The 2024 State Of Open-Source AMD Firmware

Last year at FOSDEM 2023 there was a presentation on the state of AMD open-source firmware and since then a lot has changed from the AMD openSIL announcement to new platforms being in the process of being enabled. At FOSDEM 2024 this past weekend in Brussels was a fresh look at the current state of AMD open-source firmware.

Michał Żygowski with the 3mdeb consulting firm that focuses on open-source firmware solutions presented at FOSDEM 2024 with this annual AMD open-source firmware update. 3mdeb is behind Dasharo and the Coreboot-based port for modern select Intel-based MSI motherboards, among other open-source firmware accomplishments. They are also the ones behind drinking beers while discussing open-source firmware - an award-winning combination for an event!

Most significant was last year AMD announcing OpenSIL for open-source CPU silicon initialization. AMD openSIL very much remains a work-in-progress but is continuing to be brought up with the hopes of it replacing the proprietary AGESA by ~2026 with Zen 6 processors. AMD openSIL will support not only their server processors too but also the client Ryzen processors in being a complete replacement to AGESA. AMD openSIL is very exciting for the future in allowing more open-source system firmware possibilities and is very much exciting for the future.

Over the past year Coreboot has also begun pulling in openSIL, initial EPYC 9004 "Genoa" support, amdfwtool support for Genoa, and improvements to existing AMD motherboard/chipset targets. Another win in 2023 was AMD making their SEV firmware open-source.

More details as to the current state of AMD open-source firmware support via the FOSDEM 2024 presentation.