# Vensa — a nonprofit advancing open silicon

Source: https://vensa.si
Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Vensa-a-nonprofit-advancing-open-silicon?index=0x6af8c1213825d65628e3f8b2bdd38492c86ec5143b3a5fc3ab4acd5ef7368fd2d5a2b525
Submitted by misha on 2026-11-14 UTC, 1 upvote, 0 comments

## Summary

Vensa is a nonprofit launching a long-term philanthropic project in 2026 to grow Open Silicon, an open alternative to proprietary chip design and manufacturing. The article argues that chip design is currently costly and secretive, with a new mid-range chip costing tens of millions of dollars and involving dozens of proprietary inputs, so only the most profitable designs get made. Vensa says Open Silicon is not yet performant enough to compete with closed alternatives, and it plans to focus on free and open IP, PDKs and design tooling, affordable tape-outs, and growing the movement.

## Article

Hello, world.

Microchips are the substrate of modern civilization, but making them is out of reach for most.

Decades of chasing Moore's Law have produced an object that is incredibly powerful, yet expensive, complex, and secretive.

Designing and fabricating a new mid-range chip can cost tens of millions of dollars and involve dozens of proprietary inputs and intermediaries.

As a result, only the most profitable designs get made. World-changing ideas never see the light of day.

And that's not to count the geopolitical and cybersecurity vulnerabilities that lie downstream of silicon's inaccessibility.

Something this important shouldn't be this hard to make.

The Open Silicon movement holds the most promise for democratizing chip design and improving the safety and sovereignty of computers.

Open Silicon is to chips what open-source software is to code: free tools, IP, and manufacturing knowledge that anyone can use, inspect, and improve.

But Open Silicon is not yet performant enough to compete with closed alternatives. We believe that this can change.

Starting in 2026, Vensa is setting out on a long-term philanthropic project to grow Open Silicon into a thriving, parallel ecosystem for making chips.

We will focus on three strategies:

Free and open IP, PDKs, and design tooling

Affordable tape-outs

Growing the Open Silicon movement

We're looking for the best ideas and talent to carry out this work.

Reach out to us at hi@vensa.si