Minima is targeting physical chip prototypes by the end of Phase 3 Arm, Siemens, and the University of Southampton are all involved this just got very real so there’s a line in Minima’s Q3 update that caught my attention because it changes how i think about the Minima on Chip programme. Phase 3 has now been confirmed, with the programme targeting two major outcomes: tape out and physical prototypes if you’re not familiar with chip development, tape out basically means the chip design has reached the point where it’s sent to a manufacturer to be physically produced and physical prototypes means actual silicon this is different from another simulation, and it is not another research paper it is an actual hardware with Minima’s verification capabilities designed into it this is undoubtedly a pretty significant jump from where this programme started Phase 1 and Phase 2 were about proving that Minima could run on low power embedded hardware and validating the architecture this Phase 3 is about taking what worked and pushing it toward custom silicon and the partners make this even more interesting Arm brings the chip architecture already used across smartphones, vehicles and embedded systems Siemens brings experience across industrial automation, energy infrastructure and connected systems the University of Southampton brings the research side of the programme. so this isn’t Minima trying to build a chip in isolation it’s working with organisations that already operate across the hardware and industrial stack and if Minima eventually gets its verification capabilities into production silicon, the results are pretty interesting a device wouldn’t necessarily need to install a separate software layer to participate in the network the verification capability could exist at the hardware level itself that’s the bigger idea behind Minima on Chip. it’s not just about putting Minima on more devices but making the hardware itself part of the infrastructure i don’t know exactly what the final prototype will look like, or how quickly this moves from prototype to commercial deployment but tape out by the end of Phase 3 is the milestone that makes this feel considerably less theoretical we’re no longer just talking about whether Minima can run on a chip. we’re talking about whether Minima can help make the chip part of the network.