For more than a decade, RISC-V has been hailed as a revolutionary force in computing: an open, royalty-free instruction set architecture (ISA) that could loosen the grip of proprietary incumbents such as Arm and x86. Advocates say it promises flexibility, rapid innovation, and freedom from costly licensing fees.
But despite the enthusiasm, RISC-V has yet to truly break into the mainstream. Its presence is felt today mainly in IoT devices, microcontrollers, and specialized embedded systems—important markets, but ones that rarely generate the kind of visibility that shapes broader public and industry perception.
Arm continues to dominate mobile and embedded platforms, while x86, controlled by Intel and AMD, still rules the PC and server worlds. RISC-V, meanwhile, remains on the outside looking in. The key question is whether this open standard can close the gap in time to matter.
Quiet but Widespread Industry Adoption
Though RISC-V is far from a household name, major players have already embraced it—albeit in less visible ways.
Nvidia, for example, has integrated RISC-V cores into its GPUs and system-on-chips (SoCs). The company anticipates shipping one billion RISC-V cores across its products by the end of 2024. Among the most prominent examples is the GPU System Processor (GSP), which handles driver tasks and GPU resource management, effectively offloading these functions from traditional x86 or Arm CPUs.
Qualcomm has also woven RISC-V into its Snapdragon processors, embedding the architecture into microcontroller units. To date, the company has shipped devices containing around 650 million RISC-V cores. These numbers demonstrate that RISC-V is already inside devices people use every day—even if most users are unaware of it.
Leadership in Transition
The non-profit stewarding the standard, RISC-V International, is currently in transition. In December, CEO Calista Redmond announced her resignation after five years at the helm.
During her tenure, membership grew dramatically, from just 236 organizations to over 4,600 members spanning 70 countries. Redmond pointed to accelerating adoption across industries including automotive, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and embedded systems. She highlighted projections of 20 billion SoCs containing RISC-V cores by 2031, compared with the more than two billion already shipped.
Redmond also oversaw the ratification of 68 new specifications, expansion of the foundation’s working groups to over 80, and progress on tools and software ecosystems. She described her time at RISC-V as “a remarkable journey” shaped by a passionate community.
No successor has yet been named, but whoever takes the role faces a dual challenge: strengthening technical foundations while also promoting a clearer narrative about RISC-V’s value compared with entrenched incumbents.
Google’s Back-and-Forth
Google’s engagement with RISC-V illustrates both the promise and the frustrations of the open ISA.
The company had supported RISC-V in the Android Common Kernel (ACK), the Linux-derived core underlying Android. But in May 2024, it removed that support, citing the rapid pace of change in the RISC-V ecosystem as incompatible with a single unified kernel image.
Google stressed that it remains committed to RISC-V and intends to enhance support over time. However, its retreat meant device manufacturers interested in Android on RISC-V would need to take on additional development burdens themselves.
This setback underscored one of RISC-V’s central challenges: the lack of a mature, unified ecosystem. By contrast, Arm enjoys deep integration into Android, iOS, and countless toolchains.
China’s Strategic Investment
Beyond corporate adoption, geopolitics are also driving RISC-V’s trajectory. Facing restrictions on access to Western technology, China has invested heavily in RISC-V as part of its push for technological independence.
Chip designer Loongson has developed RISC-V-based systems for educational use, while e-commerce giant Alibaba is planning to deploy RISC-V within its cloud infrastructure. These moves are part of a broader effort by Beijing to reduce reliance on foreign intellectual property.
In Washington, these developments have not gone unnoticed. Since 2023, U.S. lawmakers have debated potential restrictions on China’s access to the ISA. Former CEO Redmond warned that such measures could fragment the standard and create “a world of incompatible solutions,” undermining the global nature of the RISC-V project.
The Ecosystem Problem
At its core, RISC-V’s biggest obstacle is ecosystem maturity. Hardware is only part of the story; what truly determines success in CPUs is the software, tools, and developer support that sit on top of the architecture.
Both Arm and x86 have spent decades cultivating rich ecosystems, enabling developers to build applications, optimize performance, and rely on stable toolchains. RISC-V, by contrast, is still catching up.
One milestone came in October 2024, when the RVA23 profile was ratified. This specification standardizes a set of ISA extensions—including vector operations, floating-point, and atomic instructions—providing developers with a consistent foundation for building software. It also introduces features for AI and machine learning workloads, signaling RISC-V’s intent to compete in emerging performance-critical markets.
Yet, while RVA23 is an important step, it does not fully solve the fragmentation and compatibility issues that have slowed adoption. Developers will still need to be convinced that building for RISC-V is worth the effort.
Entering Smartphones and PCs: An Uphill Battle
Breaking into consumer devices remains RISC-V’s most daunting challenge.
In smartphones, Arm is deeply entrenched. Every major flagship device relies on Arm cores, and developer toolchains are fully optimized for the platform. The prospect of convincing phone manufacturers and app developers to switch ecosystems is remote in the short term.
In the PC market, x86 remains dominant, with Intel and AMD holding virtually the entire market share. Even Qualcomm’s push with Windows-on-Arm—a venture backed by Microsoft itself—has yet to make significant inroads. For RISC-V to gain traction in PCs, it would need not only competitive performance but also broad developer and operating system support, both of which remain elusive.
Outlook: A Standard in Search of Its Breakthrough
RISC-V’s strengths are undeniable. It is open, royalty-free, and adaptable. It has already achieved quiet but large-scale adoption in embedded systems, and it benefits from strong geopolitical tailwinds in China. It also has the backing of industry heavyweights such as Nvidia and Qualcomm.
But the path to mainstream adoption is long. Building a robust ecosystem, securing software compatibility, and persuading developers and manufacturers to take the leap are formidable challenges. Arm and x86 did not achieve dominance overnight; they spent decades building trust, tools, and market momentum.
For RISC-V, the next five years will be crucial. Without a breakthrough moment—an “iPhone on RISC-V,” so to speak—the architecture risks remaining a promising but peripheral technology. With the right leadership, consistent standards, and developer engagement, however, it could yet fulfill its ambition of becoming a true rival to Arm and x86.
For now, it remains an open standard with extraordinary potential—waiting for its chance to lead from the front rather than power from behind the scenes.
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