The Launch of RISC-V Now! A New Chapter in Open Computing

On February 3, 2026, Andes Technology officially announced the launch of RISC-V Now!, a new global conference series designed around the next phase of RISC-V adoption: real-world deployment and commercial scaling. This initiative marks a shift from exploratory and research-focused events toward practical, production-oriented exchanges that help engineers, architects, and decision-makers navigate the realities of building shipping systems on a RISC-V foundation.

At its core, RISC-V Now! responds to an industry that is rapidly moving past foundational experimentation into crafting competitive products using an open instruction set architecture (ISA). Unlike more conceptual workshops or broad ecosystem summits, this series emphasizes deployment challenges, system-level tradeoffs, and lessons learned from production-scale platforms. The first marquee gathering will take place in Silicon Valley (San Jose) on April 20–21, 2026, at the DoubleTree by Hilton, with additional regional events scheduled in Hsinchu (April 15), Shanghai (May 12), and Beijing (May 14).

Context: Why RISC-V Matters

To appreciate the significance of RISC-V Now!, it helps to understand RISC-V’s broader trajectory. RISC-V is an open-source instruction set architecture that emerged from academic research at UC Berkeley and has since gained global momentum. Its open nature means companies can implement it without costly licensing fees or restrictive agreements, a contrast to proprietary ISAs like ARM or x86. This has already led to explosive adoption in embedded devices and microcontrollers, where billions of RISC-V cores now ship annually.

Over the past few years, support for RISC-V has expanded in both software infrastructure and hardware capabilities. For example, major Linux distributions such as Debian have begun officially supporting 64-bit RISC-V, and advanced kernel patches (like ZALASR) are moving toward mainline inclusion — signs of maturation in the open ecosystem. At the same time, companies such as SiFive and StarFive are pushing higher-performance RISC-V designs aimed at AI, IoT, and data center usage.

RISC-V Now! emerges against this backdrop at a moment when RISC-V is no longer just a promising idea but a practical choice for commercial products. The conference series directly tackles questions that teams face when moving from prototypes to shipped systems: how to balance performance, power efficiency, cost, software integration, validation, and ecosystem tooling.

What the Conference Focuses On

According to Andes Technology, the curriculum of RISC-V Now! is tailored for practitioner-level discussions rather than pure theory. Key themes include:

System-Level Tradeoffs: Choosing CPU and SoC strategies that meet specific use-case constraints (e.g., AI acceleration pools vs. energy efficiency corridors).

Software Enablement Challenges: Real issues encountered when porting, optimizing, and maintaining software stacks at scale on RISC-V hardware.

Lessons from Production Systems: Case studies and insights from companies that have already brought RISC-V products to market.

By foregrounding deployment realities rather than just technological promise, RISC-V Now! aims to bridge the gap between enthusiasm for open ISAs and the concrete needs of engineering teams tasked with delivering competitive products.

Industry Implications

The launch of this series further indicates that RISC-V has transitioned from novel architecture to mainstream contender. Once primarily associated with niche and embedded applications, RISC-V is now being positioned as a foundation for general computing, AI, automotive systems, and data centers. Its open nature not only reduces barriers to entry but also allows customization that proprietary ISAs can’t match.

Bottom line: This trend is reflected across the tech ecosystem: from expanded Linux support to growing commercial IP offerings and major ecosystem events around RISC-V architectures. RISC-V’s momentum is unmistakable, and initiatives like RISC-V Now! are helping solidify its place in the production pipelines of tomorrow’s computing platforms.

Also Read:

Pushing the Packed SIMD Extension Over the Line: An Update on the Progress of Key RISC-V Extension

RISC-V: Powering the Era of Intelligent General Computing

Navigating SoC Tradeoffs from IP to Ecosystem