[News] China’s Push for Chip Independence: Can RISC-V Challenge x86 and Arm’s Dominance?

According to a report from TechNews, industry sources suggest that China may issue its first official guidelines as early as this month to promote the nationwide adoption of open-source RISC-V chips. This initiative aims to accelerate efforts to reduce reliance on Western technology.

RISC-V is an open-source Instruction Set Architecture (ISA). As noted in the report, instruction set architectures are generally divided into two main camps: Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) and Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC). The former is primarily represented by x86, while the latter includes Arm, MIPS, and RISC-V architectures.

Among them, the x86 architecture dominates the personal computer (PC) and server markets, with over 80% market share and a robust ecosystem. On the other hand, the Arm architecture has an overwhelming presence in the smartphone, tablet, and mobile device markets, as the report indicates.

Regarding RISC-V, its simplified instruction set enhances execution speed by using minimal instructions to perform complex operations. Additionally, as the report highlights, RISC-V’s open-source nature gives designers the flexibility to create thousands of customized processors to meet diverse needs.

With lower development costs and a rapidly expanding global developer community, RISC-V is emerging as a highly attractive alternative to Arm and x86 architectures.

Furthermore, because RISC-V does not rely on any single company, China can sidestep U.S. export restrictions, making it a crucial technology that the country is actively promoting, as the report highlights.

RISC-V Industry Advancements and Developments

As noted by TechNews, Alibaba’s research arm, DAMO Academy, announced last month that its highest-performance XuanTie processor, the C930, is scheduled for delivery in March. Positioned as a core computing unit for servers, personal computers, and autonomous vehicles, the C930 is expected to accelerate the adoption of RISC-V chips.

XuanTie RISC-V CPUs, developed by Alibaba DAMO Academy, are now China’s largest and most influential RISC-V IP supplier based on shipment volume, as the report notes.

According to DAMO Academy’s data, as of early 2024, XuanTie offers three product series with a total of nine models. These have been licensed to over 300 customers, resulting in more than 800 licensing agreements. Additionally, the total number of chips produced has exceeded 4 billion.

Meanwhile, as indicated by TechNews, Taiwan’s Andes Technology ranks among the world’s top three suppliers of RISC-V silicon intellectual property (IP) and is also Taiwan’s first company to invest in RISC-V IP design.

Meanwhile, on the global front, legendary CPU engineer and Tenstorrent CEO Jim Keller has previously stated that “RISC-V will inevitably win.” Tenstorrent has long been a provider of RISC-V CPU technology, and last year, it secured USD 400 million in funding from investors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Samsung, as TechNews highlights.

Additionally, Jim Keller recently announced his appointment to the board of AheadComputing, further advancing the expansion of the RISC-V ecosystem. As reported by TechNews, AheadComputing is a startup founded by former Intel engineers, dedicated to developing breakthrough application processors based on the RISC-V instruction set architecture.

DeepSeek’s Rise May Drive Demand for RISC-V Chips

According to TechNews, the growing technological influence of China’s AI startup DeepSeek could further increase demand for RISC-V chips.

Amid the DeepSeek surge, smaller firms using AI may turn to RISC-V chips for cost savings. A report from Reuters indicates that even if a 10 million yuan RISC-V setup delivers 30% of NVIDIA or Huawei’s performance, purchasing three could still be more affordable.

China’s top RISC-V IP providers include Alibaba’s XuanTie and VeriSilicon, which sell processors to chip designers, as highlighted by Reuters.

Challenges and Considerations in RISC-V Adoption

However, as TechNews reports, the industry widely believes that RISC-V still faces significant challenges in replacing Arm and x86, with the ecosystem remaining the primary obstacle.

As the report notes, China’s level of support for RISC-V will be crucial in shaping its development. However, while China could establish strong influence over the RISC-V ecosystem, this does not necessarily mean that RISC-V will surpass Arm in market impact.

Additionally, the report highlights that migrating to a new architecture is a complex process. Even if companies adopt RISC-V chips, they may experience performance limitations. Despite these challenges, as TechNews indicates, this transition may be inevitable for China, given the current geopolitical landscape.

Read more

• [News] China Reportedly Set to Roll Out Nationwide RISC-V Chip Push, with Policy Expected by March
• [News] Samsung Reportedly Eyes Expansion in China with Legacy Nodes by Leveraging Local RISC-V Ecosystem

(Photo credit: Alibaba)