HSA Foundation Membership FAQ

You will find answers to many of your questions here. If you can’t find the information you need, you may contact us through our contact page.

How do I get involved?

The HSA Foundation has many levels individuals or companies can join: Promoter, Supporter, Contributor, or Associate, as well as memberships for Academia.

How do I apply for membership and get access to the membership agreement?

Send an email to membership@hsafoundation.com

What are the benefits of the HSA Foundation membership?

In addition to the many benefits outlined on the membership benefits page, members receive the following benefits:

License to key heterogeneous computing IP
Path to continuous innovation to drive products
Lowers member’s cost of development of HSA based solutions by leveraging partner based model of development
Heavily leverage existing member’s investment in CPU and GPU architecture's tool chains and operating systems
Strong ecosystem of developers to drive consumer adoption of products

Which industry constituents might be interested in the HSA Foundations work?

Because of the broad reach of the HSA Foundation’s work, a range of stakeholders may be interested in participation.

Semiconductor IP Houses
Integrated Design Manufactures (IDM)
Foundries
Fabless Semiconductor Houses
Design Tools Vendors
Design Services Houses
System On Chip (SOC) Vendors
Original Design Manufactures (ODM)
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM)
Independent Hardware Vendors (IHV)
Operating System Vendor ( OSV)
Tools and Middleware Vendors
Independent Software Vendors (ISV)
Open Source Developers
Academia

How does the HSA Foundation benefit members?

The HSA Foundation’s work delivers benefits to a range of member participants in the heterogeneous systems and parallel computing ecosystem. Below are just a few examples of the benefits our work provides to different groups.

Stakeholders	Benefits
Semiconductor	Neutral platform governance gives vendors the opportunity to influence heterogeneous architecture standards Ability lower to development cost for critical runtime foundations Technical sustainability of HSA via close alignment with key industry initiatives Diverse application ecosystem
Platform & OS Vendors	Commercial Sustainability via multiple semiconductor members' support Foundation that opens up innovative solutions to drive differentiation Diverse application ecosystem
Device Manufacturers	Commercial sustainability via multiple semiconductor members' support Foundation that opens up innovative solutions to drive differentiation Strong platform & OS support
ISVs & Developers	Programming environment for advanced innovation Large addressable market Diverse routes to market Ability to contribute to HSA future in verticals of interest Commercial sustainability via strong commitments of HSA members

How does the HSA Foundation development process work?

The Board of the Directors, comprised of Founder members, and a limited number of Promoter Members, will ratify all final specifications, SDK’s and external materials. The Board will also set the strategy, budget and policy for the HSA Foundation.

The techincal working groups include Founder, Promoter, Supporter, and Contributor Members, each of whom have voting rights in the group (1 vote per company). Academic members may also participate in the working group but do not have voting rights.

The HSAIL Programmers Reference Manual, HSA Software Systems Architecture Reference, and developer educational materials are publicly available. The HSA Hardware System Architecture Specification is made available only to HSA Foundation Members.

Does the HSA Foundation make money?

The HSA Foundation is a not-for-profit organization funded solely by member dues.

HSA Founder Members make money from selling products enabled by standards, not from charging for the standard itself.