Afero, Texas Instruments Partner to Build a Secure IoT Platform Designed for a Connected World

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Afero, the enterprise-grade secure IoT Platform, announced a collaboration with Texas Instruments (TI), the largest analog and embedded processing semiconductor manufacturer in the U.S., to create a seamless and secure Internet-of-Things (IoT) platform for smart home products. TI's first Wi-Fi® microcontrollers (MCUs) purpose-built for IoT combined with Afero's secure IoT software platform deliver the ultimate solution for connected devices – unmatched in affordability, reliability, security, and user-friendly development. Together, the two companies are working to provide a U.S.-sourced supply chain.

Afero exclusively powers the leading home improvement retailer’s smart home platform used in millions of homes across America. Demonstrations at CES 2026 will showcase how, for the first time, TI’s Wi-Fi chips are integrated into the Afero-powered smart home platform.

TI’s semiconductor innovations, backed by the company’s strength in U.S. manufacturing and its commitment to delivering dependable supply, offer easy integration, reliable connectivity and a seamless experience for both developers and users. Designers can evaluate TI’s Wi-Fi portfolio and the Afero IoT software platform with a robust developer program to accelerate adoption in personal electronics, industrial, and enterprise markets. The ecosystem uniquely provides ease-of-use and fast, reliable operation to allow secure, direct connectivity to the cloud for any device.

Afero sets the gold standard for trusted, frictionless, and secure IoT. In a feat of engineering innovation, it not only uses hardware roots of trust, but also delivers over-the-top, end-to-end encrypted sessions to create a VPN-grade channel on microcontroller-class processors, thereby adding an additional layer of protection. This capability has ensured Afero devices remain protected, even during attacks that have successfully compromised and exploited other ecosystems.

“For true enterprise-grade security, we must move beyond software-only solutions and establish verifiable trust at the deepest layer: the silicon itself,” said Joe Britt, CEO and Co-Founder of Afero. “Our partnership with Texas Instruments, which is expanding its U.S. manufacturing footprint, is a critical step toward supply chain resilience and enterprise assurance in the connected world.”

Afero’s IoT software platform in combination with TI’s new reliable Wi-Fi wireless MCUs delivers a robust, end-to-end ecosystem for modern, secure IoT products. TI’s CC3501E and CC3551E support the latest multi-band Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth® Low Energy 5.4 connectivity protocols, in addition to integrated hardware security, allowing data to be transferred quickly, securely, and with best-in-class interoperability in any installation. Designed with affordability and scalability in mind, engineers can use TI’s Wi-Fi portfolio to connect every product securely to the cloud.

Marian Kost, TI's VP and GM of Connectivity Solutions, stated, “As the largest foundational semiconductor manufacturer in the U.S., TI provides a reliable supply of high-quality analog and embedded processing chips to support Afero’s next-generation secure architecture. This collaboration is a powerful example of how product and manufacturing innovation combine to enable a smarter world.”

The rapid AI-driven growth in data center workloads has been matched with a significant increase in data generation and processing at the edge. A widely cited analysis from Gartner projected that by 2025, 75% of enterprise-generated data will be processed outside a traditional centralized data center or cloud, while IDC anticipates 60% of the Global 2000 will double their investment on computing resources outside traditional datacenters. At the same time, the emergence of physical AI and embodied AI points to the growing need for IoT devices to enable and use AI. The Afero platform addresses this need by enabling both “data-centric AI,” which ensures the validity, veracity, and semantics of data at inception, and local processing capabilities which allow data reduction and federated processing before encrypted data is sent to its next destination – all with frictionless security.

“Frictionless security has always been a design principle at Afero,” said Bret Jordan, Chief Security Strategist of Afero. “This includes Afero’s commitment to the CISA Secure-by-Design pledge, efforts to enable the forthcoming U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, active preparations for post-quantum cryptography, leadership of future IoT standards efforts at the ITU-T, and the recognition that secure IoT and operational technology are critical for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) process.”

In addition to a secure-by-design solution, the Afero platform reduces friction with a patented, pairing-free setup and onboarding workflow that improves the customer experience, which enables reliable fast onboarding and easy-to-use device management.