Making something with the industry's parts?
Start from what others learned.
Find what you may build on, from open-source tools to shuttle runs and reading paths, and meet people working with the same parts. A place to record what you made and how it ended is planned, and it will be free.
Your path through the Hub
Four steps for builders, from the first links to follow to what is new on the Hub today.
Where to start
- Open-source tools →
What the Hub may do with each repository, from its stated licence.
- MPW shuttle calendar →
Upcoming multi-project wafer runs.
- Reading paths →
What to read next, in order.
- Boards →
Ask people who built something similar.
Training plan. Building with chips: from device choice to a product people can use: outcomes, modules, exercises and self-checks built on the Hub's lifecycles.
In the Industry Review 2026
- Chapter 3: Process technology and the PDK roadmap
- Chapter 4: Advanced packaging and chiplets
- Chapter 5: AI accelerators and compute demand
- Chapter 12: Design and EDA, including AI-assisted design
Other chapters (9)
- Chapter 1: Market and demand by end market
- Chapter 2: Capacity, fabs and siting
- Chapter 6: Memory
- Chapter 7: Power and compound semiconductors
- Chapter 8: Supply chain, chokepoints and geopolitics
- Chapter 9: Talent and workforce
- Chapter 10: Funding, venture and M&A
- Chapter 11: Sustainability and emissions
- Chapter 13: Outlook and what to watch
The whole review: analysis, cited facts and live Hub data, chapter by chapter.
What is not here yet. The place to record what you built and how it ended is planned and is not live yet.
Lifecycles for you
The chip lifecycles that the training plan for Builders draws on most. Each one sets out its stages, the gates that check them and the work handed over.
- FPGA-based product development lifecycle →A product whose custom logic runs on a commercial FPGA on its own board, from requirements and device selection through logic design, verification, timing closure and board bring-up to system validation, production programming, field updates and the end of life the device's own lifecycle sets. There is no tape-out: the output is a bitstream.10 stages, 12 gates
- Firmware and software stack lifecycle →The software that ships with a chip, from the boot ROM in its masks to the drivers, SDK and updates customers rely on: requirements and the hardware-software interface, development on virtual platforms and emulation before silicon, boot ROM freeze, firmware, drivers and board support, security, signing and secure update, SDKs and toolchains, bring-up on first silicon, validation, production release, and maintenance and vulnerability response until the end of support.12 stages, 17 gates
- Fabless startup chip lifecycle →A new fabless company's first chip, from the problem and market thesis and the founding team through a proof of concept in simulation and on an FPGA prototype, pre-seed and seed funding, architecture and partner selection, and a test chip on a shuttle, to evaluation with design partners, a Series A and product silicon, qualification and first revenue, and scale-up. Funding gates sit beside the engineering gates.15 stages, 27 gates
- Soft IP lifecycle →One reusable block delivered as synthesisable design code (soft IP), made in-house or taken in from a supplier, from its specification through design, verification, implementation views and quality checks to a versioned release for SoC teams.8 stages, 10 gates
New to the lifecycle? Start here: the lifecycle in five steps, see the whole lifecycle on one page or look up a term in the glossary.
What the Hub brings
Whatever you are making, you will want to know what you may build on and who has been there before. This page starts you there.
An open-source tools register
Open-source chip-design software, listed with its licence and a named steward, not a vendor. Filter by category, then follow the link straight to the project's own repository.
A shuttle calendar with sources
Upcoming multi-project wafer runs laid out by foundry, node and month. Every date links to the schedule it came from. Sign in to get an alert when a new run is added.
Reading paths with a named curator
Ordered lists of books from the library, each with a stated purpose and the person who curated it. It is a human sequence, not an algorithm's guess at what you want next.
Boards for people doing the same work
Discipline boards where engineers answer under a handle if they prefer. Ask the person who has already made the tradeoff you are facing, instead of a general feed.
Cost and yield calculators
Die per wafer, yield from defect density, package cost and a chip cost bridge. They run without signing in. Sign in to save your inputs.
An IP catalogue you can browse
Licensable IP blocks listed by function, with the standards, nodes, foundries and licence models each entry declares. The browse order comes from how complete an entry is, never from payment.
A fab and facility explorer
Fabrication and advanced-packaging sites you can filter by company, country and node, so you know where a process you want to use is actually offered.
Courses and a glossary
When a datasheet or a forum thread uses a term you do not know, the glossary explains it. Published courses cover the topics you need to fill in.
What changes for you
- You search forums and repositories one by one to find a tool you may safely build on.
- Shuttle dates live on a dozen foundry and broker sites.
- You build alone and learn what went wrong after the money is spent.
- A quick cost estimate means a spreadsheet you built last year.
- One register lists open-source tools with their licence and a named steward, so you can see who looks after each before you depend on it.
- One calendar shows the runs side by side, each date linked to its source, with an alert when a new run appears.
- Boards and reading paths put you in front of people who have made something similar, before you commit.
- Cost, yield and packaging calculators are one click away and need no account.
Choosing this page changes only where you start
It sets the links you see first and nothing else. It grants no access, and no page lists the people who chose it.
Money does not decide what you see
Sponsored content is always labelled. Paying never changes how a tool, a company or an IP entry is ordered.
The build record is not here yet
A place to record what you made and how it ended is planned, and it is not live. Today you can find what to build on and the people to ask, but you cannot log a build.
Live on the Hub for builders
Ordered by what is most useful to you first. Sign in and opt in to personalization and it also reorders around your discipline and activity. Sign in
Community
5Upcoming events
4News
6Courses
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Experience briefs
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Directory highlights
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Research
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Academic institutions
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Open roles
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Funding & M&A
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Grants & incentives
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Target markets
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Find what you may build on
Start with the open-source tools register. It needs no account.