Isn't there 'stuff' n 'chips' anyway? Even IF you arent dealing with notorious routers or internet or cell networks etc. That are exploitable even by design or once might attempt connections or even do so remotely without command (assuming not air gapped, etc?) In other words can one 'trust' even the basics? Obviously the connections and peripherals are compromised, by design?
all intel chips since 1995 (except itanium and early atom chips) have whats called "intel me" . this is a on chip operating system (its integrated into the processor itself), meant for sysadmins to be able to remotely configure a computer. it has many exploits all of which are undetectable by any other operating system (linux,bsd, windows etc)or antivirus.
it can only be fixed by:
1. firmware (bios + microcode) updates (often with detrimental effects)
2. hardware changes during manufacture of said chips.
intel also has ongoing issues with spectre/meltdown, with seemingly weekly revisions of this appearing which bypass mitigation's by intel and OS vendors.
its my opinion that the US govt has known about these flaws since 2008 (and possibly earlier), and has exploited these silently via some sort of malware they have written. only the actual code writers need to know the actual exploit, and the finished program was distributed to govt employed actors to basically steal data.
amd ryzen is affected by affected by the above, but to a much lessor degree.