SiFive Sees Big Year for RISC-V

Startup expects many design wins, new players

By Rick Merritt, EETimes
February 14, 2019

SAN JOSE, Calif. — If Naveed Sherwani gets his way, 2019 will be a year to remember for his startup, SiFive, the RISC-V architecture, and maybe even the whole semiconductor industry.

By the end of the year, SiFive could have cores that span the range of its entrenched rival Arm, said Sherwani, who in late 2017 was named CEO of the startup founded by RISC-V creators at Berkeley. This year, all RISC-V companies together could win more new sockets than Arm, he predicted.

The startup and the broader movement it is a part of are injecting new energy into a maturing chip sector. They are enabling more established companies to follow Apple’s lead in designing their own chips. And they are making it easier and cheaper for small startup teams to get into chip design.

“I’m seeing SiFive as more than an opportunity to make money; it’s an opportunity to revive the semiconductor industry, to bring new people into it,” he said.

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