RISC-V International, an organization overseeing development of the open source RISC-V instruction set architecture, this week responded to U.S. lawmakers, who last week expressed concerns that openness of the RISC-V technology could be abused by the Chinese Communist Party and expressed an idea to 'close' the ISA from Chinese entities. Calista Redmond, chief executive of RISC-V International, believes that the ISA must remain open to enable evolution of compute capabilities for a broad range of applications.
"RISC-V is here to stay. It has already grown tremendously in global adoption and influence as the open standard for compute," Redmond wrote in a blog post. "RISC-V is an open standard and has incorporated meaningful contributions from all over the world. As a global standard, RISC-V is not controlled by any single company or country."
Open standards, such as Ethernet, HTTPS, JPEG, and USB, have historically propelled technological growth, driving innovation and market expansion, Redmond reckons. Throughout the tech industry's evolution, these standards have served as guiding lights, attracting consumers to novel technologies and motivating businesses to break new grounds. Instead of acting as arenas for rivalry, these platforms provide a unified base, setting the stage for competition centered on unique offerings and value propositions. Meanwhile, American companies have traditionally played key roles in the creation and promotion of these standards, ensuring consistency in technological processes and setting the tone for global advancements.
RISC-V is another open source technology that is potentially set to become ubiquitous. Drawing from a global pool of contributions, spanning North America, Europe, and Asia, it remains decentralized. The technology also distances itself from constrained proprietary frameworks. Yet, the ascent of RISC-V has been punctuated with concerns. Its commanding presence in the semiconductor sector has not gone unnoticed by global peers. Fears loom that curbing its trajectory could curtail its manifold benefits and inadvertently provide an impetus for competitors to chart alternative terrains.
Addressing U.S. lawmakers' security-related apprehensions, the RISC-V entity is positioning itself as a collaborator in global standards, rather than as a tech gatekeeper. It underlines the essence of its open-framework ethos, highlighting competition's domain as implementation, not in the foundational standards.
"Contemplated actions by governments for an unprecedented restriction in open standards will have the consequence of diminished access to the global marketplace of products, solutions, and talent," stressed Redmond. "Bifurcating on the standards level would lead to a world of incompatible solutions that duplicate effort and close off markets."
