Expanding the scope of sanctions to the RISC-V field will harm the US, create conditions for China to rise, and threaten the US’s hegemonic position in technology and geopolitics.
US politicians are continuing to pressure President J. Biden to pass an executive order banning US companies and individuals from cooperating with China on RISC-V open source technology.
Some lawmakers, including Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democratic Senator Mark Warner, are urging the administration to act on national security grounds.
However, if it is decided to expand the scope of measures punishment When China enters the RISC-V field, the risk will be on the US side.
US sanctions against China risk spreading to RISC-V open source development
RISC-V is the technology open source code and free, competing with expensive proprietary technologies from giants like Arm and Intel.
More than 10 billion RISC-V chips, used in smartphones and home appliances, have been sold since 2010 and are present in about 96% of commercial software. RISC-V is promised to bring major changes to the landscape of the global computing industry.
The Swiss-based non-profit organization RISC-V International is responsible for monitoring and coordinating cooperation activities between more than 4,000 companies, including Google, Huawei and Tencent.
Companies and organizations participating in the RISC-V ecosystem work together and research to define standards and specifications for the architecture.
China has invested significant resources in developing the RISC-V ecosystem to quickly gain significant advantages for itself. More than 300 Chinese companies are developing products based on this technology, and China accounts for more than half of the world’s chip supply.
In terms of the number of startups and experts participating in this field, China is second only to the US and has the opportunity to make a breakthrough in the next 10 years.
If the US imposes restrictions on organizations and individuals in developing the RISC-V ecosystem in the US, China will gain control of this field.
Chinese companies could lead the global market in the future, even in strategic industries such as consumer electronics, automobiles and aerospace.
So far, the US has not found convincing evidence that RISC-V actually poses a visible threat to national security, because RISC-V development mainly involves consumer companies. .
Even though there are legitimate concerns about the security of RISC-V, major manufacturing corporations are doing their best to eliminate the risk of espionage and unauthorized access to their systems.
In addition, Intel, Google and Siemens will strongly oppose the US withdrawal from RISC-V, having invested a lot of resources in developing this promising technology. It is expected that by 2030, RISC-V open source code could account for 25% of the global microprocessor market value.
Therefore, the US decision to expand the scope of sanctions against China by applying restrictive measures in the field of RISC-V not only does not help restrain China and strengthen national security, but on the contrary. will only weaken America’s position and strengthen China as its main strategic rival.
