New front in the US-China technology war: RISC-V

A new front is opening in the US-China technology war: RISC-V. American companies’ work on a free chip technology widely used in China is starting to attract criticism in the United States. On this new front, it is on the agenda that the USA may impose a RISC-V-based restriction. RISC-V, an open-source technology that competes with Arm’s expensive proprietary technology, is used as a key component for everything from smartphone chips to advanced processors for artificial intelligence.

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

However, updating the US’s current export restriction next month and closing some deficits was on the agenda. The RISC-V statement also shows that something may happen in this field. On the Chinese side, a nationalization movement is gaining strength. The country’s first 28nm lithography system production and Huawei and SMIC’s Kirin 9000s breakthrough are among the pioneers of this trend.

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.