China’s top chip designers form RISC-V patent alliance to promote semiconductor self-sufficiency

[Daniel Nenni]

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• - Alibaba’s chip unit T-Head, VeriSilicon and seven other firms announced the formation of the patent alliance at a RISC-V industry forum in Shanghai
• - Shanghai, China’s chip production hub, has been pouring resources into the open source architecture in a hedge against reliance on Intel and Arm

A group of leading Chinese chip design firms have formed a patent protection alliance for RISC-V, as the country bets on the open-source architecture to help achieve its long-sought goal of semiconductor self-sufficiency.

At a RISC-V industry forum held in Shanghai’s Lingang New Area on Monday, nine chip companies – including Alibaba Group Holding’s chip unit T-Head and Shanghai-listed VeriSilicon Holdings – agreed to form the alliance that includes a condition for members to not sue each other over patent infringement, according to local media The Paper, under the state-run Shanghai United Media Group. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Members of the alliance will share patents with each other and license them to third parties in the name of the alliance, according to Dai Weimin, chairman of VeriSilicon and head of the China RISC-V Industry Alliance, formed in 2018. The new alliance aims to contribute to a “healthy” open-source chip ecosystem and promote the rapid development of RISC-V technologies.

China’s top chip designers pledge to share RISC-V patents in new alliance

Alibaba’s chip unit T-Head, VeriSilicon and seven other firms announced the formation of the patent alliance at a RISC-V industry forum in Shanghai.

www.scmp.com

 

[blueone]

I knew something like this consortium was coming from China. I wonder if the Biden administration knows what a design jumpstart RISC-V is to China? I have worried if the tech trade war might put restrictions on open source development, especially if hostilities break out.