VIPS-TC students transition OpenPOWER CPU design to fabricated silicon

Students from the Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies–Technical Campus (VIPS-TC) in Delhi have successfully transitioned their OpenFPGA–Microwatt CPU design from development to fabricated silicon. The B. Tech VLSI student team achieved this milestone after securing a winning position in the OpenPOWER HW Design Hackathon 2025.

The chip was fabricated and QFN-packaged by ChipFoundry in San Francisco using the SkyWater 130-nm process design kit (PDK). The resulting hardware is designed to support rapid prototyping of hardware-software co-designs on a single device, offering students practical experience across the entire semiconductor development flow.

This project, supported by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s Chips to Startup (C2S) initiative, provides students with access to industry-grade EDA tools from companies such as Cadence, Synopsys, and AMD. The achievement is noted as a contribution to strengthening India’s semiconductor talent ecosystem and practical chip design capabilities.