PowerCommons

The PowerCommons project treats computing infrastructure as a commons—open, composable, and collectively maintained—built on the OpenPOWER architecture. It emerges from a recognition that computational infrastructure shapes society as fundamentally as roads, utilities, and communications networks. When this infrastructure is opaque and privately controlled, democratic oversight becomes impossible. We are building the alternative: infrastructure that is transparently operated and publicly auditable by design. This philosophy is backed by architectural depth: a composable platform where cores and components can be selected and combined freely for any given use case. The long-term vision is a fully sovereign, open alternative to x86 and ARM across the entire computing spectrum: from embedded and IoT devices, through mobile and laptops, to workstations, servers, and high-performance computing.

The A2O Core Revival project restores full functionality to IBM's A2O processor core and lays the foundation of that composable platform. It addresses build system incompatibilities with modern toolchains, resolves critical timing and synthesis issues, and establishes a reproducible LiteX SoC integration capable of booting Linux on modern Xilinx FPGA platforms (Zynq and VCU-118). Deliverables include simulation and testbench infrastructure, initial open-toolchain synthesis flows targeting the IHP 130nm open PDK, comprehensive documentation, and a roadmap for ISA modernization toward Power ISA 3.1C compliance.