By having a rise of reconfigurable logic devices]], the sharing of logic designs is also a form of Open Hardware. Instead of sharing the schematics, HDL code is shared. This is different from Open Source Software. HDL descriptions are commonly used to set up SoC systems either in FPGAs or directly in ASIC designs. HDL modules, when distributed, are called "cores" or "IP" (intellectual property).

Notable projects and collections
Open Hardware (OH) is a part of the GNU project in which hardware designers share their work by disclosing the schematics and software (GNU drivers) used in their designs.

Open Hardware designers meet, discuss what they are doing and ask each other for assistance in finding parts, or seek ideas to solve design problems. OH is also an opportunity to exhibit designs, so some may learn from what others have done.

OpenCores is a foundation that attempts to form a community of designers to support open-source cores (logic designs) for CPUs, peripherals and other devices. OpenCores maintains an open-source on-chip interconnection bus specification called Wishbone.

OpenRISC is a group of developers working to produce a very high performance open source RISC CPU- one sufficiently good that there is no need to apologize for any part of its design.