ExplainerWhy Hong Kong is betting on RISC-V to build a global open-source chip hub
RISC-V has been gaining popularity over the past few years, with the potential to become a major alternative to Intel’s x86 and Arm
Last week, Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC) announced the establishment of the Hong Kong RISC-V Alliance.
The move follows Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s earlier pledge to actively promote collaboration among industry, academia and the investment sector to develop the open-source chip technology.
In this explainer, the South China Morning Post takes a closer look at RISC-V, why it is important and why HKIC is interested.
What is RISC-V technology?
RISC-V, an open-standard instruction set architecture (ISA), is based on established reduced instruction set computer principles. The open-source nature means it will not fall under the scope of US export controls, making it one of China’s best hopes for achieving self-sufficiency in chip design.
Research on ISA design was first published by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley in 2010, and it became available for chip developers to configure and customise designs under the Switzerland-based non-profit RISC-V International in 2015.
The development of RISC-V chips in mainland China has been heating up. Alibaba Group Holding, China’s e-commerce and artificial intelligence giant and a major force in RISC-V chips, is hosting its annual XuanTie Partner Conference in Shanghai on Tuesday. (Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post).
The tech giant is expected to release a new chip at the event, which will feature top leaders in the sector including Lu Dai, the board chair for RISC-V International. At last year’s event, Alibaba launched C930, the latest addition to its XuanTie RISC-V processor series, which was designed for server-level high-performance computing.