Prof. Dr. Stefan Wallentowitz: Open Source Chip Design: Key Ingredient for Europe’s Chip Ambitions

The increasing demand for chip designs, especially in light of the ambitious goals of the European Chips Act, emphasizes the need for better accessibility of chip design and skilled workforce. Open source has been a key enabler for the software ecosystem and could have a similar impact on a further demystification of chip design. Open source chip design reduces barriers significantly and makes chip design attractive for talents outside traditional disciplines.

In this presentation will give an overview of the potentials and challenges of open source chip design. The presentation will present the current landscape and public funding in this area. It concludes with summarizing key success factors for the ambitions and the broader ecosystem.

Stefan Wallentowitz is professor for computer architecture and computer engineering at Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences. He is a long term advocate of open standards and open source. He serves as vice-chair of the RISC-V board of directors and is director at theFree and Open Source Silicon Foundation.