Modern conflict doesn’t just run on weapons—it runs on computer chips. And that reality carries national security implications we can no longer afford to overlook.
As tensions rise between Israel and Iran, global attention is focused on missiles, alliances, and energy markets. These are urgent and visible threats. But beneath them lies a quieter, more fundamental battlefield: the hardware that powers modern defense systems.
Cybersecurity is often treated as a software problem—hacks, ransomware, espionage. But every line of software runs on physical hardware. If the chip itself is compromised, no amount of software protection can fully secure the system. In today’s world, national security begins in silicon.
Israel has long understood this. Designing chips domestically allows engineers to ensure that critical systems—from military communications to defense platforms—contain no hidden backdoors or unknown vulnerabilities. Trust cannot be added later. It must be built into the hardware itself.
This is also a matter of sovereignty. A country that depends entirely on foreign-designed chips gives up control over the most basic layer of its technological infrastructure. That dependency is not just economic—it is strategic. In a moment of crisis, it can become a critical weakness.
At the same time, leadership in chip design is essential to maintaining Israel’s broader technological edge. The systems that define modern security—artificial intelligence, advanced communications, intelligence networks—are all built on increasingly complex hardware. Without the ability to design and understand that hardware, long-term security is at risk.
These challenges are not theoretical. At Bar-Ilan University, researchers are working at the forefront of secure semiconductor design. In 2015, Professor Alexander Fish founded the EnICS Labs Institute, where scientists develop advanced integrated circuits that can operate reliably under extreme conditions while resisting sophisticated forms of attack.
The connection to national security is direct and immediate. If an enemy missile lands intact, engineers may be able to extract valuable intelligence from the chips embedded in its guidance system. But the reverse scenario is equally important. If Israeli hardware is captured—whether from a downed drone or compromised system—adversaries will attempt to analyze it for vulnerabilities, cryptographic weaknesses, or exploitable design flaws.
This is not a hypothetical risk. It is an active front in modern warfare.
For decades, semiconductor development was driven by performance and cost, with security treated as secondary. That assumption no longer holds. Researchers now understand that vulnerabilities can exist deep within hardware, sometimes allowing attackers to extract sensitive information through physical signals such as power consumption or electromagnetic emissions. These are not software bugs that can be patched—they are structural weaknesses.
The only effective response is to design security into the chip itself.
Bar-Ilan is helping lead this shift. Its researchers work closely with industry partners to develop hardware that is not only faster and more efficient, but fundamentally more secure. A new partnership launched in 2025 is advancing chiplet-based architectures, an emerging approach that allows systems to be built from modular components—improving flexibility while opening new pathways for secure design.
What makes EnICS truly unique is not only its research, but its ethos. It is a collective of professors and researchers who have come together to tackle one of the most complex, industry-dominated fields in the world. By setting aside ego and traditional academic silos, they have created a shared engine for innovation—one focused not on individual recognition, but on advancing the greater good and enabling breakthroughs that no single lab could achieve alone.
This effort is part of a broader global race. From Washington to Beijing, governments are investing heavily in semiconductor research and manufacturing, recognizing that control over advanced chips is now a cornerstone of geopolitical power and national defense.
Israel has long been a leader in chip design. Maintaining that position will require sustained investment in research institutions, talent, and infrastructure—and a clear recognition that this work is not peripheral, but central to national security.
The headlines may focus on missiles and cyberattacks. But beneath them lies a smaller, less visible battlefield, etched into silicon and measured in nanometers. It is there that the next generation of security will be decided.
The future of national security is being built in silicon. Meeting that moment will require sustained investment in research, talent, and infrastructure. At Bar-Ilan, we are working to help lead that effort—and we welcome others who understand what’s at stake to be part of it.
Jessica Feldan is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Friends of Bar-Ilan University. She previously served as the Chief Development Officer at the Birthright Israel Foundation and Associate Vice President of the American Technion Society.