RISC-V cooperation links US and Chinese chip firms despite rivalry

Cross-border cooperation on the open-source RISC-V chip architecture is deepening between US and Chinese companies despite the broader technology rivalry between Washington and Beijing, according to MIPS chief technology officer Yankin Tanurhan. MIPS, acquired last year by US chipmaker GlobalFoundries, is working closely with Chinese firms on RISC-V standardisation, Tanurhan said during a media briefing in Shanghai in September. The work is part of wider efforts led by RISC-V International to bring together companies, universities and other organisations from the United States, Europe and China.

RISC-V is an open-standard instruction set architecture used by developers to design central processing units. Unlike proprietary architectures, it is free to use and modify. The technology is managed by the non-profit RISC-V International.

The architecture has gained support in China as companies and policymakers seek alternatives to foreign platforms, particularly Intel’s x86 and Arm. Its use has expanded from automotive components, industrial equipment and internet-of-things devices into next-generation computing and physical artificial intelligence. Qi Xiaoning, a chip executive at Alibaba’s research arm, Damo Academy, said major companies were working as a unified ecosystem on RISC-V for edge and cloud applications.

Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. Beijing-based Eswin Computing Technology is scheduled to become the first pure-play RISC-V chipmaker to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange, with its initial public offering planned for October 9. The proposed listing is presented in the source material as a sign of market confidence in open-source chips.

Tanurhan said MIPS’s platform had entered mass production in AI data centres and counted 13 of the world’s 15 leading AI and data-centre infrastructure chip suppliers among its customers. He also said Chinese clients had adapted RISC-V designs initially developed for driver-assistance systems for humanoid robotics. China’s policy support is also increasing.

A policy document released in September designated RISC-V chip development as a core pillar of the country’s 15th five-year plan for the electronics and information-technology industry. Tanurhan said MIPS retained close talent ties with Chinese peers and a competitive advantage through its global reach and scale. He said the company had more than 700 engineers supplying products to the market.