OpenTitan Makes The First Open-source Silicon Chip Commercially Available!

As technology grows and becomes more sophisticated, companies are looking to produce or source custom chips that enable their products to deliver better outcomes and functions.

Even leading chip maker Nvidia, which controls around 80% of the high-end AI chip market, conveyed its intention to address the requirement for custom AI chips to cater to its customers. This move came as companies started making chips internally for specific purposes.

Now, in a big boost for companies that manufacture or use custom chips but are restricted by proprietary chip architectures, comes a big announcement that could be set to redefine the semiconductor industry and disrupt the market.

So, what was the announcement and which companies are behind it? Let’s explore!
 

What Was Announced?

 

• In announcements made by OpenTitan coalition members, particularly by lowRISC CIC, the open silicon ecosystem organization, it was conveyed that the coalition reached commercial availability of silicon chips that included open-source, built-in hardware security.

• This historic milestone included validated chips produced using the support and investment of ten coalition members, which includes the hosts of the project, lowRISC, along with Google, Winbond, Nuvoton, zeroRISC, Rivos, Western Digital, Seagate, ETH Zurich and Giesecke+Devrient.

• Started by Google and the nonprofit Cambridge-based lowRISC in 2019, OpenTitan was formed to be the first open-source silicon Root of Trust (RoT) project. The idea of open-sourcing the silicon design was that it would offer a more transparent, trustworthy and secure platform.

• According to the announcement, “It is the world’s first open-source secure chip to include commercial-grade design verification, top-level testing and continuous integration.”

• As per a blog released by Google in 2019, “Security begins with secure infrastructure. To have higher confidence in the security and integrity of the infrastructure, we need to anchor our trust at the foundation - in a special-purpose chip.”

• Furthermore, Google listed the project’s benefits, beginning with, “Silicon RoT can help ensure that the hardware infrastructure and the software that runs on it remain in their intended, trustworthy state by verifying that the critical system components boot securely using authorized and verifiable code.”

• Such open hardware projects have been gaining momentum since the development of RISC-V, a popular open-source processor architecture.

• Pronounced “risk-five”, RISC-V is the fifth generation of the “reduced instruction set computer” type of architecture, which allows software to directly control computer hardware.

• RISC-V, which enables instruction sets similar to ARM, PowerPC or x86 architectures, defines how computers operate at basic software levels.

   

What Did Stakeholders Say About The Announcement?

 

• Dr. Gavin Ferris, CEO of lowRISC, OpenTitan’s host organization, said, “I am incredibly proud of the OpenTitan partnership for succeeding where every other project has failed – producing the first commercial quality open-source chip in the world.”

• [Contd.] “This is the culmination of the monumentally hard work of a vibrant and engaged community of contributors focused on a singular goal to achieve what’s never been done before – make open-source silicon work the same way as open-source software. I am grateful for this support and can’t wait for what’s to come.”

• Miguel Osorio, OpenTitan Lead at Google, said, “OpenTitan in silicon is the realization of many years of dedication and hard work from our team. It is a significant moment for us and all contributors to the project.”

• Dom Rizzo, zeroRISC CEO, said, “Our mission is to advance the incredible work of the OpenTitan project by delivering an end-to-end supply chain security solution built on an open secure silicon foundation.

• [Contd.] “That we’re able to deliver commercial products so soon after tapeout clearly illustrates the coalition’s momentum. With this first, crucial step for open silicon implementations, we look forward to a world where a transparent and trustworthy supply chain is the default.”

 
Do you think the commercial availability of the first open-source silicon chip will shake up the industry and its market? Will the commercial launch of the proprietary chip architecture lead to semiconductor chip manufacturers to redesign their offerings?

Let us know in the comments below!