diff --git a/flow/Makefile b/flow/Makefile
index 759e13578d..525b0e2888 100644
--- a/flow/Makefile
+++ b/flow/Makefile
@@ -292,6 +292,26 @@ $(RESULTS_DIR)/1_1_yosys_canonicalize.rtlil: $(RESULTS_DIR)/memories.json
 $(OBJECTS_DIR)/klayout.lyt: $(RESULTS_DIR)/memories.json
 endif
 
+# OpenROAD stages read binary liberty (.blib) files, written before 1_synth.
+# Yosys reads the text libraries.
+export BINARY_LIBS_DIR = $(OBJECTS_DIR)/lib
+BINARY_LIBS_STAMP = $(BINARY_LIBS_DIR)/binary_libs.stamp
+# Generated corner libraries (BLOCKS abstracts) have no make rule.
+BINARY_LIBS_CORNER_SOURCES := $(foreach corner,$(CORNERS),$($(shell echo $(corner) | tr a-z A-Z)_LIB_FILES))
+BINARY_LIBS_SOURCES := $(LIB_FILES) $(wildcard $(BINARY_LIBS_CORNER_SOURCES))
+
+$(BINARY_LIBS_STAMP): $(BINARY_LIBS_SOURCES) $(SCRIPTS_DIR)/write_binary_libs.tcl $(wildcard $(OPENROAD_EXE))
+	$(UNSET_AND_MAKE) do-binary-libs
+
+.PHONY: do-binary-libs
+do-binary-libs:
+	mkdir -p $(BINARY_LIBS_DIR) $(LOG_DIR)
+	$(RUN_CMD) --log $(abspath $(LOG_DIR)/write_binary_libs.log) --tee -- $(OPENROAD_CMD) $(SCRIPTS_DIR)/write_binary_libs.tcl
+	touch $(BINARY_LIBS_STAMP)
+
+# Order-only here and below, so regenerating the .blib files does not rerun the flow.
+$(RESULTS_DIR)/1_synth.odb: | $(BINARY_LIBS_STAMP)
+
 .PHONY: do-yosys
 do-yosys: yosys-dependencies
 	$(SCRIPTS_DIR)/synth.sh $(SYNTH_SCRIPT) $(LOG_DIR)/1_2_yosys.log
@@ -355,6 +375,7 @@ endef
 
 define OPEN_GUI
 .PHONY: open_$(1) gui_$(1) web_$(1)
+open_$(1) gui_$(1) web_$(1): | $(BINARY_LIBS_STAMP)
 open_$(1):
 	$(2)=$(RESULTS_DIR)/$(1) $(OPENROAD_NO_EXIT_CMD) $(SCRIPTS_DIR)/open.tcl
 gui_$(1):
@@ -403,7 +424,7 @@ $(eval $(call OPEN_GUI_SHORTCUT,$(1),$(1).odb))
 endif
 
 .PHONY: do-$(1)
-do-$(1): $(DO_STEP_DEPS_$(1)) $(OBJECTS_DIR)/copyright.txt
+do-$(1): $(DO_STEP_DEPS_$(1)) $(OBJECTS_DIR)/copyright.txt | $(BINARY_LIBS_STAMP)
 	$(SCRIPTS_DIR)/flow.sh $(1) $(3)
 endef
 
@@ -912,7 +933,7 @@ klayout:
 	$(SCRIPTS_DIR)/klayout.sh
 
 .phony: run
-run:
+run: | $(BINARY_LIBS_STAMP)
 	@mkdir -p $(RESULTS_DIR) $(LOG_DIR) $(REPORTS_DIR) $(OBJECTS_DIR)
 	$(RUN_CMD) --log $(abspath $(LOG_DIR)/$(RUN_LOG_NAME_STEM).log) --tee -- $(OPENROAD_CMD) -no_splash $(if $(filter %.py,$(RUN_SCRIPT)),-python) $(RUN_SCRIPT)
 
