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Tech war: China’s use of RISC-V chip standard faces headwinds amid US scrutiny and Google’s end of Android support

  • Google recently removed RISC-V support from the Android kernel, which is the computer program at the core of the operating system
  • At least 300 companies in China are using RISC-V, with almost all major tech players backing the standard

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China’s use of RISC-V technology is under scrutiny in the US. Photo: Shutterstock
Kelly Le
China’s strengthened push to use RISC-V, an open-source chip-design architecture, to reduce reliance on foreign technologies is facing new challenges amid scrutiny by the United States and Google’s move to stop supporting the standard on Android.

As its tech war with the US escalates, China has been investing heavily on RISC-V as an alternative to the ecosystems of British semiconductor design giant Arm and US firm Intel for designing specialised chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) and mobile devices.

However, there are growing signs that Washington is moving to curb China’s use of RISC-V. The US commerce department said last month it was reviewing the national security implications of China’s use of the technology, five months after a group of bipartisan lawmakers urged the Biden administration to prevent China from dominating use of the chip design standard.

Meanwhile, Google last week removed RISC-V support from the Android kernel, which is the computer program at the core of the operating system.

Alphabet’s Googleplex headquarters in Mountain View, California. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS
Alphabet’s Googleplex headquarters in Mountain View, California. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS

The move will slow down the plans of RISC-V chip vendors targeting Android systems and devices, according to William Li, analyst at research firm Counterpoint.

Although developers can still restore RISC-V support by themselves, that will “take more work than would otherwise be necessary”, said Stewart Randall, head of electronics and embedded software at consultancy Intralink.

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