ChipForge, operating as Bittensor Subnet SN84, has introduced the world's first decentralized chip-design project, fundamentally changing how hardware for artificial intelligence is developed. The platform, developed as part of the TATSU ecosystem, replaces traditional closed, corporate-funded laboratories with an open, global competition model where engineers ("miners") earn rewards for submitting the best hardware designs.
The initiative tackles the exorbitant costs of traditional chip design, where an average AI system-on-chip (SOC) can require hundreds of millions of dollars, and advanced 5-nanometer and 2-nanometer systems can exceed $500 million to $725 million. ChipForge's model eliminates these barriers by creating an incentive-driven performance market. Miners submit design solutions, and validators evaluate them based on industry standards like power consumption, silicon area, performance, and real-world functionality using professional-grade Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools.
The platform is built on the open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture, which is gaining significant traction and is used by companies like NVIDIA and supported by a $1 billion investment from Intel. This foundation allows engineers to optimize processors without licensing barriers or royalty payments.
ChipForge has already produced tangible results, delivering a full industrial-grade RISC-V processor (RV32IMCK) with integrated cryptographic capabilities. The design is a full synthesizable RTL ready for FPGA deployment and future fabrication. The project's codebase was released on GitHub in September 2025, providing detailed guides for miners and validators.
Looking ahead, ChipForge's roadmap focuses on hardware-software co-design and Edge AI accelerator development. The next phase targets Neural Processing Units (NPUs) optimized for low power consumption, low latency, and compact size, catering to the exploding Edge AI market projected to grow from $20.78 billion in 2024 to $66.47 billion by 2030. The project also plans to integrate post-quantum cryptographic capabilities and transition designs into real silicon via Google's OpenMPW shuttles.
By decentralizing a market historically controlled by a few large corporations, ChipForge aims to democratize innovation, significantly reduce costs, and accelerate the development of hardware critical for the next generation of AI and autonomous systems.
