Tencent joins open-source chip design community RISC-V as China seeks to mitigate impact from US sanctions
- Amid tighter US restrictions on chip technology exports to China, Beijing is pinning hopes on RISC-V as an alternative to the Intel and Arm standards
- Analysts say RISC-V alone cannot remedy China’s weakness in chip tech, as the country still relies on imported tools and software for design
Tencent Holdings is the latest Chinese tech firm to join RISC-V International, the world’s largest open-source processor architecture group, as China faces growing US exports restrictions in semiconductor technologies.
The open-source RISC-V, an alternative to Intel’s proprietary X86 and the UK’s Arm architecture, has gained popularity in China as Chinese companies try to cut reliance on proprietary American technologies that are subject to long-arm US regulations.
Including Tencent, 13 out of the 25 RISC-V International premier members are from China, including Alibaba Cloud, telecoms suppliers Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE, as well as the state-sponsored Beijing Institute of Open Source Chip, according to the website of the organisation.
Tencent confirmed that it recently joined the group as a premier member.
Premier membership costs up to US$250,000 a year and comes with seats on the RISC-V International’s board and technology steering committee. Other premier members include Google, Intel, Qualcomm and Seagate.
Amid tighter US restrictions on chip technology exports to China, Beijing is pinning hopes on RISC-V as an alternative to the proprietary Intel and Arm standards. Under the current export control regime, for instance, Arm cannot export its advanced Neoverse V series chip designs to Chinese companies, according to an industry insider. Arm’s restriction was first reported by The Financial Times, citing sources.