Tiny Tapeout gets 150 ASIC submissions in 5 days

Success of the educational project was due to unprecedented ease of access to ASIC design tools.

At ChipFlow we’re enabling software engineers to make chips, so it was interesting for us to see how well received TinyTapeout out was when it launched last week.

TinyTapeout is an educational project that aims to make it easier and cheaper than ever to get your digital designs manufactured on a real chip. Even though it’s only in a trial phase, it still attracted 150 submissions in just 5 days. 

120 of the submissions were made through Wokwi, an online circuit editor and simulator. These people did the entire submission process online, with a browser - no tool install or download required.

The remaining 30 people used other HDLs like Verilog, Amaranth, Chisel or XLS. 

Nobody needed to set up or install the ASIC tools, and no-one signed an NDA to use the PDK.

Even though the project is just getting started, this early success clearly shows that people are keen to explore ASIC design and manufacture. Lowering the barrier to entry is key to get more people involved.

We’ve seen both the US and EU chips explicitly mention the skills shortage and lack of training options. Could projects like TinyTapeout help get more young people involved in microelectronics? If so, it’s thanks to open source EDA that it's even possible in the first place.