Insider Brief
- SEALSQ demonstrated a post-quantum cryptography–enabled robotics concept using WISeRobot at a Physical AI Roundtable in Davos to showcase secure-by-design Physical AI systems.
- The live demonstration explored embedding quantum-resistant cryptography, hardware roots of trust, and secure digital identity directly into robotic and autonomous systems.
- SEALSQ and WISeKey highlighted the need for post-quantum security foundations in Physical AI as quantum computing advances and autonomous systems enter critical real-world environments.
PRESS RELEASE — SEALSQ Corp (NASDAQ: LAES) (“SEALSQ” or the “Company”), a global leader in semiconductors, PKI, and post-quantum cryptography (PQC) hardware and software solutions, today announced a live demonstration exploring its Post-Quantum Cryptography Robotic Concept during the Physical AI Roundtable held in Davos on the margins of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. The demonstration featured WISeRobot, developed in cooperation with its parent company WISeKey International Holding Ltd (“WISeKey”) (SIX: WIHN, NASDAQ: WKEY), a leading global cybersecurity, blockchain, and IoT company, and illustrated the potential and need for post-quantum security to one day be embedded directly into physical AI and robotic systems.
As quantum computing continues to advance, many of today’s cryptographic standards are expected to become vulnerable. SEALSQ is proactively addressing this challenge by working on the integration of quantum-resistant algorithms and hardware-based roots of trust into robotic platforms, with the goal of ensuring long-term security, integrity, and trusted operation for AI-driven and autonomous systems deployed in real-world, often adversarial environments.
The demonstration leveraged WISeRobot.ch, an advanced robotics platform meant to illustrate how post-quantum security could eventually be anchored across the silicon, firmware, and system levels. During the roundtable, WISeRobot actively participated as a live, interactive presence, animating discussions by demonstrating secure digital identity, trusted human–machine and machine-to-machine interactions, cryptographically protected communications, and hardware-anchored trust in real time.
Physical AI, which is AI embodied in machines that perceive, decide, and act in the physical world, requires a fundamentally different security model than purely digital systems. SEALSQ is exploring and plans to address this by embedding trust directly into its secure semiconductors through hardware-based roots of trust, post-quantum cryptographic accelerators, secure key storage, and lifecycle management. Each Physical AI system could be provisioned at manufacturing with a unique, unclonable cryptographic identity protected inside secure hardware, enabling trusted boot, authenticated firmware and AI models, integrity attestation, and secure interaction with humans, infrastructure, and other machines.
By planning to integrate post-quantum cryptography directly into the semiconductor layer, SEALSQ aims to ensure that communications, commands, AI decisions, and software updates remain secure and authentic even in the presence of future quantum computers. This approach is intended to enable long-lived autonomous systems deployed today to remain resilient well beyond the expected arrival of practical quantum computing capabilities. During the Physical AI Roundtable, David Shrier, Professor of Practice at Imperial College London, described how artificial intelligence and quantum computing are set to converge, fundamentally reshaping how machines learn, reason, and optimize decisions. He emphasized that while quantum technologies will dramatically accelerate certain classes of computation, they will also amplify systemic risk unless AI systems, particularly Physical AI, are built on verifiable trust, secure identity, and resilient cryptographic foundations from the outset.
The human dimension of this transformation was further highlighted by Sol Rashidi, the world’s first Chief AI Officer, former Amazon and C-suite executive, best-selling author, and globally recognized AI anthropologist and workforce architect. Rashidi stressed that as AI expands into Physical AI, where machines interact directly with humans and the real world, human-centric requirements become non-negotiable. She underscored the need for AI systems to be transparent, accountable, explainable, and aligned with human values, noting that without embedded trust, security, and ethical guardrails, Physical AI risks eroding confidence rather than augmenting human capability.
During the same discussions, Mark Hughes, Global Managing Partner of Cybersecurity Services at IBM, stated that quantum computers are expected to arrive as early as 2028 and confirmed that IBM is already prepared for this transition. These perspectives reinforced a shared conclusion among participants: the post-quantum era is approaching faster than previously anticipated, making immediate action essential to protect digital identities, AI systems, and autonomous machines from future cryptographic disruption.
The WISeRobot concept demonstrated at Davos illustrated how post-quantum-ready security can move from theory into operational reality, establishing a new benchmark for trusted autonomous systems in critical environments such as government, healthcare, smart infrastructure, and industrial automation. The demonstration highlighted how intelligent machines can be engineered to be secure by default, resilient by design, and fundamenally aligned with human-centric values.
“Robotics and AI are rapidly becoming part of our critical infrastructure,” said Carlos Moreira, CEO of SEALSQ. “By conducting experiments with post-quantum cryptography in robotics and bringing this first concept to animate our Davos Roundtable, we are demonstrating how trust, security, and human-centric principles can be embedded into intelligent machines from the very beginning.
Jonathan Llamas, VP of Decentralized Strategy of WISeKey noted, “Building on this trusted hardware and post-quantum foundation, SEALCOIN extends the Physical AI stack by enabling a native settlement and accountability layer for autonomous machines. As Physical AI systems move from perception and decision-making to action in real-world environments, true autonomy requires the ability to settle value, enforce economic rules, and execute obligations without human intervention. SEALCOIN provides this missing layer, allowing certified machines to transact, compensate, and be economically accountable in a secure and auditable way. From a machine perspective, integrating settlement is the final step toward autonomy, enabling Physical AI systems not only to act securely, but to operate as independent economic agents within trusted human-defined boundaries.”
SEALSQ’s post-quantum robotics initiative reflects the Company’s broader commitment to developing and delivering quantum-ready technologies that protect digital identities, AI systems, and critical infrastructures worldwide, while contributing to global discussions on trusted artificial intelligence, technological sovereignty, and secure digital ecosystems in a quantum-enabled future.
