Open to the core

lowRISC is a not-for-profit company with a full stack engineering team based in Cambridge, UK. We use collaborative engineering to develop and maintain open source silicon designs and tools.

lowRISC Extends UKRI’s Digital Security by Design Programme Support Into Operational Technology

September 12, 2023

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) recently announced that its CHERI-based Digital Security by Design Programme (DSbD) technologies have already demonstrated significant value in sectors where high integrity, resilient, and safety-focused applications are paramount, including avionics, automotive and embedded systems. DSbD aims to provide foundational support to developers centred around a technology enhancement in the central processor (CPU): Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions, or (CHERI). CHERI has the potential to prevent around 2/3rds of current exploits, whilst simultaneously providing new software methods to help maintain the operational resilience and integrity of applications.

Open source

Our work is open and permissively licensed, helping to move the industry forward with flexible, accessible and effective systems and tools. We implement and have expertise in the free and open RISC-V ISA.

Durable technology

lowRISC creates infrastructure which will be used, useful and sustainable for future generations of computer systems, by getting the foundations right and not cutting corners.

Full stack technical excellence

High quality, robust engineering and great documentation are essential to provide useful and maintainable technology. lowRISC create, support and maintain open cores, hardware IP blocks, compiler infrastructure and test and verification systems.

Collaborative engineering

We work closely with others, testing new ideas and developing systems together, and sharing what we learn and build. lowRISC is part of the open technology ecosystem, and fosters inclusive and participatory communities.

Pragmatic

We make choices that enable us to take concrete steps as best we can towards open source silicon being used at scale. lowRISC aims to show that it's entirely possible to develop open source silicon solutions at a quality suitable for large-scale production and deployment.

Independent and
not-for-profit

lowRISC is a neutral home for multi-partner projects delivering verified, high quality IP and tools. This enables shared investment into pre-competitive technology and open standards, providing the solid foundations necessary for the rapid development cycles of next generation silicon products.

Announcing OpenTitan, the first transparent silicon root of trust

We are excited to unveil the OpenTitan silicon root of trust project, a new effort built using the successful collaborative engineering model created by lowRISC in partnership with Google and other commercial and academic partners.

This effort sets a new bar for transparency in trusted silicon, and lowRISC is proud to serve as both steward and not-for-profit engineering contributor to OpenTitan, the world’s first open source silicon root of trust.

Silicon root of trust chips increase trust in the integrity of the infrastructure on which software runs. Open sourcing the silicon design makes it more transparent, trustworthy, and ultimately, secure.

Collaborative engineering for open source silicon.