# Accelerating Elliptic Curve Point Additions on Versal AI Engine for Multi-scalar Multiplication

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.11660 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.11660/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 17 Feb 2025.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Enabling AI ASICs for Zero Knowledge Proof](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.17808/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Multi-scalar multiplication (MSM) is crucial in cryptographic applications and computationally intensive in zero-knowledge proofs. MSM involves accumulating the products of scalars and points on an elliptic curve over a 377-bit modulus, and the Pippenger algorithm converts MSM into a series of elliptic curve point additions (PADDs) with high parallelism. This study investigates accelerating MSM on the Versal ACAP platform, an emerging hardware that employs a spatial architecture integrating 400 AI Engines (AIEs) with programmable logic and a processing system. AIEs are SIMD-based VLIW processors capable of performing vector multiply-accumulate operations, making them well-suited for multiplication-heavy workloads in PADD. Unlike simpler multiplication tasks in previous studies, cryptographic computations also require complex operations such as carry propagation. These operations necessitate architecture-aware optimizations, including intra-core dedicated coding style to fully exploit VLIW capabilities and inter-core strategy for spatial task mapping. We propose various optimizations to accelerate PADDs, including (1) algorithmic optimizations for carry propagation employing a carry-save-like technique to exploit VLIW and SIMD capabilities and (2) a comparison of four distinct spatial mappings to enhance intra- and inter-task parallelism. Our approach achieves a computational efficiency that utilizes 50.2% of the theoretical memory bandwidth and provides 568 speedup over the integrated CPU on the AIE evaluation board.