Despite these concerns, industry players such as Huawei Technologies, Qualcomm, and Google view RISC-V as a potential alternative to established instruction set architectures. They believe collaboration is necessary for the technology's evolution and its role in making chips cheaper and more flexible. RISC-V is becoming increasingly popular in China, where a third of its cores are produced, allowing Chinese companies to independently manufacture semiconductors.
Key takeaways:
- US lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to restrict the use of RISC-V, a Chinese open-source semiconductor technology, by US corporations due to concerns over national security and potential damage to international tech industry relationships.
- Legislators fear that China is using RISC-V technology to bypass US intellectual property rights for chip design, potentially undermining US leadership in the semiconductor industry and aiding China's military modernization.
- Representative Mike Gallagher has called for the Commerce Department to require US entities to obtain an export license before conducting business with Chinese organizations regarding RISC-V technology.
- Despite political concerns, tech industry players such as Huawei Technologies, Qualcomm, and Google view RISC-V as a potential alternative to established instruction set architectures, emphasizing the importance of collaboration for the technology's evolution and its role in making chips cheaper and more flexible.