A 10-cent RISC-V microcontroller from China? Why not?
By Steven Leibson, EE Journal | April 28, 2025
Just as I was finishing my previous article about a new TI microcontroller that was smaller than a grain of white rice and sold for 16 cents in thousand-unit quantities, I learned of another new microcontroller based on a proprietary implementation of the 32-bit RISC-V processor ISA that sells for 10 cents (presumably in volume). This new microcontroller from WCH, aka Nanjing Qinheng Microelectronics, a Chinese chip and IP vendor based in Nanjing, China. (“WCH” appears to be an abbreviation for “WinChipHead.”) The microcontroller is the WCH CH570, which has 12 Kbytes of on-chip SRAM and 240 Kbytes of Flash EEPROM for user code. It also integrates internal controllers and PHYs for USB 2.0, WiFi, and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 5.0. How could I resist looking into something like that?
To read the full article, click here
Related Semiconductor IP
- RISC-V Display Connectivity Subsystem (DCS)
- RISC-V IOPMP IP
- RISC-V Debug & Trace IP
- Gen#2 of 64-bit RISC-V core with out-of-order pipeline based complex
- 64-bit RISC-V core with in-order single issue pipeline. Tiny Linux-capable processor for IoT applications.
Related News
- RISC-V Solidifies Presence in China as Global Momentum Builds
- China Unyielding Ascent in RISC-V
- Tenstorrent releases RiescueD, a powerful framework for writing direct tests in RISC-V assembly
- Andes Technology Announces D23-SE: A Functional Safety RISC-V Core with DCLS and Split-Lock for ASIL-B/D Automotive Applications
Latest News
- Alliance for Open Media Releases AV2 Codec, Advancing Next-Generation Open Video Coding
- VeriSilicon Drives Commercial Adoption of AV2 Across Next-Generation Video and Streaming Applications
- Cadence Announces Collaboration with Intel Foundry to Accelerate Intel 14A Process Optimization for HPC and Mobile Designs
- Menta and Presto Engineering Announce Strategic Collaboration to Accelerate Adaptive ASIC Architectures with Embedded FPGA Technology
- MIPI A-PHY To Power Industry’s First Four-Company Automotive SerDes Interoperability Demonstration at AutoSens USA