Relying on the US -made semiconductor and supported by the United States is from the United States -WSJ

This RISC-V technical standard is attracting worldwide interest, and the largest electronic business in China is the early use company.Some industry insiders believe that Alibaba has developed a RISC-V semiconductor with the highest level of capabilities in production.Alibaba has revealed that the semiconductor is used for artificial intelligence (AI) in the company's data center, and that some versions are being sold.

China is aiming to break away from the dependence on semiconductor technology made by western countries, and a wide range of RISC-V can open a door to accelerate these efforts.Industry executives and analysts have pointed out that the license income of the arm is threatened and the existing semiconductor manufacturers could lead to new rivals.

According to the high -tech industry consulting company International Business Strategies's Handel Jones, CEO, "China wants to have his own instruction set an architecture, but at the same time, there are architectures that do not require a license fee.I am looking for it. This is why the use of RISC-V is significantly expanding in China. "

A semiconductor architecture such as RISC-V provides a language to convert software instructions into processors.As a result, the processor performs the necessary calculations for tasks such as email transmission and game movements.These basic level instructions have been mainly stipulated by Intel and arm.The semiconductor based on Intel's X86 technology controls the PC and server market, and the technology of the arm controls the market for mobile devices such as smartphones by providing licensing companies such as Apple.There is.Apple and others have made their own improvements to the technology.

Since the RISC-V is an open source type, the details of the technical information are published, and the improvement method is freely discussed.Compared to what Intel and the arm currently provide, the RISC-V technology remains greatly behind.According to Alibaba, the company's semiconductor has only the same ability as a mobile phone processor several years ago.However, RISC-V supporters, including famous researchers and major US companies, have revealed changes in the field of hardware, as open source movements have given the software in the software field.We hope that the company will reduce the dominance of the company and lead to democratization of modern computer technology.

"People are enthusiastic about this vision and move forward in the long term," said David Patterson, one of the pionnians who support RISC-V.He says that this technology may not be as mature as the alternative, but the possibility of growth is infinite.

The beginning of the RISC-V initiatives starting from the University of California Berkeley's school, dating back to RISC-V this year due to the acquisition of innovative arms by Nvidia and the confrontation over the US Naka intermediate technology.Interest is increasing.

The adoption of this architecture is accelerating.According to the Calista Redmond CEO of the RISK-V standard promotion organization RISC-V International, the number of members in the organization increased by 64 % last year to over 750."It's moving from a department (R & D) to the stage of actually creating something and seeing how it works."

From China's point of view, this technology provides a framework that can help China from export restrictions.In 2019, the U.S. government has moved to the blacklists related to exporting Chinese telecommunications giant, and impose restrictions on other major Chinese semiconductor companies, such as the manufacturing of the Core International Glocthalmark (SMIC).SMIC was added to the export blacklist last December.After Huawei was added to the US blacklist, the Arm temporarily stopped trading with Huawei, further enhanced the alertness.

RISC-V alone will not be able to resolve the situation that China depends on foreign suppliers about semiconductors.The country still depends on other foreign technology, such as major semiconductor design software and manufacturing tools.

Some US officials are watching the Chinese acceptance of the standard.The RISC-V is partially developed with the support of the Defense Research Planning Bureau (DARPA), partially supported by the Ministry of Defense, and initially a royalty (usage fee) to a private system.Development was underway as a tool for working on the project without paying.While the United States is concerned about the growth of China's technical capabilities, some authorities do not give China's strengths by accepting Chinese access to the results of open source projects such as RISC-V.I'm worried.

According to Sarge Leaf, a program manager who supervises semiconductor projects in DARPA, "I will lend you to China with this technology because China will catch up with western technology overnight without 20 years of engineering.There is a direction to point out that it is, but it will not be the case. "

People who support the RISC-V are strongly motivated by China, but the architecture is rapidly spreading in Europe and the United States, and the members who use the architecture under RISC-V International are North America, Asia Pacific.He points out that it is almost evenly divided into Europe.

The RISC-V International, an international organization that manages RISC-V, moved the headquarters from the United States to Switzerland last year (relocated with the transition from the former organization RISC-V foundation).According to Patterson, a research institute that focuses on RISC-V, based on the University of Beijing, this relocation may be tied up due to US export regulations.It was not a measure that was directly affected by the US -China trade dispute.

The conflict in the high-tech field of China in China accelerates the development of RISC-V-related development, and a semiconductor engineer living in Shanghai, co-chairman of the RISC-V (Asia-Pacific) regional taskforce.Alex Guo speaks.Mr. Guo also pointed out that the amount of license fees that must be paid to Arms and the fact that open source can build a system more easily is given the use of RISC-V.

Arm has not commented on this.

We will deliver the notable articles of the day together.(Delivery date: Monday to Friday)

Nbidia's arm acquisition plan has raised concerns that Nbidia may raise the license fee for arm technology or to intervene in the relationship between the arms and other companies for competitive reasons.。Nvidia says that it will not do so, but competitors consider RISC-V as insurance in preparation for such a situation.

The US semiconductor Gourcom and South Korea Samsung Electronics have adopted RISC-V for some of the main semiconductor chips manufactured for smartphones.Most of the current RISC-V commercial use is limited to microcontrollers incorporated into more powerful systems to execute narrow tasks, such as routing data from keyboards.

"We set the goals a little higher, a slightly higher goal," said Zvonimir Bandic, a member of the RISC-V International board member of the RISC-V International Committee, who is a member of the RISC-V International Association.There is. "The company has adopted RISC-V chips for data processing for data storage drives.The company has a ambitious plan to aim for computer production of advanced models that adopt the RISC-V standard within the next five years.