China's chipmakers could use RISC-V to reduce impact of US sanctions

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technode.com, Jul. 24, 2019 – 

RISC-V, the instruction-set architecture out of UC Berkeley, has been making waves in the semiconductor sector. Some even say that it could threaten industry heavyweight ARM in the long run.

The key difference between the pair's respective products, which basically define the way in which software talks to a processor, is that RISC-V is open-source. It is this aspect that could be of particular interest to Chinese companies as such products are not directly subjected to US sanctions.

The RISC-V Foundation, which promotes the ISA's use, features leading global players including Microchip, Western Digital, Google, Nvidia, and Qualcomm, to name just a few. Through collaborative and independent projects, several members are working to create RISC-V based designs.

China's growing interest

Over the past few years, and especially in 2019, I have witnessed a huge increase in Chinese interest in RISC-V. Three years ago when mentioning the ISA, most engineers would look at me puzzled. Then, two years ago, they had at least heard of it though most would mispronounce it (it's Risk-Five by the way).

Fast-forward to today and not only does every company I meet know of it, but the majority are actively researching it. Whether they have taped out an actual RISC-V based chip or are currently designing one, the interest is clearly there.

Today the foundation includes more than 25 Chinese companies, and what's more, as of last year China now has two of its own RISC-V industry alliances with more than 185 members. Some of the most well-known Chinese members include Huawei, Sanechips from ZTE, Bitmain, Alibaba, and Xiaomi's wearables partner Huami.

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