announced that its SmartMX security chip has been chosen by the Chinese government to power the country’s first ePassport scheme.

Utilizing the latest developments in cryptography and security to protect the chip at both hardware and software level, NXP’s portfolio of SmartMX products enables data to be securely stored on the passport, creating an even stronger link between the document and its owner. The Chinese government will start issuance of ePassports in 2010, and is planning to replace all paper-based passports. At present over 30 million passports are in circulation within China, therefore substantial roll-out volumes of ePassports are expected in the coming years.

NXP is currently involved in more than 80 percent of all ePassport schemes, having shipped about 150 million ICs to date. In total, 68 out of 79 countries which have deployed ePassports are using NXP SmartMX chip technology including the US, United Kingdom and Singapore.

Prior to selecting NXP as its main supplier of ePassport chips, the corresponding ministry of the Chinese government undertook a thorough evaluation of smartcard security chips. The selection has been confirmed by a government official in charge of the ePassport scheme in the following statement: “Following this independent review, we were able to determine that NXP’s SmartMX technology offered the highest levels of interoperability, reading distances and read times, therefore meeting our exact requirements. Working in collaboration with NXP’s distribution partner in China and the official development team of the ePassport scheme, we’ve developed an operating system to power the Chinese ePassport scheme based on the SmartMX platform.”

NXP’s SmartMX chips comprise a number of security features to guard against attack scenarios with light and lasers as well as a dedicated hardware firewall to protect specific sections on the chip. In addition, the ICs provide faster read and write capabilities due to optimized hardware and software. NXP’s SmartMX chips can be delivered in the industry’s thinnest 250µm chip-package, making it suitable for a wide variety of contact and contactless eGovernment applications.