Trezor, the top hardware wallet manufacturer, has announced a major development in the production of its flagship product. The company has taken control of its wallet silicon chips, facilitating the production of its key component, the chip wrapper, in the Trezor Model T.
This move is expected to significantly optimize the production process and reduce the lead time in the supply cycle from two years to o only a few months.
Eliminating supply chain vulnerabilities
By producing its own wallet chips, Trezor is aiming to eliminate delays in shipping finished products and protect customers from exposure to price fluctuations based on component supply and demand.
With this, Trezor can respond quickly to factors like geopolitical disruption, labor shortages due to COVID-19, crypto market conditions, and other events.
Demand for Trezor wallets surged by at least 300% after the FTX collapse in November 2022 as crypto investors rushed to move their crypto holdings from centralized exchanges.
This increased demand exposed Trezor to third-party supply vulnerabilities, which the company is now addressing with this latest development.
Speaking about the move, chief financial officer Štěpán Uherik said, “By unpacking the process, identifying areas where we could take control, and collaborating with our partner STMicroelectronics in new ways, we’ve managed to make the manufacturing as agile as it can be.”
More design freedom for Trezor
In addition to optimizing the production process, this development also enables more design freedom for Trezor’s future products. The company can now build the hardware wallet devices from scratch, creating unique features that cater to the needs of crypto investors.
Tropic Square, a startup operated by Trezor’s parent firm Satoshi Labs, launched a new open-source chip called TROPIC01 a year ago. This chip provides cryptographic key generation, encryption, signing, and authenticating users through digital identification methods.
The hardware wallet manufacturer is expected to become the first customer of Tropic Square for the product.
The new business model is expected to help Trezor become more independent and less reliant on third-party suppliers.
The chosen business model is very unique and can be applied in exceptional cases. Firstly, as a manufacturer, we require high minimum order quantities, and secondly, the customer must have specific know-how to encapsulate semiconductor components.
STMicroelectronics sales manager Tomáš Pokorný
Trezor’s move to take control of its wallet chip production is a significant development in the world of hardware wallets. With this move, Trezor is addressing supply chain vulnerabilities and improving its ability to respond to changes in the market.
This development is also expected to provide the company with more design freedom for its future products, which could further boost its market share.
