Since Matter 1.0 Spec has released about half a year, in order to seize market opportunities, many leading manufacturers have been accelerating the development of Matter products.

However, Matter has very strict safety certification requirements for products. Between development and retail sales, a Matter product must complete both the "Device Attestation Certificate" (DAC) and "Product Compliance Certification" before going into mass production and eventually reaching end users.

What is Matter's "DAC"?

Each Matter product has a unique private key and a corresponding DAC. When a Matter product is connected to the network, the product user (the commissioner) will perform DAC and "Product Compliance Certification" status verification on the product (the commissionee) to detect and prevent non-compliant Matter products from entering the market.

The following chart shows the product networking process. DAC attestation (Step 5) is a key step. When the Matter product submits a DAC to the commissioner, the commissioner will verify the following elements:

The product is produced by a certified manufacturer (Vendor ID); The product has completed the registration of DCL (Distributed Compliance Ledger) Product ID; The product has passed the Matter Product Compliance Certification Declaration.

Product networking process

Product manufacturers can choose to purchase DACs from a Certificate Authority (CA) authorized by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) or build their own certificate system to obtain the CSA’s authorization and complete product DACs by self-signing.

The DAC issuance process is as follow: Product Attachment Authority (PAA) -> Product Attachment Intermediate (PAI) -> DAC. Thus, building a compliant Matter Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and obtaining a Matter certificate are complex tasks that are costly and must be handled by qualified technicians.

Tuya Smart has obtained the PAA qualification authorized by the CSA and completed the construction of Matter PKI. This means that Tuya can issue large quantities of DACs to customers and ensure security during the certificate issuance process through hardware encryption machines.

How does Tuya sign a DAC?

When Tuya-enabled Matter products are in the production and testing stage, the product will generate a public key and a private key locally and then send a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) to the Tuya Cloud to apply for a DAC and PAI.

Tuya Cloud will assess the production request of the Matter product and then use the PAI private key to sign and release the DAC to the product. The product then writes the PAI and DAC information into the product to complete the signing and writing processes of the DAC.

What is Matter's "Product Compliance Certification"?

To ensure the development of Matter products complies with the Matter agreement, the CSA has established a product certification process that requires all Matter products to be certified before they enter the market. This makes Matter Product Compliance Certification a must before mass production. Those that complete the certification early are a step ahead of the competition in entering the market.

Pain Points in Matter Certification

As shown here, if a company wants to apply for the certification of a Matter product, it needs to pay an annual fee of at least $7,000 to become a member of the CSA. For small and medium-sized companies, this is the first obstacle.

In addition to the membership fee, the standard certification process also involves laboratory testing fees and certificate application fees. Laboratory testing fees for one product range from $7,000 to $10,000, and certificate application fees can run between $2,000 and $3,000.

Other than these expenses, the complex certification process could present another challenge to small and medium-sized manufacturers. In order to enable more brands to develop Matter-certified products, the CSA released an alternative certification approach called the Certification Transfer Program (CTP).

Tuya offers lower costs for Matter certification

Tuya’s CTP makes it possible to obtain low-cost certifications.

The CTP allows promoters and participating members to provide their customers with certified products and let customers affix their own brand logos on the outer packaging of such products. In other words, associate members who are not eligible to apply for a certificate can obtain a certificate through transfers from both promoters and participating members of the CSA.

No high annual fees, no complex testing processes or testing and application fees. A customer only needs to pay the certification transfer fee and product listing fee for each product.

Tuya, as a promoter of the CSA (the highest membership level), has qualifications such as Matter product compliance certificate transfer, similarity certification, and brand new certification.

This means that products developed based on Tuya’s Solution for Matter can allow customers to obtain certificates quickly and at low costs through certificate transfers without any changes in software and hardware, and with consistent product types and functions. This approach is particularly suitable for brands that currently have a small budget and want to quickly launch a Matter product for proof of concept in the market at the lowest cost.

Tuya meets more customers’ demands

When it comes to product solutions, more categories can meet more demands.

Since October 2022, Tuya has promptly responded to the development of Matter, successively completing development solutions for electrical, lighting, gateway, sensor, and other categories. It has also obtained certificates for around 100 products in four main categories, ranking first in China in the number of Matter-certified products. Throughout 2023, Tuya will continue to conduct research and development of new product solutions and applications for product certification, meeting more market demand.

From the perspective of certification scheme providers, more schemes meet more demands.

In addition to low-cost certificate transfer schemes, Tuya also supports schemes such as similarity certification and new certification proxy applications.

Similarity certification supports software and hardware adjustments based on certified products. Companies can obtain certifications for differentiated products based on similarity to certified products.

New certification proxy applications can save high membership fees for small and medium-sized enterprises and save time to achieve one-stop trusteeship for enterprises who have a CSA membership.

Tuya processes certifications faster

Having applied for more than 100 product certificates, Tuya very well understands key steps such as the certification process, certification application, and testing laboratory docking. It has set up a dedicated certification and internal testing team to ensure the smooth acquisition of product certificates. Based on Tuya’s past experiences, enterprises can obtain certificates as quickly as one month, which can help accelerate the launch and sales of Matter products.

Conclusion

As an early participant and promoter of Matter, Tuya will give full play to its technical expertise, experience, and innovative advantages; actively provide certification services; promote the global popularization of Matter; meet the demand of global customers for the development and application of Matter products; and contribute to the implementation of Matter.