Open Source Hardware Companies Rapidly Growing

Just over 5 years ago there were only a handful of companies selling Open Source hardware. Today this number exceeds 200 and some companies are now worth millions of dollars and their growth may even reach over $1 billion by 2015. Manufacturers of Open Source hardware allow modification and redistribution of the products design file by ensuring information is freely accessible. The tools used to create the design are also freely available, so that others can develop and improve as required.

Open Source software is used by millions of people every day eg when using sites such as Google and Facebook, whereas Open Source hardware is still a relatively new market. Some of the larger companies include Beagle Board.org who make a low cost fan-less computer board and SparkFun, created in 2003, who make Educational electronics and already have a revenue of over $10 million. Many more of these open source hardware companies may be worth over $5 million in the next couple of years.

It is estimated that the entire open source hardware market will be over $1 billion dollars by 2015.