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⇱ Libre-Chip Awarded NLnet Grant To Prototype A CPU That Isn't Vulnerable To Spectre Flaws - Phoronix


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Libre-Chip Awarded NLnet Grant To Prototype A CPU That Isn't Vulnerable To Spectre Flaws

Written by Michael Larabel in Hardware on 20 August 2025 at 04:45 PM EDT. 58 Comments
The Libre-Chip project led by Jacob Lifshay has received a grant from NLNet to develop a prototype/proof-of-concept processor design that can be high performance but not vulnerable to speculative execution vulnerabilities like Spectre.

Libre-Chip is an effort to develop free/libre CPU/GPU designs and supporting software. Jacob Lifshay is leading the Libre-Chip project and he previously was the one working on Vulkan-CPU and Kazan as a CPU-based Vulkan implementation. Joining Libre-Chip as co-founder is Cesar Strauss. Libre-Chip isn't to be confused with the separate Libre-SoC project that appears to be more or less dormant now without having delivered on its main objectives.

Lifshay announced the securing of the €50000 NLnet grant to help in its development:
"Modern computers suffer from a constant stream of new speculative-execution security flaws (Spectre-style bugs). To address this major category of flaws, the Libre-chip team is working towards building a high-performance computer processor (CPU) with speculative execution and working on a mathematical proof that it doesn't suffer from any speculative-execution data leaks, thereby demonstrating that this major category of flaws can be eliminated without crippling the computer's performance.

Libre-Chip has been awarded a € 50000 grant from NLnet to build a fully Libre/Open-source initial proof-of-concept CPU as well as attempting to mathematically prove that that CPU doesn't have any speculative-execution security flaws.

Libre-Chip is a project for creating Free/Libre computer chips, such as CPUs/GPUs and their supporting software."

Those wanting to learn more about the grant can do so here.

Those wishing to learn more about the new Libre-Chip project can do so via Libre-Chip.org.

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.