Goals of the OpenSPARC Initiative

* To significantly increase participation in processor architecture development and application design by making cutting-edge hardware intellectual property freely available.
* To eliminate barriers to the next big build-out of the Internet.
* To improve collaboration and cooperation among hardware designers.
* To enable community members to build on proven technology at a markedly lower cost.
* To encourage innovation.
* To foster bringing bold new products to market.

Apparently, you can download Verilog of Niagra under GPLv2, now. This is an interesting move but I can't imagine it will make SPARC any more relevant.

OpenSPARC: Sun's initiative to create a community and participation in processor architecturedevelopment and application design by making cutting-edge hardware IP freely available