Hardware Trust Assessment
The hardware dimension of CYBAIR: trust, provenance, and posture for the silicon and compute systems under your AI workloads. This is not SiliconAIR Phase 0 scoping.
Why this engagement exists
Hardware trust and silicon provenance are usually discovered late — after a design is committed, after a vendor is locked, or after an export-control question lands on someone who cannot answer it. Teams treat silicon as a procurement footnote, and the trust posture of the systems underneath critical AI workloads goes unexamined until it becomes a program risk.
What it looks like in your organization
- No one can say which hardware-bound systems have verified provenance or trust posture.
- Export-control and compliance questions surface late, after vendors or designs are locked.
- Silicon decisions are made on price and availability, without a trust dimension.
- Audits or program reviews ask for hardware assurance that nobody has assembled.
What we do and how it works
We assess the hardware-bound systems you nominate for trust, provenance, and posture using SiliconAIR structured profiling — the hardware dimension of CYBAIR, billed per system. This is posture on systems you run or plan to run. It is not a SiliconAIR Phase 0 chip-program scoping engagement, and we will tell you if your situation actually calls for one.
The engagement includes
- System nomination and scope confirmation
- SiliconAIR trust and provenance profiling per nominated system
- Compliance cross-reference (FIPS, CMMC, ITAR, AUKUS where relevant)
- Exposure notes on supply chain and provenance
- Remediation and next-step recommendation, including Phase 0 referral where warranted
What you take away
Every deliverable is named, formatted, and tied to the outcome it enables. Nothing ships as a deck with no use.
Hardware-trust posture report
Assessment reportTrust and posture findings for each nominated system, structured against the hardware dimensions that actually bind your environment.
You know which systems are trustworthy, which are exposed, and why — at the hardware level.
Provenance and supply-chain exposure notes
Exposure analysisWhere each system’s silicon comes from, what is verified, and where provenance or supply-chain exposure exists.
Procurement and program decisions are made with provenance facts, not vendor assurances.
Compliance cross-reference
Crosswalk reportFIPS, CMMC, ITAR, and AUKUS requirements mapped to the systems in scope — where they apply, mapped rather than recited.
Hardware compliance obligations are answered from the assessment, not a separate review.
Remediation and next-step recommendation
Recommendation memoWhat to fix, replace, or re-source — and whether your situation actually warrants a full SiliconAIR Phase 0 engagement.
A clear next move on each system, with an honest read on whether a chip program is involved.
How this engagement runs
Nominate the systems
Day 1Each hardware-bound system you name is a unit. We confirm the estate, the sensitivity envelope, and the compliance regimes in play. We do not assess an unnamed estate for a flat fee.
A locked scope: exactly which systems are profiled and against which regimes.
Profile trust and provenance
Days 2–4SiliconAIR produces a structured profile for each system against the hardware dimensions that bind you: trust anchors, provenance chain, and posture.
System-level hardware facts — verified where possible, flagged where not.
Cross-reference controls
Days 4–6FIPS, CMMC, ITAR, and AUKUS requirements are mapped to the findings where they apply. The mapping is specific to your systems, not a framework summary.
Hardware compliance obligations are clear per system.
Recommend the next move
Days 6–10We close with remediation guidance, make-vs-buy considerations, and an honest recommendation — including whether this is actually a chip program that needs SiliconAIR Phase 0.
A decision-ready read on every nominated system and the path forward.
How the fee is built
The engagement fee moves on three multipliers — sensitivity, involvement, and organization type — and the platform units the work consumes are their own lines. Nothing is hidden inside a flat number.
Sensitivity
×0.90 – ×1.30 on the engagement feeSensitivity sets the handling envelope around the whole engagement: how data moves, where evidence lives, who can touch it, and what containment we must maintain. Higher sensitivity means cleared handling, segregated evidence, and slower, more deliberate operations — real cost that a flat fee would hide.
Open information. Standard handling, no containment overhead.
Proprietary business information. NDA-grade handling and controlled evidence storage.
Compliance-bound data. Framework controls and audit-ready evidence handling shape the work.
Defense-grade pathways. Cleared handling, boundary containment, and evidence segregation inside your perimeter.
Involvement
×0.85 – ×1.35 on the engagement feeInvolvement is how much Multipolar operator time is on the hook. Counsel at checkpoints is a different commitment than embedded delivery inside your team, your systems, and your cadence. The multiplier tracks senior hours actually committed — not a markup.
We advise and interpret; your team executes. Senior counsel at defined checkpoints.
We run the engagement end to end, with your stakeholders at the decision points.
Embedded delivery. Our operators work inside your team until the outcome is actually in place.
Organization type
×0.85 – ×1.25 on the engagement feeThe same technical work lands differently depending on who is buying it. Federal and defense engagements carry procurement, compliance, security review, and stakeholder alignment that a mid-market engagement does not. The multiplier prices the coordination and accountability surface, not the analysis.
Fewer stakeholders, faster decisions, lighter coordination overhead.
The baseline: standard commercial engagement surface.
Public-sector procurement and multi-agency stakeholder surface.
Investment-platform cadence: deal-driven timelines and IC audiences.
Joint-delivery and enablement motions with partner delivery teams.
Assurance functions: evidence standards and underwriting audiences.
Federal procurement, compliance crosswalks, and multi-office alignment.
Mission-critical review, security handling, and acquisition-process alignment.
Scope & scale of platform units
The largest component of most totalsEvery engagement consumes platform units — CYBAIR workloads, AIR organization bands, GENOMIA twins, WINS scenarios, SiliconAIR systems. Units track your estate, not our appetite for flat pricing: an 8-workload assessment and a 50-workload assessment are different engagements and are priced as such. You set the scope in the configurator; the total moves with it, and nothing is quietly under-scoped to fit a number.
Simulation compute
Estimated until configured · billed on actualsWINS simulations carry real compute costs that scale with scenario count, branching depth, and campaign length. A focused single-scenario game and a sustained multi-agent campaign are orders of magnitude apart. Facilitation and after-action are in the fee; compute is estimated once the game is configured, then billed on actuals — you pay for what actually runs, never a padded average.
Platform units in this engagement
Units track your estate, not our appetite for flat pricing. You set the scope; the total moves with it. Each unit below is consumed by this engagement and billed as its own line.
Each hardware-bound system profiled for trust, provenance, and silicon posture — the hardware dimension of CYBAIR.
The number of systems you nominate for assessment. This is posture on systems you run or plan to run — not Phase 0 chip-program scoping.
What the engagement fee covers
- Scoping, workshops, and interpretation
- Every deliverable listed on this page
- Cross-framework mapping where the package includes compliance
- Executive translation — board, program-office, or IC language
- Handoff and a defensible next-step recommendation
What it does not cover
- Platform units consumed by the work (shown as their own lines)
- WINS simulation compute (estimated, then billed on actuals)
Frequently asked questions
No. Hardware Trust is posture on systems you already run or plan to run — the hardware dimension of CYBAIR. Silicon Requirements Assessment is the Phase 0 scoping engine for a chip or program that does not yet exist, at a different price point.
Ready to brief us on the Hardware Trust Assessment?
We choose who we work with and confirm scope, capacity, and final pricing in the briefing.