Risk 5 (RISC-V) is an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) and is used to build all types of processors. This architecture is not only used in the field of artificial intelligence; Rather, companies can rely on it to build processors in the HPC (high power computing) field. CPU price based on risk 5 is not that high.
The applicability of Risk 5 has led a number of US lawmakers to try to block China’s access to this architecture. A senior member of the US Congress says that the Chinese government is taking advantage of Risk 5 to circumvent sanctions and threaten the position of the United States in the chip industry.
According to Reuters, Marco RubioFlorida Republican Senator V Mark WarnerDemocratic senators from Virginia have asked the government to limit the communication between American companies and Chinese companies in the field of risk 5 architecture. They are concerned that China will use Risk 5 for military and strategic advancement and endanger the national security of the United States.
Risk 5 is one of the competitors of ARM’s well-known architecture and, in addition to the phone, it is used in advanced artificial intelligence processors. Risk 5 was born in the laboratories of the University of California, Berkeley, and its development has continued since then under the management of the Swiss non-profit organization. The organization has ensured that the open source nature of Risk 5 is maintained.
Some US lawmakers believe that China is using the open source nature of Risk 5 to advance its chip industry. They are not only worried about China’s economic progress; Rather, they say that this country strengthens its military power at the risk of 5.
Various companies have been openly and secretly using risk 5 for years. Huawei, the Chinese technology giant, sees Risk 5 as one of the fundamental factors for its progress in the chip industry. Meanwhile, large American companies such as Google and Qualcomm have repeatedly expressed their interest in Risk 5 and emphasized the capabilities of this architecture.
The restrictions proposed by the US representatives have caused a lot of concern among the hardware industry activists. According to analysts, these restrictions could compromise the open-text nature of Risk 5. One of the experts of the SiFive Institute says that implementing the aforementioned restrictions is like cutting off the access of American companies to the digital world of the Internet.