The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm has become the default choice for various security services in numerous applications. In this paper we present an AES encryption hardware core suited for devices in which low cost and low power consumption are desired. The core constitutes of a novel 8-bit architecture and supports encryption with 128-bit keys. In a 0.13 ?m CMOS technology our area optimized implementation consumes 3.1 kgates. The throughput at the maximum clock frequency of 153 MHz is 121 Mbps, also in feedback encryption modes. Compared to previous 8-bit implementations, we achieve significantly higher throughput with corresponding area. The energy consumption per processed block is also lower.