Open-source silicon chips
summary
Argues that truly open-source chips require open PDKs and EDA stacks not just open RTL and shows concrete barriers: most foundries hide PDKs behind NDAs, three foundries started publishing PDKs since 2019 including IHP microelectronics, and mainstream EDA forces licensing that forbids publishing outputs. Cites DARPA OpenROAD (≈$3M/yr funding, claims 600 tape-outs and 12 nm runs) and European microgrants (~€50k cascaded) as working models, and describes ongoing work on a GPL-compatible silicon license to bridge GPL and CERN OHL v2.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00Introduction to open-source silicon
- 1:28Security risks of closed silicon chips
- 3:16Definition of open-source silicon
- 5:01Need for open-source PDK and EDA
- 6:28Advantages of open-source EDA tools
- 8:14Public funding for open-source silicon
- 10:42EU policies and open-source silicon
- 11:45Licensing challenges for silicon
- 13:54Future of open-source chip verification
- 14:39Hobbyist chip production prospects
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