The Future of Open Hardware

The open source movement has transformed the way we build and scale software. It has done so across every layer, from operating systems and web infrastructure to artificial intelligence models like Deepseek. Now, that same open ethos is gaining traction in the traditionally opaque world of silicon design.

From instruction sets to fabrication, open source is steadily dismantling the barriers that have long defined the chip industry. As we explore the evolution of open hardware, it's clear that this growing ecosystem has reached a critical inflection point. But it also faces real structural challenges, particularly in analog design, verification, and end-to-end integration.

RISC-V and the Rise of Custom Silicon

​The RISC-V ecosystem is no longer limited to research projects; it’s rapidly maturing into a commercial force with forecasted shipments reaching approximately 62.4 billion cores in 2025 (EENews Europe). As an open instruction set architecture, RISC-V has become the flagship of this movement, offering a modular and sometimes license-free alternative to architectures like ARM and x86. Its appeal lies in the flexibility it gives designers, allowing everything from tiny embedded processors to high-performance compute cores to be tailored to specific use cases.

RISC-V is no longer a curiosity from academia. It has gained momentum among startups and established players alike. Toolchain support through GCC and LLVM is mature, and chip designs based on RISC-V are now reaching production across consumer, industrial, and embedded markets. This momentum is helping hardware development adopt workflows long familiar to software: fast iteration, collaborative development, and agile release cycles.

Digital EDA:  Unlocking Accessibility

One of the biggest enablers of open silicon has been the emergence of a digital open source EDA ecosystem. For decades, the design of digital chips was confined to those who could afford expensive (hundres of thousands of dollars per engineer in some instances) and complex toolchains from a handful of vendors. Now, tools like Yosys for synthesis, OpenLane and OpenROAD for physical design, and GDSII generation are opening the door for a much wider community of developers to create custom silicon.

Hardware Description Languages

Verilog and VHDL remain the industry-standard hardware description languages, widely used in both open-source and commercial projects due to their mature tooling, broad vendor support, and compatibility with established verification and synthesis workflows. Verilog, in particular, is the default language for many FPGA and ASIC designs, while VHDL continues to be used in designs that prioritize strict typing and structural clarity.

Newer languages are gaining traction including Chisel. Chisel is a Scala-based hardware construction language, enables efficient development of parameterized and modular components and has been widely adopted in the RISC-V ecosystem. Amaranth, formerly nMigen, is a Python-based HDL geared toward rapid prototyping and education, with strong integration into open-source tooling and a scripting-friendly design. These alternative tools are progressing rapidly, offering a different experience for emerging hardware design workflows.

Design Verification with cocotb, Verilator, and Icarus Verilog

Verification is foundational to hardware development. In the open source world, a growing ecosystem is emerging to fill this need. Cocotb offers a modern approach by letting developers write testbenches in Python using coroutines and simulation hooks. This allows for expressive, scalable tests that integrate easily into CI workflows.

Verilator, a high-speed cycle-accurate simulator, compiles Verilog into C++ or SystemC, enabling tight coupling between hardware and software models. Its performance makes it a favorite for large, compute-intensive test environments.

Icarus Verilog provides a more traditional simulator that supports a wide range of Verilog syntax and is especially useful for smaller designs or educational use. These tools, when combined with cocotb, provide a strong foundation for digital verification outside of proprietary environments.

The Analog Bottleneck

While digital design flows are seeing increasing support from open source tools, analog and mixed-signal development remains a major challenge. Analog design is still one of the most resource-intensive parts of silicon development, and unlike its digital counterpart, it remains heavily dependent on manual layout, proprietary tools, and deep domain expertise.

For startups and small to mid-sized enterprises, the reliance on expensive proprietary EDA tools from the industry's largest vendors presents a significant barrier. A full-featured analog and digital EDA suite can exceed one million dollars per year. This level of cost and complexity is difficult to justify in capital-efficient environments, particularly where analog performance is central to product differentiation.

McKinsey forecasts that over 60 percent of the projected one trillion dollar semiconductor market by 2030 will be driven by applications that require complex analog and mixed-signal interfaces. These include automotive systems, industrial sensing, mobility, and edge AI. Analog performance is central to these domains, making the lack of accessible design infrastructure a systemic limitation on innovation.

Europe’s Role in Open Hardware

Europe has taken a leading role in enabling open hardware through regulatory and research frameworks. The EU Chips Act is funding open design enablement initiatives, including support for toolchain integration and open manufacturing flows. These efforts aim to provide a strategic base for regional chip independence and broader participation in semiconductor design.

The rise of open PDKs from foundries like IHP, SkyWater, and GlobalFoundries is another critical step. These PDKs enable fabrication with open tools and help reduce vendor dependency. Some outsourced assembly and testing providers are also beginning to offer open flows, supporting the vision of an entirely open silicon pipeline.

By focusing on ecosystem completeness—from RTL design through fabrication and packaging—Europe is building a template for how regions can support innovation outside traditional closed ecosystems that exist outside of European borders.

Looking Forward

The open source hardware movement is shifting from grassroots exploration to an industrially relevant alternative. RISC-V, Yosys, cocotb, and OpenROAD have laid the foundation for open digital design. At the same time, early analog tooling and policy-driven initiatives are working to complete the picture.

Significant gaps remain, particularly in analog IP reuse, tool interoperability, and standards for certification and compliance. But with a growing global community and increasing market pressure for agility, these gaps are being actively addressed.

As open tools mature and analog workflows evolve, the long-standing silos between software and silicon are breaking down. The future of hardware is not just programmable. It is participatory. And increasingly, it is open.