Alphabet Google will disclose technical details this week of its new security feature, Titan, which is used for cloud computing.

Google has installed Titan in thousands of computer servers and network cards that populate its data centres that controls Google’s cloud services, while scanning hardware to ensure it has not been with tampered with.

The search giant hopes the chip, that is the size of a small stud earing, carves out the cloud computer market worldwide, which is forecasted by Gartner to be worth nearly US$50billion.

A Google spokeswoman said: “The company plans to disclose Titan’s technical details in a blog post on Thursday.”

Neal Mueller, head of infrastructure product marketing for Google Cloud Platform, said in a recent interview: “If anything has been changed, Titan chip will prevent the machine from booting.”

‘Differentiating devices’

According to Reuters, data centre operators are worried that nation-state hackers or cyber criminals could compromise their services, which Asian hardware companies have mostly made, before reaching the United States.

“It allows us to maintain a level of understanding in our supply chain that we otherwise wouldn’t have,” Mueller added.

According to Synergy Research Group, neither Microsoft, who holds 13% of the cloud market share, not Amazon, who owns 41%, have admitted to having similar features.

With Google owning just 7% of the cloud market worldwide, Titan’s strategy hopes to differentiate its devices and attract enterprise customers from sectors with complex compliance regulations, such as those in medical and finance services.

Kim Forrest, vice president at Fort Pitt Capital Group, said to Reuters: “Having physical safeguards goes a long way to telling the story of how seriously Google takes people’s security.”

Google also uses Titan chips to protect servers such as YouTube and Gmail.

Written by Leah Alger