When the first open SkyWater 130nm PDK came out, with Google paying for free shuttle runs I did wonder how long the money would keep going. I assumed they'd fund a handful of shuttles in the hope that kick starts wider usage.

With this announcement and the other SkyWater 90nm they're bringing out (https://opensource.googleblog.com/2022/07/SkyWater-and-Googl...) it looks like they're keen to fund this for the long haul which is fantastic news.

I think there's great potential in open silicon but precious little of it around right now. Open tooling is still in early development stages in particular for implementation flows (i.e. actually producing a silicon layout from your RTL design). Development here is stifled by how closed this world is. Open PDKs, that can be used for real chips, are a great boon and I hope will really accelerate developments.