Analyzing Collusion Threats in the Semiconductor Supply Chain

As global reliance on semiconductors intensifies, securing their supply chain has become a national imperative. This NIST paper introduces a framework for analyzing collusion-based threats, where adversaries from different stages of the supply chain—design, manufacturing, testing, and more—may work together to exploit hardware vulnerabilities. Real-world case studies of hardware Trojan insertion and intellectual property theft illustrate how threat severity increases when access and knowledge converge. The analysis helps prioritize which supply chain stages are most critical to secure, balancing both risk and cost.