Down Underflow 2026
The FOSSi Foundation is proud to announce the inaugural installment of Down Underflow, a conference dedicated to free and open source silicon to be held in the southern hemisphere over the weekend of Saturday February 28 and Sunday March 1st, 2026 in Sydney, Australia.
Down Underflow is a weekend of presentations and networking for the open source silicon community. Browse through previous installments of FOSSi Foundation events, the shape of which Down Underflow will take, here.
Questions? Ping the organizers via email at downunderflow@fossi-foundation.org.
Register
Registration for Down Underflow 2026 has been closed as we are at capacity.
Note that registration is mandatory to attend. We will not permit entry to anyone who has not registered, as prior-registration of attendees is a condition of using the venue.
Submit a talk
We can probably still fit in a talk or two if you have something you'd like to present.
Please get in touch via email if you would like to submit a presentation proposal.
Suitable topics are your work on, with or around open source semiconductor IP, tooling, flows. Even if "all" you've done is successfully (or not!) implement an open source IP or tool, come and share, we'd love to hear your story!
Code of conduct
We expect all Down Underflow participants to adhere to the the FOSSi Foundation code of conduct throughout the event.
Let's talk!
Join the #downunderflow2026:fossi-foundation.org Matrix room to chat with other participants at the conference, share additional information about the talks, about traveling to and from Sydney, and what else comes to your mind!
Venue
Down Underflow 2026 will be held at the offices of Morse Micro in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia. It is at most a 10 minute walk from Sydney's Central Station.
Details for access to the venue on the day will be emailed to attendees after registering for the event via the link above.
Social event
Saturday evening after the talks at the conference venue have finished we will put on drinks and a dinner for the conference attendees. The venue will be walking distance from the conference site.
Supporters
We thank all our sponsors, exhibitors, and all participants who donated by buying a Pay-what-you-want or Professional Ticket.
Down Underflow is free to attend, but we aim to provide catering and the like during the event. Down Underflow is also a great way to get your company or brand in front of lots of engineers and hackers on the day, and thousands more through recordings of the event.
A variety of sponsorship packages are available for this year's Down Underflow. You'll find all of the details in our sponsorship prospectus.
Please get in touch at downunderflow@fossi-foundation.org if you'd like to explore sponsorship opportunities.
A variety of sponsorship packages are available for this year's Down Underflow.
Down Underflow is organized by volunteers on behalf of the FOSSi Foundation. We are currently looking for more people to help out with arrangements and putting on the event, so please do email us if you would like to volunteer for during the event with setup, AV, or even just local knowledge so we can plan the weekend better.
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Schedule
Saturday, Feb 28: Conference and social event
Sunday, March 1: Tiny Tapeout Workshop
Tiny Tapeout free workshop: Learn, design, and fab your own silicon project
Sponsored by IQonIC Works Pty Ltd (an ASTC company)
Led by Anton Maurovic
Time: 10:00 until 14:30
Location: Same venue as Down Underflow
Tiny Tapeout workshop is now at capacity. Thanks to the greater-than-anticipated interest, the workshop is now full.
Tiny Tapeout enables what seemed impossible: Have something of your own design fabricated on a real silicon chip, even if you have no experience.
Using just a web browser on your laptop, we'll guide you to completion in 4 hours (plus lunch) using the open source flow. 15 free tapeout slots are up for grabs, thanks to sponsorship by Australian ASIC design firm, IQonIC Works Pty Ltd -- Tapeout submission criteria to be decided closer to the event, but even the simplest designs by total beginners are eligible for fabrication on the next Tiny Tapeout community open source chip (available separately for purchase in a dev/demo kit).
Beginners can drag and drop simple logic gates. Personalise an example project, or create your own from scratch. More experienced or ambitious? Let's talk Verilog. See the precise, microscopic 3D structures that your design turns into. Try out your design with simulation and tests. Push that "submit project" button and feel the rush of being part of a big community making something ultra tiny (but a big deal). Maybe nab some Tiny Tapeout swag while you're at it!
The coordinator will email registrants with a confirmation email containing further details on how to prepare for the workshop.
Talks
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