The problem is that we don't really need more digital. Digital is covered--there is a 99% probability that you can abuse somebody's microcontroller to do what you need if what you need is digital.
That isn't true if your need is analog or RF. If the thing you need is even slightly off the beaten path, you're simply out of luck.
The big problem with those right now is DRC (design rule checking), LVS (logical vs schematic), and parasitic extraction. Magic wasn't even good back in the 90s, and technology moving forwards has simply made it even less good.
The issue is that funding for the open source EDA stuff mostly comes from the US DoD, and the US DoD is only funding all this because they want to somehow magically make digital hardware design a commodity so that their projects somehow magically get cheaper.
The problem, of course, is that the primary reason US DoD chip runs are so damn expensive is that they are stupidly low volume so all the NRE costs dominate. Even worse, everybody in government contracting knows that your funding is whimsical, so you frontload the hell out of everything to minimize your funding risk. So, you have big upfront costs multiplied by a big derisking factor.
The real solution would be for the DoD to pull this stuff in house somewhere--software, design and manufacturing. But that goes against the whole "Outsource All The Things(tm)!" mantra of modern US government.
alt Hacker News
Sorta.
The problem is that we don't really need more digital. Digital is covered--there is a 99% probability that you can abuse somebody's microcontroller to do what you need if what you need is digital.
That isn't true if your need is analog or RF. If the thing you need is even slightly off the beaten path, you're simply out of luck.
The big problem with those right now is DRC (design rule checking), LVS (logical vs schematic), and parasitic extraction. Magic wasn't even good back in the 90s, and technology moving forwards has simply made it even less good.
The issue is that funding for the open source EDA stuff mostly comes from the US DoD, and the US DoD is only funding all this because they want to somehow magically make digital hardware design a commodity so that their projects somehow magically get cheaper.
The problem, of course, is that the primary reason US DoD chip runs are so damn expensive is that they are stupidly low volume so all the NRE costs dominate. Even worse, everybody in government contracting knows that your funding is whimsical, so you frontload the hell out of everything to minimize your funding risk. So, you have big upfront costs multiplied by a big derisking factor.
The real solution would be for the DoD to pull this stuff in house somewhere--software, design and manufacturing. But that goes against the whole "Outsource All The Things(tm)!" mantra of modern US government.