The U.S.-China technology war extends to the IC design field and RISC-V controversy affects Andes | Industry Hotspots | Industry

The U.S.-China technology war is raging, and the Biden administration is taking another move. Reuters reported that the popular semiconductor RISC-V architecture has entered the radar area of ​​the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is reviewing the national security risks posed by China’s massive introduction of this architecture. The industry is worried that the RISC-V architecture may become the next target of the United States’ sway against the mainland. Among Taiwanese manufacturers, MediaTek’s investment in Anders Technology (6533) is the most representative RISC-V architecture-related manufacturer and may be affected.

This means that Washington is expanding its containment of the mainland chip industry, from tightening chip sales to extending to IC design. Industry insiders analyze that after the United States restricted mainland China’s access to advanced semiconductor technology, mainland companies have gradually shifted their focus in recent years to pursuing open source and open RISC-V architecture, making RISC-V architecture a new star in mainland IC design.

x86 and Arm, led by Intel, are currently the two mainstream chip architectures. However, Arm charges high royalties from users, while x86 has a complex instruction set. RISC-V relies on “open source, free, and modular It has the advantages of “concise instruction count and low power consumption”, plus it is not European and American, and effectively circumvents US restrictions. It is regarded as the first choice for chip design architecture other than x86 and ARM architecture, attracting start-ups and mainland IC companies to grab it.

Mainland companies including Alibaba’s Pingtou Ge are developing self-developed chips using the RISC-V architecture. There are also some mainland IC designers using the RISC-V architecture to develop high-end chips, covering applications such as mobile phones and AI.

According to industry insiders, Chinese companies are aggressively attacking the RISC-V architecture, taking Ping Tou Ge within the Alibaba Group as an indicator. Damo Research Institute, the research arm of Alibaba Group, has previously publicly announced the expansion of the scope of RISC-V work, targeting comprehensive iterative computing upgrades in the fields of low power consumption, AI acceleration, automotive regulations, and security. Among them, Xuantie C907 has achieved matrix computing (Matrix) expansion for the first time. To provide more options for future AI accelerated computing, the next-generation processor C930 will also be launched within this year.

Mainland China relies on the RISC-V architecture to develop its own chips and avoids U.S. chip sales regulations. This may make a series of U.S. chip bans on Beijing ineffective and arouse great concern in Washington. Reuters reported that the U.S. Department of Commerce has sent a letter to inform members of Congress that it is reviewing the national security risks caused by China’s large-scale introduction of RISC-V architecture and assessing whether appropriate actions under the authority of the Department of Commerce can effectively address any concerns.

This means that the White House may have to crack down on the RISC-V architecture. The industry believes that if the U.S. Department of Commerce requires RISC-V International to impose export controls on the developed RISC-V silicon intellectual property on the grounds of national security, SiFive and Crystal Chip, which are currently entering the RISC-V silicon intellectual property market, will The operations of cardiology and other related manufacturers may be affected.

In the first half of last year, Andes gained new image sensor factory customers in mainland China. The company currently still focuses on the Taiwan market, accounting for about 60%, with the United States accounting for 22% and mainland China accounting for 15%.

Andes Chairman Lin Zhiming previously pointed out at the press conference that he is looking forward to the “3A1S” applications of RISC-V, that is, AI, automotive, application processors and security monitoring applications, especially in automotive applications, which can be implemented in 2024. It is hoped that two IPs will obtain ASIL-B vehicle safety certification.

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