Silicon Requirements Assessment
SiliconAIR Phase 0: mission description to a complete silicon requirements and compliance specification. A different product — and a different price point — from Hardware Trust.
Why this engagement exists
Program offices can describe a mission but not the silicon that delivers it. Requirements scoping, compliance cross-referencing, and NRE baselining are still manual, late, and inconsistent — so programs enter acquisition with incomplete requirements, discover export-control and trust constraints mid-flight, and re-baseline under pressure.
What it looks like in your organization
- Requirements documents are assembled manually and differ from review to review.
- Export-control, trust, and anti-tamper constraints surface after design work begins.
- NRE and make-vs-buy economics are estimated informally, if at all.
- Acquisition packages go forward without a defensible silicon requirements baseline.
What we do and how it works
We run SiliconAIR Phase 0 for the chip or program you name: automated requirements capture from the mission description, framework cross-references, NRE and make-vs-buy economics, and a program-office decision package. Each program is a Phase 0 unit at $75,000. This is a scoping engine for silicon that does not yet have a complete requirements baseline — not a posture assessment of existing systems.
The engagement includes
- Mission framing workshop: platform, environment, threat, and constraints
- Phase 0 requirements capture across hardware dimensions
- Compliance and export-control cross-referencing
- NRE and make-vs-buy economics baseline
- Program-office decision package built for acquisition
What you take away
Every deliverable is named, formatted, and tied to the outcome it enables. Nothing ships as a deck with no use.
Phase 0 silicon requirements baseline
Requirements specificationThe complete requirements baseline for the chip or program: performance, trust, provenance, and the hardware dimensions that drive NRE and export control.
The program enters acquisition with a defensible, structured requirements baseline instead of a manually assembled document.
Compliance cross-reference and roadmap
Crosswalk + roadmapExport-control, trust, and assurance regimes mapped to the requirements, with a roadmap for staying compliant as the program evolves.
Compliance constraints are known before design begins, not discovered mid-program.
NRE / make-vs-buy economics baseline
Economics analysisNon-recurring engineering estimates and make-vs-buy comparison grounded in the requirements, not in vendor quotes alone.
The program office can defend budget and sourcing decisions with quantified economics.
Program-office decision package
Decision packageRequirements, compliance, and economics assembled the way a PMO needs them for acquisition review — not a workshop readout.
The package goes into acquisition processes as-is, saving a re-packaging cycle.
How this engagement runs
Frame the mission
Week 1You describe the platform, operating environment, threat, and constraints. We turn that into a structured silicon profile that drives everything downstream.
The mission is captured precisely enough to generate real requirements.
Scope requirements
Weeks 1–2Phase 0 capture runs across the hardware dimensions that drive NRE, export control, and trust: performance, assurance, provenance, and lifecycle.
A complete requirements baseline, structured and traceable to the mission.
Cross-reference and cost
Weeks 2–3Frameworks and export-control regimes are mapped to the requirements, and the economics baseline (NRE, make-vs-buy) is produced so the program office can decide.
Constraints and costs are known together — the two inputs a program decision actually needs.
Decision package
Weeks 3–4Everything is assembled into a decision package a PMO can take into acquisition. We close with a readout to the program office and stakeholders.
The program office holds an acquisition-ready package, not a study to be reworked.
How the fee is built
The engagement fee moves on three multipliers — sensitivity, involvement, and organization type — and the platform units the work consumes are their own lines. Nothing is hidden inside a flat number.
Sensitivity
×0.90 – ×1.30 on the engagement feeSensitivity sets the handling envelope around the whole engagement: how data moves, where evidence lives, who can touch it, and what containment we must maintain. Higher sensitivity means cleared handling, segregated evidence, and slower, more deliberate operations — real cost that a flat fee would hide.
Open information. Standard handling, no containment overhead.
Proprietary business information. NDA-grade handling and controlled evidence storage.
Compliance-bound data. Framework controls and audit-ready evidence handling shape the work.
Defense-grade pathways. Cleared handling, boundary containment, and evidence segregation inside your perimeter.
Involvement
×0.85 – ×1.35 on the engagement feeInvolvement is how much Multipolar operator time is on the hook. Counsel at checkpoints is a different commitment than embedded delivery inside your team, your systems, and your cadence. The multiplier tracks senior hours actually committed — not a markup.
We advise and interpret; your team executes. Senior counsel at defined checkpoints.
We run the engagement end to end, with your stakeholders at the decision points.
Embedded delivery. Our operators work inside your team until the outcome is actually in place.
Organization type
×0.85 – ×1.25 on the engagement feeThe same technical work lands differently depending on who is buying it. Federal and defense engagements carry procurement, compliance, security review, and stakeholder alignment that a mid-market engagement does not. The multiplier prices the coordination and accountability surface, not the analysis.
Fewer stakeholders, faster decisions, lighter coordination overhead.
The baseline: standard commercial engagement surface.
Public-sector procurement and multi-agency stakeholder surface.
Investment-platform cadence: deal-driven timelines and IC audiences.
Joint-delivery and enablement motions with partner delivery teams.
Assurance functions: evidence standards and underwriting audiences.
Federal procurement, compliance crosswalks, and multi-office alignment.
Mission-critical review, security handling, and acquisition-process alignment.
Scope & scale of platform units
The largest component of most totalsEvery engagement consumes platform units — CYBAIR workloads, AIR organization bands, GENOMIA twins, WINS scenarios, SiliconAIR systems. Units track your estate, not our appetite for flat pricing: an 8-workload assessment and a 50-workload assessment are different engagements and are priced as such. You set the scope in the configurator; the total moves with it, and nothing is quietly under-scoped to fit a number.
Simulation compute
Estimated until configured · billed on actualsWINS simulations carry real compute costs that scale with scenario count, branching depth, and campaign length. A focused single-scenario game and a sustained multi-agent campaign are orders of magnitude apart. Facilitation and after-action are in the fee; compute is estimated once the game is configured, then billed on actuals — you pay for what actually runs, never a padded average.
Platform units in this engagement
Units track your estate, not our appetite for flat pricing. You set the scope; the total moves with it. Each unit below is consumed by this engagement and billed as its own line.
The full SiliconAIR requirements scoping engine for one chip or program: mission to requirements baseline, compliance cross-reference, and NRE economics.
The number of chip or hardware programs that need a complete requirements baseline. Each program is its own scoping engagement.
What the engagement fee covers
- Scoping, workshops, and interpretation
- Every deliverable listed on this page
- Cross-framework mapping where the package includes compliance
- Executive translation — board, program-office, or IC language
- Handoff and a defensible next-step recommendation
What it does not cover
- Platform units consumed by the work (shown as their own lines)
- WINS simulation compute (estimated, then billed on actuals)
Frequently asked questions
Hardware Trust is posture on systems you already run, billed at $15,000 per system. This is Phase 0 for a chip or program that does not yet have a complete requirements baseline, billed at $75,000 per program. Different products, different price points.
Ready to brief us on the Silicon Requirements Assessment?
We choose who we work with and confirm scope, capacity, and final pricing in the briefing.