US lawmakers’ request for RISC-V
Some lawmakers, including the two Republican committee chairmen of the House of Representatives, Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senator Mark Warner, are urging the Biden administration to take action on RISC-V, citing national security reasons.
There are concerns that China is exploiting a culture of open cooperation among American companies to develop its own semiconductor industry, which could endanger the current US leadership in the chip field and help China modernize its military. It appears that US officials are considering imposing restrictions on companies’ work on RISC-V. According to the statements made, any American person or company is required to obtain an export license before establishing relations with Chinese organizations on RISC-V architecture. However, no official step has been taken yet.
Open source RISC-V may be closed to China
RISC-V, meanwhile, is overseen by a Switzerland-based nonprofit foundation that coordinates efforts among nonprofit companies to develop the technology. If U.S. companies’ participation in the Switzerland-based foundation is regulated, the move would make it harder for American and Chinese companies to work together on open technical standards. Of course, US and European companies, especially China, may be negatively affected by this.