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AMD leaves Linux FPGA users in the lurch with controversial Vivado licensing update — new tier model restricts future free versions to Windows

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AMD leaves Linux FPGA users in the lurch with controversial Vivado licensing update — new tier model restricts future free versions to Windows

AMD leaves Linux FPGA users in the lurch with controversial Vivado licensing update — new tier model restricts future free versions to Windows

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By Zak Killian published

Users are not happy

AMD has been accused of 'bait-and-switch' tactics following changes to the licensing of Vivado on Linux. As reported by It's Foss, AMD has decided that Linux users of the Vivado chip design environment need to pay up or stick with an older version that will become unsupported soon.

For the uninitiated, Vivado is AMD's proprietary design suite used to program Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). These special chips can be rewired via software to mimic nearly any kind of computer hardware. This makes them invaluable for simulations and design testing. If you are designing, simulating, or testing custom circuits for AI, aerospace, or advanced electronics, Vivado is the gateway to making that hardware actually work.

The core of the outrage stems from a change in Vivado's upcoming 2026.1 update. Previously, the free "Standard" tier supported both Windows and Linux. Under the new tiered model, the free "Basic" tier is restricted entirely to Windows. If you want to use Vivado natively on Linux, you'll be forced to step up to the "Core" tier, which demands an eye-watering $1,200 to $1,800 annual subscription.

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(Image credit: Future)

AMD's defense on its community forums has also not landed well. The company claimed that 70% of Vivado users are on Windows anyway, alienating the academic researchers, engineering students, and open-source hobbyists who heavily favor Linux-native environments and rely on free tools to learn the trade.

A forum representative for the company stated, "No one is stopping users (students, etc.) to continue using the current versions of Vivado (any Vivado version prior 2026.1)," and developing using the free Vivado ML Standard Edition, arguing that it was only if users decided to update that they'd need the license.

"I guess no one involved in this decision thought about the millions of hobbyists and amateurs like myself using Vivado for their hobby projects," one disgruntled user replied. Another noted that many users are already discussing moving to alternate platforms like Lattice and Altera due to these changes.

AMD's forum representative confirmed they were "collecting all the feedback received and passing on to the relevant team/marketing" at AMD, leaving the door ajar for a possible change to this policy down the line.

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Zak Killian
Zak Killian
Contributor

Zak is a freelance contributor to Tom's Hardware with decades of PC benchmarking experience who has also written for HotHardware and The Tech Report. A modern-day Renaissance man, he may not be an expert on anything, but he knows just a little about nearly everything.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • usertests
    AMD's defense on its community forums has also not landed well. The company claimed that 70% of Vivado users are on Windows anyway, alienating the academic researchers, engineering students, and open-source hobbyists who heavily favor Linux-native environments and rely on free tools to learn the trade.
    That's a big Linux share, not the usual 1-5%.

    AMD's forum representative confirmed they were "collecting all the feedback received and passing on to the relevant team/marketing" at AMD, leaving the door ajar for a possible change to this policy down the line.
    That's how it works with AMD. You shout at them until they undo their latest dumb decision.
    Reply
  • gamerk316
    usertests said:
    That's a big Linux share, not the usual 1-5%.
    While I am not in any way a Linux fanboy, the use of Linux in the aerospace industry (where Xilinx now AMD found its footing) has a much higher then average use of Linux.
    Reply
  • LordVile
    usertests said:
    That's a big Linux share, not the usual 1-5%.


    That's how it works with AMD. You shout at them until they undo their latest dumb decision.
    It’s used more in research due to increased performance on bespoke software. I dual booted Linux at university as it significantly sped up the molecular modelling software they used.
    Reply
  • qxp
    Disappointing. It would be better to use open source tools, of course. Is the bitstream format still proprietary?
    Reply
  • suryasans
    AMD is becoming another bad guy for Linux community. Well, it's a corporate greed as usual.
    Reply
  • cp0x
    It's a bit weird how people feel entitled to get other people's work for free.

    This is a stupid and unnecessary change by AMD, but that doesn't negate the fact that it's still a bit weird that people feel entitled to get other people's work for free.
    Reply


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