An apparatus and method for cryptographic key expansion. According to a first embodiment, a cryptographic unit may include key storage configured to store an expanded set of cipher keys for a cipher algorithm, and a key expansion pipeline comprising a plurality of pipeline stages. During a key expansion mode of operation, each pipeline stage may be configured to perform a corresponding step of generating a member of the expanded set of cipher keys according to a key expansion algorithm. During a cipher mode of operation, a portion of the key expansion pipeline may be configured to perform a step of the cipher algorithm.