diff --git a/flow/scripts/read_liberty.tcl b/flow/scripts/read_liberty.tcl
index 1c013611dd..60816842ff 100644
--- a/flow/scripts/read_liberty.tcl
+++ b/flow/scripts/read_liberty.tcl
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ if { [env_var_exists_and_non_empty CORNERS] } {
   foreach corner $::env(CORNERS) {
     set LIBKEY "[string toupper $corner]_LIB_FILES"
     foreach libFile $::env($LIBKEY) {
-      log_cmd read_liberty -corner $corner $libFile
+      log_cmd read_liberty -corner $corner [lib_file_to_read $libFile]
     }
     unset LIBKEY
   }
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ if { [env_var_exists_and_non_empty CORNERS] } {
 } else {
   ## no corner
   foreach libFile $::env(LIB_FILES) {
-    log_cmd read_liberty $libFile
+    log_cmd read_liberty [lib_file_to_read $libFile]
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/flow/scripts/util.tcl b/flow/scripts/util.tcl
index 49ab5fd80f..43bb43c20e 100644
--- a/flow/scripts/util.tcl
+++ b/flow/scripts/util.tcl
@@ -431,3 +431,27 @@ proc source_step_tcl { hook_type step_name } {
   set env_var "${hook_type}_${step_name}_TCL"
   source_env_var_if_exists $env_var
 }
+
+# Binary liberty (.blib) files written by write_binary_libs.tcl
+proc binary_lib_dir { } {
+  if { [env_var_exists_and_non_empty BINARY_LIBS_DIR] } {
+    return $::env(BINARY_LIBS_DIR)
+  }
+  return [file join $::env(OBJECTS_DIR) lib]
+}
+
+proc binary_lib_path { lib_file } {
+  set name [file tail $lib_file]
+  regsub {\.gz$} $name "" name
+  return [file join [binary_lib_dir] "[file rootname $name].blib"]
+}
+
+# Falls back to the text library when its .blib was not generated
+proc lib_file_to_read { lib_file } {
+  set blib [binary_lib_path $lib_file]
+  if { [file exists $blib] } {
+    return $blib
+  }
+  utl::warn FLW 25 "$blib not found, reading $lib_file."
+  return $lib_file
+}
diff --git a/flow/scripts/write_binary_libs.tcl b/flow/scripts/write_binary_libs.tcl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7f5946c11a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/flow/scripts/write_binary_libs.tcl
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+# Write binary liberty (.blib) files for the OpenROAD stages
+source $::env(SCRIPTS_DIR)/util.tcl
+
+set lib_files {}
+if { [env_var_exists_and_non_empty CORNERS] } {
+  foreach corner $::env(CORNERS) {
+    set LIBKEY "[string toupper $corner]_LIB_FILES"
+    lappend lib_files {*}$::env($LIBKEY)
+  }
+} else {
+  lappend lib_files {*}$::env(LIB_FILES)
+}
+
+set blib_dir [binary_lib_dir]
+file mkdir $blib_dir
+
+# .blib files are named after the library, so names must be unique
+array set blib_sources {}
+foreach lib_file [lsort -unique $lib_files] {
+  set blib [binary_lib_path $lib_file]
+  if { [info exists blib_sources($blib)] } {
+    # The same library spelled differently, e.g. foo.lib and ./foo.lib
+    if { [file normalize $blib_sources($blib)] eq [file normalize $lib_file] } {
+      continue
+    }
+    error "Liberty files $blib_sources($blib) and $lib_file both map to $blib"
+  }
+  set blib_sources($blib) $lib_file
+  log_cmd write_liberty_binary $lib_file $blib
+}
+puts "Wrote [array size blib_sources] binary liberty files to $blib_dir"
diff --git a/tools/OpenROAD b/tools/OpenROAD
index 91e5f5ff2f..0c01bfb0a9 160000
--- a/tools/OpenROAD
+++ b/tools/OpenROAD
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 91e5f5ff2f198fd130e8915c8ad4408b56987fa4
+Subproject commit 0c01bfb0a95bc08ab1075938d4e6a895d4833f17