Open-source silicon and EDA workshop 2024

The chip design ecosystem in Europe is challenged by expensive development tools, legal constraints, lock-in threats and dependency on external supply chains.

Open-source Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools and open-source silicon chips are emerging as possible solutions to these problems. It is increasingly recognised that open-source development offers not only faster and cheaper development but also better products. The open-source model moreover resonates well with the core aims of the European Chips Act of reinforcing the Union’s semiconductor ecosystem by reducing dependencies, enhancing digital sovereignty, stimulating investment, increasing design capacity and the resilience of the Union’s semiconductor supply chain.

Even though some IP building blocks, such as those based on the RISC-V open instruction set, are already witnessing overwhelming success and industrial adoption, the open-source EDA and chip ecosystems are still in their infancy. Their development is further hindered by the high costs of manufacturing silicon chips and by the complexity of the ecosystem which involves heterogeneous participants (from designers to EDA developers, to foundries).

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1st event: Introduction to the open-source EDA ecosystem

Location: Online
Date: 2024.05.14

The Go-IT consortium would like to invite all stakeholders to a webinar titled ‘Introduction to the open-source EDA ecosystem’ on Tuesday 14th May 10:00 – 12:00 CEST with the following agenda:

• European semiconductor design ecosystem (10 min)
  Matthew Xuereb, European Commission

• Free and open-source semiconductor ecosystem (10 min)
  Luca Alloatti, Free Silicon Foundation (I) ETS

• Open-source EDA software and semiconductor design (15 min)
  Jean-Paul Chaput, Sorbonne University, Coriolis Foundation

• Open PDK with Open EDA Tools - Challenges and Future needs (10 min)
  Rene Scholz, Leibniz Institute for High Performance Microelectronics (IHP Microelectronics)

• European roadmap on the advancement of open-source EDA tools, next steps (10 min)
  Rihards Novickis, Latvian Institute of Electronics and Computer Science

• Q&A session / Feedback (up to 1 hour)

The discussion is expected to kick off a process that will eventually lead to a roadmap for open-source EDA tool development in Europe, and it will start with an online webinar, followed by an in-presence workshop, followed by multiple working groups (see program below). This event shall eventually be followed by an in-depth in-person workshop on 18th June 2024 at the Sorbonne University in Paris (further information below).

To discuss these topics comprehensively, the participation of the following entities is encouraged:

• Academics and Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) institutes
• European foundries or foundries located in the EU
• European semiconductor manufacturers and semiconductor technology companies
• Any other European companies which develop in-house silicon chips (including design houses), e.g. in the transportation, communication, and security sectors

Please register for the event here (until 13th of May, 20:00 CEST):
https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/260d3a0e-8cfa-fbd4-e9ac-df9a06ea3034

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Location: Paris, Sorbonne university, 4 Place Jussieu
Date: 2024.06.18 (Before FSiC2024 conference, https://wiki.f-si.org/index.php/FSiC2024)

The Go-IT consortium would like to invite all stakeholders to a workshop in Paris, Sorbonne University titled ‘Open-source silicon and EDA F2F workshop’ on Tuesday, 18th of June with the following agenda:

Agenda
9:00 - 10:00	Welcome, coffee
10:00 - 10:15	Introduction
10:15 - 11:30	Session 1: Challenges, requirements and benefits for the industry
11:30 - 12:15	Coffee break
12:15 - 13:30	Session 2: Building self-sustainable ecosystem
13:30 - 14:30	Lunch
14:30 - 15:45	Session 3: Technical challenges
15:45 - 16:30	Coffee break
16:30 - 17:45	Session 4: Financial support
17:45 - 18:15	Conclusion

Please register for the event (and working group) here:
https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/88275dc0-9321-bdeb-3d93-83ec342b6353

Some thought-provoking considerations for the breakout sessions:

Session 1: Challenges, requirements and benefits for the industry

Needs: Educated, highly skilled staff Proven EDA Proprietary vs Open-source, what is missing? Potential Cost reduction, e.g. licensing costs, reduced bureaucracy, reusability Increasing quality of open-source silicon IP, PDKs Focus on innovation (e.g. through reusability, stop reinventing the wheel) Potential for reducing time-to-market The relevance of the security aspect Strategy Should Europe consider free shuttle runs? (like Google) How to transition from proprietary to open-source EDA tools?

Session 2: Building self-sustainable ecosystem

Benefits and drawbacks: Advantages gained by different stakeholders? Universities: costs, access, education Large enterprises: costs, lock-in Startups: costs, time-to-market/innovation Costs for participation in the ecosystem Mechanisms/Actions How to kick-start an ecosystem? How to securing development, e.g. for 20 years? What are the incentives for industry to participate in open-development? Platform for communication, stackoverflow.com for VLSI? Missing support/maintenance companies for EDA (e.g., RedHat) How politics could influence the ecosystem? (e.g., open-source maintained by competence centres) High-quality silicon-proven IP How to address the skill shortage? What should be the role of open-source in education? How education should be changed? (e.g., culture, teach open-source EDA) How standardization could facilitate sustainable ecosystem?

Session 3: Technical challenges

Designer’s perspective EDA tool developer perspective PDK/Foundry perspective Interfacing/standardization

Session 4: Financial support

How to support ecosystem as a whole? centrally managed funding foundations events tools contests How to work with interests of different stakeholders? How to facilitate changes in education system? (e.g., funded tapeouts for students) Inclusion of industry, hobbyists, SMEs, LEs? (e.g., support for pilot runs)

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3rd and following events: to be announced

Location: Online
Time: To be announced