“Power Play: Google and the Linux Foundation Join Forces to Enhance the Chromium Ecosystem”

As Google awaits a determination regarding the potential requirement to divest its Chrome browser as an antitrust solution, the tech behemoth has collaborated with the Linux Foundation to unveil an initiative aimed at backing the open-source Chromium project that the Chrome browser relies upon.

The initiative, titled Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers, is intended “to cultivate a sustainable ecosystem of open-source contributions towards the wellbeing of the Chromium environment and to provide financial backing to a community of developers eager to engage with the project, promoting broad support and ongoing technological advancements for Chromium embedders,” stated Shruthi Sreekanta, technical program manager at Google, in a blog entry.

Jim Zemlin, the executive director of the Linux Foundation, which receives at least $500,000 yearly from Google for its platinum membership fee [PDF], mentioned that the browser foundation support group will “deliver vital funding and development assistance for the open development of initiatives within the Chromium ecosystem,” without disclosing the funding origin or its amount.

The Linux Foundation has not promptly replied to an inquiry seeking clarification on the funding structure. The Register has learned that all members will provide financial contributions.

According to Sreekanta, last year Google contributed over 100,000 commits to the Chromium code base, accounting for approximately 94 percent of the contributions. Google hopes more organizations who utilize Chromium for their browsers will increase their contributions.

The Chromium initiative has emerged as the prevailing foundational framework for web browsers ever since Microsoft declared in 2018 its intention to launch a new version of its Edge browser based on Chromium and its underlying Blink engine, effectively retiring Microsoft’s Trident engine.

Google Chrome – a combination of Chromium with several proprietary elements – already commands a substantial global browser market share of approximately 68 percent, a percentage that expands further when considering additional browsers based on Chromium like Brave, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and Vivaldi, among others.

The widespread acceptance of Chromium reflects the significant cost and technical obstacles involved in rivaling Google’s monopoly-subsidized fleet of software engineers, facilitating web standardization but posing a risk of overshadowing alternative technologies, particularly other browser engines, as more entities join this trend.

Presently, there are three actively maintained browser engines – Google’s Blink, Apple’s WebKit, and Mozilla’s Gecko – in addition to a few specialized or developing engines such as Goanna and Servo. Browser engines are responsible for parsing and rendering web pages and incorporate an engine for executing JavaScript (e.g., V8 in Blink, JavaScriptCore in WebKit, and SpiderMonkey in Gecko).

Apple has succeeded in making its Safari browser, powered by its WebKit engine, the second most favored browser with a global market share of around 17 percent, supported by self-preferring defaults and platform regulations that mandate all iOS browsers – though not in Europe anymore – to be built using WebKit. It remains to be seen if Safari can maintain such a position without the platform distribution advantages conferred by Apple.

Mozilla’s Firefox browser, utilizing its Gecko rendering engine, is likewise excluded from the Chromium ecosystem. Furthermore, its worldwide market share, merely 2.47 percent in December 2024, as reported by StatCounter, has noticeably decreased as the Chromium ecosystem has expanded. Mozilla did not promptly reply to a request for commentary.

Advocates of Chromium-based Browsers are likely to gain from those dedicated to the Chromium sphere.

“Microsoft is excited to participate in this initiative which will promote collaboration within the Chromium ecosystem,” stated Meghan Perez, VP of Microsoft Edge, in an announcement.

“This effort corresponds with our dedication to the web platform through substantial and constructive contributions, involvement in cooperative engineering, and collaborations with the community to achieve the optimal results for everyone utilizing the web.”

Vivaldi CEO Jon von Tetzchner informed The Register, “We are supportive of this endeavor. We haven’t yet enrolled, but we anticipate doing so in the future. We have already been in touch with other affiliates.”

Nevertheless, should the Chromium ecosystem continue to strengthen, it may further reduce browser variety.

As web developer Rachel Nabors noted in 2018, “Chrome possesses the most resources and leads the charge in advancing the Web to the extent that we can’t be certain if we’re constructing the Web we desire… or the Web Google desires.” ®