Recent announcements from China Mobile reveal that their new "super SIM card" is rather sophisticated, with a 120MHz-clocked 32-bit RISC-V CPU core. It is built around Texas Instruments' CC2560A single-chip technology, which is a significant improvement over the basic SIM cards that now power our smartphones.

To begin with, Tom's Hardware has emphasized that the card offers 2.5MB of flash storage, which is 10 times more than standard SIMs and double the capacity of super SIMs now in use in IoT use cases. The true hero of this situation, though, is the RISC-V CPU core. According to China Mobile, it offers double the raw processing capability of existing high-end super SIMs and allows for communication rates up to ten times quicker than a conventional SIM. The chipmaker assesses algorithmic performance as, on average, more than two times greater.

At the hardware level, the SIM is also equipped with some very sophisticated security features. Meeting EAL5+ certification criteria, more than 100 distinct hardening measures are included, including physical anti-cloning capabilities, anti-side-channel protections, sensitive signal masking, and bus encryption.

China Mobile is aiming this SIM card at intensive IoT and linked applications where robustness and cutting-edge functionalities are critical. These consist of access control hardware, smart auto key systems, student ID cards that are digital, and supporting online payment services.

From the perspective of connectivity, the super SIM card is also rather strong. It has SWP, QSPI, SPI, I2C, and UART interfaces to communicate with a variety of radios, storage chips, biometric sensors, and more in a highly integrated device, in addition to the conventional 7816 SIM interface.

It is important to note that in light of the growing tensions between the two countries, the US is investigating China's adoption of the RISC-V standard, which might stifle further innovation on this platform in the future. Since the free RISC-V license enables anybody, including Chinese companies, to create their implementations, lawmakers are concerned that the open instruction set architecture could undercut efforts to restrict sophisticated chip exports to China.

In China, super SIM cards are becoming more and more common. The People's Bank of China released new smartphone models last year that facilitate digital currency transactions using digital wallet features. They even support NFC, which makes it possible to scan digital IDs.