News DARPA funds open silicon initiatives

POSH is the 'open silicon initiative', IDEA is a possibly more ambitious* initiative for end-to-end automated design and production for entire assemblies. Input spec (e.g. Ethernet interface, audio output with min spec, power by xV rail) and it will spit out a completed parts list, complete routed circuit board, assembly instructions, etc. And not just for simple projects, the Phase 2 target is automated design of an entire Open Compute Project server. That's bonkers!
Even if IDEA is not able to hit all its program goals, just the comprehensive open GDSII database of parts will be valuable for hardware design.

* SoC building via modular IP blocks is something many vendors already offer, the challenge is to convince them to publish enough of the implementation details to make them interoperable under one umbrella.