Free Silicon Foundation
Founded	19 December 2018
Location	Belp, Switzerland
Type	Non-profit association (Art.60 Swiss C.C.)
President	Luca Alloatti
EU PIC	887843232
Website	f-si.org
Repository	codeberg.org/fsi
Social	Mastodon
Videos	PeerTube

The Free Silicon Foundation (F-Si) promotes the free software movement in the context of silicon integrated circuits. We advocate for a complete ecosystem of free and open-source design tools, the sharing of hardware designs under copyleft licences, and the use of common standards. We organize the Free Silicon Conference, contribute policy recommendations to the European Commission, and support the development of open-source EDA tools and open silicon designs.

What is open silicon? What is free silicon?

Open silicon means a chip that is open from high-level description down to physical layout so that the complete design can be verified against the manufactured chip. This requires open-source EDA tools, since proprietary vendors prohibit publishing designs made with their software.

Free silicon goes further: like free software, it guarantees the four freedoms — to use, study, share, and modify — and is typically protected by a copyleft licence to ensure these freedoms persist in derivative works.

F-Si advocates for free silicon, not merely open silicon.

Our mission

F-Si works to advance:

1. Free and open-source EDA tools — Electronic Design Automation software that users can study, modify, and share, enabling chip design without dependence on proprietary vendor lock-in.
2. Free and open-source hardware designs and libraries — Reusable circuit designs, cell libraries, and design blocks released (when appropriate) under copyleft licenses that guarantee downstream freedom.
3. Common standards — Open specifications and interfaces that enable interoperability between tools and designs from different sources.
4. User freedom in silicon — The right of users to understand, modify, and control the chips in their devices.

Why freedom matters in silicon

Free hardware guarantees the same fundamental freedoms — to run, study, share, and modify — that free software upholds. These freedoms are critical for transparency, privacy, and user autonomy.

The semiconductor industry is dominated by proprietary EDA vendors whose pricing tactics create barriers for SMEs and researchers, while exposing industry to foreign political decisions. Their licence agreements often prohibit publishing designs produced with their tools, making truly open hardware impossible without free alternatives. Moreover, universities still teaching only proprietary EDA cannot share designs, leading to absurd duplication of effort — a violation of the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles.

Why copyleft?

F-Si specifically advocates for copyleft licensing, not merely "open source," for both software and hardware (when appropriate). Copyleft ensures improvements remain open for everyone. Permissive licences instead allow closing what was once open, depleting the commons and undermining open-source sustainability.

Copyleft for EDA software

In the case of open-source EDA, copyleft licences ensure that progress made by the community remains available for everyone. Permissive licences instead allow proprietary EDA vendors to improve their tools by ingesting open (and sometimes publicly funded) code without disclosing their improvements: every open-source advance becomes a proprietary advance too, and the gap never shrinks.

Copyleft for silicon hardware

Developing silicon is expensive. Companies willing to open-source their designs can rightfully worry that competitors might copy their work without reciprocating. Copyleft addresses this by requiring derivative works to remain open, enabling fair competition while protecting the ecosystem.

We are currently developing the Hardware GPL (HGPL), a copyleft licence for silicon designs compatible with the GNU GPL ecosystem.

What we do

Free Silicon Conference (FSiC)

The Free Silicon Conference is the annual gathering for the open silicon community. FSiC brings together developers of open-source EDA tools, designers of open hardware, researchers, and enthusiasts to share progress and chart the future of free silicon.

Unlike industry conferences dominated by commercial vendors, FSiC focuses on truly open tools and designs — projects that anyone can use, study, and improve.

Editions:

• FSiC2026 (upcoming)
• FSiC2025
• FSiC2024
• FSiC2023
• FSiC2022
• FSiC2019

Policy and advocacy

We engage with policymakers to promote open silicon and digital sovereignty:

• January 2020 — Published a white paper for the European Commission with recommendations on free and open-source silicon hardware.
• November 2023 — Our Italian sister association published a roadmap for the European Commission on open-source silicon development in Europe.^[1]

Community support

We support the open silicon community by:

• Packaging EDA tools in GNU Guix
• Maintaining an EDA toolchain directory
• Curating a database of theses on chip design and EDA
• Encouraging applications to funding programmes such as NLnet and the NGI Commons Fund

Education and outreach

We deliver talks at universities and conferences to raise awareness about freedom in hardware and the open-source EDA ecosystem, for example:

• SFSCON, Bolzano^[2]
• TU Dresden Institutskolloquium^[3]
• 37C3 Chaos Communication Congress, Hamburg^[4]
• Sapienza University of Rome^[5]

About the organization

Who we are

The Free Silicon Foundation is managed by:

• Luca Alloatti (president)
• Matthias Köfferlein
• Thomas Kramer

Legal status

F-Si is a Swiss non-profit association founded on 19 December 2018 under Article 60 of the Swiss civil code, registered in Belp (CHE406111485). Its statute mandates strict avoidance of conflicts of interest.

F-Si is a registered participant in European Commission programmes (PIC: 887843232) and is co-funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) under the NGI0 Commons Fund.

Sister organization

The Free Silicon Foundation (I) ETS is an Italian association (PIC: 888891802) that shares F-Si's mission. It received funding under the GoIT project (GA 101070660).

Keep in touch

• Mastodon — social media
• PeerTube — conference recordings
• Codeberg — repositories
• Mailing list — announcements

References