← Back to context

Comment by rbanffy

7 years ago

> Open hardware is never going to be the free lunch that open source software is..

Unless we can automate the chip making process. Think of it as the chip version of PCB micromanufacture or 3D printing. At some point someone will make a business out of making boards and placing all the components for you. The trick is to do it without any retooling and no humans involved.

What is the manufacturing cost of a wafer full of, say, CPUs? If we can all get our designs in there, we can share the manufacturing cost.

2 comments

rbanffy

Reply
pjc50  7 years ago

> What is the manufacturing cost of a wafer full of, say, CPUs? If we can all get our designs in there, we can share the manufacturing cost.

This is called "multi project wafer" or "shuttle service" if you want to look for it.

Actual prices are pretty rare, but I happened to find some: https://nmi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/01-Easy-Access... ; those line up with what I've heard. $25,000 for a few chips from the MPW service, or $100k for your own mask set then $1-2k per wafer.