AES Hardware Acceleration
AES hardware acceleration performs AES operations in dedicated silicon (CPU instruction-set extensions or a standalone crypto coprocessor), achieving throughput far beyond software implementations.
Purpose
It runs AES with low CPU load and high throughput on servers, mobile devices, and embedded systems while resisting side-channel attacks.
Mechanism
The crypto engine implements the AES round function and key schedule in silicon; the CPU submits data blocks via dedicated instructions or DMA, and results are written back to registers or memory.
Use cases
- Secure enclaves on mobile devices
- IPsec on network equipment
- Storage-controller encryption