Thanks Gym - ~m
------- Original Message ------- On Friday, August 12th, 2022 at 11:12 PM, jim bell <[email protected]> wrote: > https://www.hpcwire.com/2022/08/11/google-program-to-free-chips-boosts-university-semiconductor-design/ > > August 11, 2022 > > A Google-led program to design and manufacture chips for free is becoming > popular among researchers and computer enthusiasts. > > The search giant’s [open silicon > program](https://developers.google.com/silicon) is providing the tools for > anyone to design chips, which then get manufactured. Google foots the entire > bill, from a chip’s conception to delivery of the final product in a user’s > hand. > > Google’s Open MPW program includes an open-source design toolkit from a > company called EFabless, which also manages the program. > > Enthusiasts and researchers have to submit their chip design, which then gets > manufactured in the factories of SkyWater on the 130nm process. The > submission deadline for the latest [Open MPW > program](https://efabless.com/open_shuttle_program) is September 12. > > Open MPW’s popularity can be measured by the number of projects using > Efabless’ EDA tools. Chips from about 240 open-source silicon projects via > Efabless’ tools will be manufactured in Skywater’s factories, Mike Wishart, > CEO of Efabless. > > “The total projects posted on our site are like 570. That has gone extremely > well. It’s diverse, from 25 countries,” Wishart said. > > Efabless had about 160 tapeouts in 2021, and had no tapeouts in 2020. > > Efabless provides a simple design EDA tool to make chips, which is mostly > about dragging and dropping the core elements inside a chip. An open-source > PDK (process design kit) prepares the chip for fabrication in factories. > > The Open MPW program added recent partners, including the U.S. Department of > Defense, which last month poured $15 million into the project to get > open-source chips made on SkyWater’s 90nm process. GlobalFoundries also > joined the alliance and will also manufacture chips on the 180nm node. > > The manufacturing technology provided through the project is very old, but it > is cost-effective. Intel, Apple and others make expensive chips on the more > advanced processes such as 5nm, which uses cutting-edge technology and > provides the fastest computing in devices. > > Open MPW is popular in academia and research, and for those experimenting or > testing chips and need small batches, Wishart said. > > “Our incentive is to make it simple for more and more people and grow a > community around those executing designs… [on] nodes that are more accessible > to them and therefore lower costs,” Wishart said. > > Typically, chips can be expensive to manufacture, and factories are open to > corporations. But Open MPW makes factories available to researchers and > students. > > “There was an unmet need in academia, that was overwhelming and not > appreciated because they didn’t know what they could get,” Wishart said. > > The open-source toolkits cover the full concept of chip development, from > conceptualization to delivery of parts. Some universities may have deals with > chip factories, but students at the undergraduate, master’s and PhD programs > still have poor awareness of chip fabrication.
