The US Department of Commerce is reportedly considering calls from lawmakers to make it harder for China to use the RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA).
RISC-V is permissively licensed, allowing developers to access the ISA for free and use it to create their own or open source implementations for commercial and other applications as needed. .
This license means anyone in the world can use RISC-V, including chip designers in China.
In late 2023, members of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) believe that many of Uncle Sam's efforts to make it difficult for advanced chips to reach China are being undermined by RISC. expressed concern. V.
“While the benefits of open source collaboration on RISC-V promise to be significant, it is unlikely that contributors will have the sole purpose of improving the technology rather than supporting China's geopolitical interests. This can only be achieved if we are committed to it,” the representatives wrote. The November 2023 letter called for building “a robust ecosystem for open source cooperation between the United States and its allies while ensuring that China does not benefit from its efforts.”
This is code for “If the Chinese government can use RISC-V to manufacture its own chips, a ban on chip sales to China will not work.” Committee members therefore asked U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to consider what can be done regarding RISC-V.
RISC-V International CEO Calista Redmond defends open source collaboration on the grounds that it advances development technology and leads to the creation of very useful things like USB and Ethernet, and her organization is committed to developing standards. I pointed out that it was just a publisher.
However, Reuters reported Tuesday that the Commerce Department is currently considering RISC-V.
The newswire said the ministry is “committed to considering the potential risks and assessing whether there are appropriate measures under commercial authorities that could effectively address potential concerns.” I saw a letter from.
It is not clear what measures will be taken or even likely to be taken. While the U.S. technology ban has not stopped China from importing banned GPUs, the potential for There is also room for debate regarding its effectiveness.
register It even features a smuggler who packed a GPU with a live lobster and moved both across the border from Hong Kong to China. We also asked the open source community if they felt obligated to change their practices to align with international sanctions, and the open source community was not proactive.
Regardless of what the Commerce Department decides, China is already moving forward with RISC-V development. Local chip design firm Loongson is using ISA to develop products such as desktop PC chips currently being deployed in schools in China and server-grade processors that Alibaba Cloud plans to begin producing in late 2024. There is.
China has made clear it wants more of this kind of thing by only approving processors over which it has some control, as the architecture allows for customization, and imposing its own ban on imports of US technology. ®
