RISC-V CPU IP Cores

RISC-V has moved from an academic ISA project to a major architectural option for modern SoC development. As semiconductor companies seek greater control over CPU integration, software ecosystems, and licensing costs, RISC-V is increasingly positioned alongside ARM as one of the two primary processor architectures considered for embedded and application-specific designs.

Understanding RISC-V

RISC-V is an open instruction set architecture (ISA) originally developed at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2010. Unlike proprietary CPU architectures, the ISA itself is open and can be implemented without paying royalties or mandatory licensing fees.

The name “RISC-V” refers to the fifth generation of the Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) research project. The architecture defines the instruction set and execution model, while allowing vendors to develop their own microarchitectures, extensions, and optimizations.

RISC-V supports multiple compute classes, including 32-bit, 64-bit, and future 128-bit implementations, making it applicable across embedded MCUs, storage controllers, AI accelerators, automotive systems, and high-performance computing platforms.

A key characteristic of the RISC approach is its simplified instruction model and heavy reliance on register-based operations, enabling efficient pipelines and scalable implementations ranging from ultra-low-power cores to superscalar processors.

Growing Industry Adoption

RISC-V adoption has accelerated significantly over the last few years, driven by demand for architectural flexibility and reduced dependency on proprietary CPU ecosystems. What initially appeared attractive mainly to startups and smaller fabless companies is now being explored by many large semiconductor and hyperscale players.

Several notable examples illustrate this momentum:

• Google integrated a RISC-V-based security processor in the Titan M2 module used in Pixel devices.
• Seagate Technology disclosed internally developed RISC-V processor cores for storage controllers.
• NVIDIA Ships Over One Billion RISC-V Cores in 2024 Inside Its Accelerators, Up to 40 Cores Per Chip.
• Huawei and its semiconductor division HiSilicon introduced products incorporating RISC-V processors.
• Intel has participated in the ecosystem through research initiatives and industry collaboration around open ISA development.

The expansion of the RISC-V ecosystem is also reflected in the growing number of commercial IP vendors offering configurable CPU cores, vector processors, AI-oriented extensions, safety-certified implementations, and domain-specific accelerators.

RISC-V Versus ARM

The comparison between ARM and RISC-V is often framed around open versus proprietary ecosystems, but the differences extend beyond licensing models.

Licensing and Royalties

One of the main advantages of RISC-V is that the ISA can be implemented without paying architecture royalties. Companies can design custom CPUs, extend the instruction set, or integrate domain-specific accelerators without requiring architectural approval from a central IP owner.

Commercial RISC-V IP vendors still charge licensing fees for their implementations, verification environments, toolchains, or software stacks, but the ISA itself remains open.

ARM follows a more traditional IP licensing model. Access to ARM CPU cores typically requires upfront licensing agreements, and production royalties are generally applied per shipped device. Architectural customization is also more restricted unless a company obtains an architectural license.

Customization and Flexibility

RISC-V’s modular architecture allows implementers to select only the extensions required for a given workload. This flexibility is particularly attractive for:

• AI accelerators
• Domain-specific processors
• Automotive controllers
• Edge inference devices
• Storage and networking ASICs
• Security processors

The ability to add custom instructions and tightly couple accelerators is one of the strongest technical arguments in favor of RISC-V for specialized silicon.

Ecosystem Maturity

ARM currently maintains a significantly more mature ecosystem in terms of software support, developer tools, operating system compatibility, safety certifications, and production deployment history.

ARM processors are deeply established across smartphones, automotive electronics, industrial systems, networking equipment, and aerospace applications. The ecosystem benefits from decades of optimization and software compatibility.

RISC-V, while progressing rapidly, is still building comparable maturity in some segments. Toolchains, debuggers, operating system support, and verification environments continue to improve, but ecosystem fragmentation and software portability remain ongoing industry challenges.

Why Semiconductor Companies Are Interested

The growing interest in RISC-V is driven by several strategic considerations:

• Reducing long-term royalty exposure
• Avoiding dependence on a single CPU ecosystem provider
• Enabling workload-specific instruction extensions
• Improving integration flexibility for heterogeneous SoCs
• Supporting chiplet-based and accelerator-centric architectures
• Increasing control over hardware roadmaps

This is especially relevant in AI infrastructure, edge computing, storage, automotive, and industrial markets, where companies increasingly differentiate through custom silicon rather than standardized compute platforms.

The Emerging RISC-V IP Landscape

The rise of RISC-V has also created a rapidly expanding commercial IP market. Vendors now provide:

• Embedded MCU-class processors
• Linux-capable application CPUs
• Vector processing extensions
• Functional safety-certified cores
• AI-oriented accelerators
• Security-focused implementations
• Real-time processors
• Chiplet-ready compute subsystems

As a result, the RISC-V ecosystem is evolving from an academic open ISA initiative into a commercially competitive semiconductor IP market with broad industry participation.

While ARM remains dominant across many production markets today, RISC-V has established itself as a credible long-term alternative for companies seeking greater architectural flexibility and control over custom silicon development.

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