Nothing about the POWER8 or IBM&#x27;s process technology implies unbackdoored. I can&#x27;t inspect the factories, or their supply chain, or the HDL they used, or the tools that processed the HDL. The only thing more &quot;open&quot; about POWER8 is firmware in some deployments, and maybe licensing the ISA (if you have enough clout&#x2F;money to join the foundation, I can&#x27;t find any licensing information at all). RISC-V is more interesting in every way, with respect to openness.