back to article Never break the (supply) chain: Intel pitches 'full lifecycle' chip-tracking programme to partners

Intel has said it wants to make its punters more confident about what happens to its chips on the journey from fab to rack to recycler. Chipzilla has kicked off a new campaign dubbed "Compute Lifecycle Assurance" that it says will aim to provide a clearer picture into its supply chain and improve the security of chips both as …

  1. NuffSed?
    WTF?

    Just guessing, but..

    Does this mean they want to track each chip by introducing a means to report its location and other data?

    I can't see this being done any other way than using some form of embedded report back software.

    I do wonder if this is already being done and if so where, when and how do I block it.

    1. whitepines
      Unhappy

      Re: Just guessing, but..

      Probably integrated in the ME. Which they most certainly don't let anyone else look into / replace, other than the black hats of course that waltzed in the existing hidden backdoors software vulnerabilities.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Just guessing, but..

      Think outside the box for a moment... how many extra chips will they sell to organizations that find they need computers to track Intel chips?

      Sorry about that... once, about 30 years ago, I was lightly contaminated with marketing.

    3. big_D Silver badge
      Black Helicopters

      Re: Just guessing, but..

      Batch tracking more likely. Where was it made, where was it stored, in which container was it shipped out in etc.

      Wireless GPS tracking built into each chip would be overkill. It will be like the tracking from UPS etc. when you get a package from Amazon. You can see where it was on what date...

      So you'll see:

      Manufactured: 12/01/2019 FAB1

      Stored: 12/01/2019 - 12/05/2019 Lager 234

      Transport start: Container 243243121 to OEM Dell

      Pause: NSA HQ

      Transport stop: Dell Lager 1234

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Tip o' the hat to the sub...

    One of The Reg's better headlines and subheads. (Although perhaps over the heads of those lacking classical British culture...)

  3. Jimmy2Cows Silver badge
    Big Brother

    No mention of Blockchain...?

    Shocked, shocked I tell you! An actual potentially legitimate use for some sort of Blockchain implementation, yet it's not mentioned once. What's the world coming to!?!

    1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Re: No mention of Blockchain...?

      Came here for this comment. Also disappointed to see no mention of IoT, 5G, and AI.

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