Open-source  ·  RISC-V  ·  CI/CD

RTL commit
to booted Linux
automatically.

iChip is the first open-source CI/CD platform that unifies RISC-V chip design, RTL verification, and QEMU software deployment into one automated pipeline — triggered by a single git push.

RTL CORE VERIFICATION ENGINE MEMORY / CACHE SUBSYSTEM QEMU / SW CI PIPELINE KernelCI iChip RISC-V SoC — rev 0.1
input
git push (RTL)
stage 1
OpenLane DRC / LVS
stage 2
RTL Verification
stage 3
FPGA Board Testing
stage 4
QEMU Linux Boot
output
GitHub ✓ + KernelCI
How it works

Four stages. One automated pipeline.

Each stage produces versioned, SHA-256-hashed artifacts consumed by the next. Every stage is independently re-runnable and fully observable.

Stage 01
Chip Design
RTL → GDS

Push Verilog or Chisel. OpenLane 2 runs synthesis, place-and-route, DRC, and LVS automatically. Design metrics — area, timing slack, cell count, power estimate — are captured as JSON artifacts. GitHub Check reports pass/fail within 60 minutes.

OpenLane 2OpenROADYosys Magic DRCNetgen LVSKLayout SKY130 / GF180 PDK
Stage 02
RTL Verification
4-Layer Coverage

Layer 1: lint + directed tests (~5 min) on every PR. Layer 2: riscv-arch-test ISA compliance on merge. Layer 3: 1000+ random instruction co-simulation with Verilator vs Spike step-and-compare, nightly. Layer 4: formal property checking with SymbiYosys on release gates.

VerilatorcocotbSpike ISS riscv-arch-testriscv-dvSymbiYosys lcov
Stage 03
FPGA Board Testing
Real Silicon Validation

iChip Cloud provides remote access to a pool of hosted FPGA boards — Xilinx ZCU102, Digilent Arty A7, and AMD VCK190. Your verified RTL is synthesised and programmed automatically. Real-silicon timing, GPIO, and peripheral behaviour are validated before any tapeout commitment.

Xilinx ZCU102Digilent Arty A7AMD VCK190 Vivado / VitisOpenFPGALAVA jtag-remote
Stage 04
QEMU Deployment
Linux Boot Matrix

Boot a matrix of OS images on QEMU virt plus bare-metal RISC-V nodes after every verified build. Ubuntu 24.04, Debian riscv64, Buildroot, Zephyr, FreeRTOS. Results published automatically to KernelCI. Full software stack validated end-to-end.

QEMU 10.xOpenSBIU-Boot KernelCIUbuntu 24.04Buildroot Zephyr RTOS
600+
OpenROAD tapeouts — all wired manually. iChip automates them.
62B
RISC-V cores forecast — software pipeline still a gap
€40M
EU funding for open-source EDA tooling, 2025 roadmap
500+
Academics signed the open-source EDA for academia letter
Why iChip

The tools exist.
The pipeline doesn't.

OpenLane, Verilator, Spike, and QEMU are mature and battle-tested. Nobody has connected them into a single, CI-native, automated workflow. That's what iChip builds.

One commit, full pipeline

A single git push triggers all three stages in sequence. Artifacts flow automatically with SHA-256 integrity and a full lineage DAG you can query from the CLI.

Open toolchain, no lock-in

Built entirely on Apache 2.0 open-source tools. No proprietary EDA licences required. Supports SKY130, GF180MCU, and IHP-SG13G2 open PDKs.

Shift-left verification

Lightweight checks on every PR. Heavy random testing and formal verification on nightly and release builds. Fast feedback where it matters most.

Real hardware testing

Stage 3 runs on bare-metal RISC-V nodes — Scaleway EM-RV1 and RISE Runners — not just x86 QEMU. Catch silicon-specific bugs before your tapeout.

Artifact lineage graph

Every GDS, netlist, coverage report, and boot log is a node in a queryable DAG. Trace exactly which RTL commit produced which chip, verification, and OS boot.

Community-first

Open-source projects get free compute. Aligned with RISC-V International, CHIPS Alliance, FOSSi Foundation, and the RISE Project. Upstream-first always.

Who it serves

Built for the open silicon community.

From first-time chip designers to professional verification teams — iChip removes the pipeline setup burden for everyone.

01
Open-source RISC-V core developers

Teams building CVA6, VeeR, PicoRV32, and custom cores. Currently wiring up verification manually per project. iChip gives them a standard harness in minutes, not weeks.

02
University researchers and students

Academic teams who need to submit chip designs, run verification, and boot software without infrastructure teams. Publication-ready results built in.

03
TinyTapeout and chipIgnite participants

Hobbyists and first-time designers. Automated DRC/LVS compliance testing before submission — before you spend the slot fee finding out it fails.

04
Semiconductor startups

Early-stage teams building custom RISC-V SoCs who cannot afford Cadence or Synopsys licences. A managed, professional CI/CD pipeline at a fraction of the cost.

Technology stack

100% open source.
Production-grade.

Every tool is battle-tested in real silicon flows. We integrate them — we don't reinvent them. Apache 2.0 all the way through.

Chip design
OpenLane 2 — RTL-to-GDS
OpenROAD — floorplan, PnR
Yosys — synthesis
Magic — DRC + extraction
Netgen — LVS
KLayout — GDS viewer
SKY130 / GF180 — PDKs
RTL verification
Verilator 5.x — simulation
cocotb — Python testbenches
Spike — ISA reference model
riscv-arch-test — compliance
riscv-dv — random instr. gen
SymbiYosys — formal checks
lcov / gcovr — coverage
QEMU / deployment
QEMU 10.x — system emulation
OpenSBI 1.5 — firmware
U-Boot — bootloader
KernelCI — kernel CI
LAVA — HW test automation
Ubuntu / Debian — OS images
Zephyr / FreeRTOS — RTOS
Platform
FastAPI — orchestration API
Redis — event bus
PostgreSQL — lineage store
Kubernetes — worker pods
MinIO / S3 — artifact store
GitHub Actions — CI hooks
React — web dashboard
Get started

Stop wiring pipelines.
Start shipping chips.

iChip is open-source and free for public projects. Drop a ichip.yaml in your repo and go.

Contact us → Visit iChip.in →
Free for open-source projects
No proprietary EDA licences needed
Apache 2.0 — fully open
Works with SKY130, GF180, IHP PDKs
FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

Everything you need to know about iChip before you get started.