erikaseascope
@erikaseascope

I'm building open-chip-design, a community-driven effort to create a fully open-source alternative to Apple's custom silicon (M-series / A-series SoCs).

Apple's vertical integration — optimized ARM cores, unified memory, powerful GPUs/NPUs, and tight hardware-software co-design — sets an incredibly high bar. Replicating even a meaningful portion of that in the open is a massive challenge, but the RISC-V ecosystem, open EDA tools (OpenROAD, OpenLane, Yosys), and accessible fabrication platforms (SkyWater, Google OpenMPW, Tiny Tapeout) have matured enough to make real progress possible.

Why this matters: - Technological sovereignty — Reducing dependence on closed, proprietary silicon. - Education & innovation — Lowering barriers for students, researchers, and engineers to work on real chip design. - Practical alternatives — Targeting edge AI, IoT, embedded, servers, and custom devices where open hardware shines.

The project is fully modular (RISC-V cores, custom accelerators, unified memory, power management) and designed for broad collaboration — from FPGA prototypes to ASIC tapeouts.

Your sponsorship directly accelerates: - Tooling & CI/CD infrastructure - Fabrication runs (MPW shuttles aren't cheap!) - Documentation, verification, and community building - Reference boards and FPGA targets

Whether you're a company interested in open silicon, a researcher, or someone who believes in the open hardware movement — your support helps push the frontier of what's possible with transparent, collaborative chip design.

Together, we can ride the open-source silicon wave. 🚀

Check out the repo, roadmap, and contribution guidelines — contributions and ideas are always welcome!