Open-source software scaled because useful components could be inspected, reused, improved, and recombined.
This note asks whether hardware IP can move in the same direction: reusable cores for Wi-Fi, 5G, USB, accelerators, and system blocks, with enough openness to support a larger ecosystem.
Open-hardware noteOriginally posted 2021-04-18; expanded here around reusable IP cores.
Article focus: open hardware IP, reusable cores, hardware ecosystem scale, and the post-Moore software/hardware analogy.
The Reuse Claim
Hardware reuse is harder than software reuse, but the need is similar. If every team has to rebuild the same communication blocks, arithmetic blocks, interfaces, and verification scaffolding, the ecosystem wastes effort.
Open IP cores could make hardware composition more like software package reuse, while still needing stronger discipline around verification, timing, physical implementation, licensing, and integration.
Useful Boundary
The note does not make openness magic. It names the work required for openness to matter: inspectable RTL, test suites, integration examples, physical constraints, documentation, and trust that a reused block will behave in a real design.