Research into the security of the Internet of Things (IoT) needs to utilize particular algorithms that offer ultra-low power consumption and a long lifespan, along with other parameters such as strong immunity against attacks, lower chip area and acceptable throughput. This paper offers an ASIC-oriented comparative review of the most popular and powerful cryptographic algorithms worldwide, namely AES, 3DES, Twofish and RSA. The ASIC implementations of those algorithms are analyzed by studying statistical data extracted from the ASIC layouts of the algorithms and comparing them to determine the most suited algorithms for IoT hardware-security applications. The AES algorithm is found to be the most suitable algorithm for IoT applications.