In September, a military institute in Beijing disclosed a patent for an advanced chip, signaling China's effort to reshape the global chip market, valued at half a trillion dollars, and endure U.S. sanctions. The patent revealed that the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) Academy of Military Sciences utilized an open-source standard, RISC-V, to minimize chip malfunctions in applications such as cloud computing and smart cars.
RISC-V serves as an instruction set architecture, a computer language utilized for designing a range of chips, from those used in smartphones to advanced processors for artificial intelligence. The predominant standards, x86 controlled by U.S. firms Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, and Arm, developed by the U.K.'s Arm Holdings and owned by SoftBank Group, are subject to U.S. and U.K. export controls. These controls restrict the sale of the most advanced x86 and Arm designs, responsible for high-performance chips, to Chinese clients. With widening restrictions on China's access to cutting-edge semiconductors and chip-making equipment, the open-source nature of RISC-V aligns with Beijing's strategy to reduce reliance on Western technology, despite its current minor share in the chip market.
The RISC-V architecture's geopolitical neutrality stands out as its primary advantage, as noted by the Shanghai government's Science and Technology Commission in an April report. Between 2018 and 2023, Beijing, along with numerous Chinese state entities, research institutes, and entities sanctioned by Washington, invested at least $50 million in RISC-V-related projects, as evidenced by various sources such as academic articles, patents, government documents, tenders and statements from research groups and companies.