China’s Adoption of RISC-V Chip Standard Challenged by US Scrutiny and Google’s Android Support Withdrawal

Google recently removed support for RISC-V from the Android kernel, a move that will impact chip vendors targeting Android systems and devices. Analysts believe that developers will have to put in extra effort to restore RISC-V support on their own. This change is not expected to have a significant global impact, as most companies designing chips around RISC-V are not focusing on Android devices. However, in China, there are over 300 companies using RISC-V, with major tech players supporting the standard.

RISC-V International, a non-profit group promoting RISC-V technology, has over half of its premier members from China, including companies like Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Technologies, and ZTE. Other premier members include Google, Intel, and Qualcomm. Alibaba, Huawei, and Tencent are actively developing chips based on RISC-V, with Alibaba’s Damo Academy expanding its XuanTie series of processors for various applications.

Baidu-backed chip maker StarFive Technology is also working on RISC-V-based CPUs, with plans to establish a semiconductor research-and-development lab in Hong Kong. Despite concerns in the US, China continues to contribute significantly to RISC-V development. Companies already invested in RISC-V support for Android are expected to continue their projects, although there is still a considerable amount of work ahead.