China’s chip industry is embracing RISC-V

On June 21, Nuclei System Technology, a Shanghai-based RISC-V chip designer, closed a Series B of more than RMB 100 million (around $15.5 million). The financing round was the firm’s third  in the past year, according to local media reports. Backers of the company included state-owned China Electronics Technology Group and smartphone maker Xiaomi.

Founded in 2018, Nuclei System Technology is one of the largest Chinese companies designing chips using RISC-V, an open-source chip architecture that is gaining popularity among Chinese companies. While the basic RISC-V architecture is free to use, Nuclei’s designs are customized based on real-world needs and are ready to be manufactured. The company’s products are already being used by some of the country's most popular payment systems, like Alipay and UnionPay.

Nuclei is just the latest example of a rush into the RISC-V space in China. RISC-V is an  alternative to mainstream architectures like x86 and Arm, which are proprietary.  It was long considered a “hobbyist architecture.” Now, China’s semiconductor industry is taking RISC-V seriously. Alibaba and some of the country’s largest chipmakers are joining the bandwagon, rolling out RISC-V-based processors. 

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