In short
Tape-out readiness is the state of every block against its sign-off criteria: verification coverage, timing, physical checks and open issues. It can be answered in minutes when it is read directly from the tools rather than assembled from each team's slides. The decision to tape out remains a human one.
What does “ready for tape-out” mean?
Every block has met its sign-off criteria, or has a known, accepted exception. In practice a chip is rarely 100% ready everywhere; it is ready except for two or three blocks, and the real question is what those blocks need and how long it will take.
Why is the review so slow today?
Each team reports its own status on a slide. Building the slides takes days, the numbers are self-reported, and they are out of date by the time the meeting starts. The meeting then spends its time establishing the facts instead of deciding.
What should the review start with?
One page, generated from the tools:
- Readiness per block, as a percentage against sign-off.
- The blocks holding the chip back, named, with what each is waiting for.
- The owners, already notified.
- A recommendation — go, or defer by a stated number of days — with the reason.
Who decides?
People do. A tape-out gate commits a mask set and a quarter of the team's time. Tymeline assembles the readiness packet and proposes; it never approves a tape-out gate. That is enforced as policy, not left to judgement.