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RISC-V is a standard. Anybody can implement a CPU with the standard and then do whatever they want with that CPU. There are plenty of open-sourced RISCV cores a
by _chris_ 11y ago
RISC-V is a standard. Anybody can implement a CPU with the standard and then do whatever they want with that CPU. There are plenty of open-sourced RISCV cores already. Copyleft vs copyright is only an issue regarding how much of the extra "libraries"/layouts/foundry tooling has to be made available too.
Of course, somebody is also FREE to implement something that's "totally not RISC-V", and call it whatever they want. They can change one tiny thing or even nothing.
The major win here is:
a) if somebody WANTS to call their thing "RISC-V compatible", it must implement the same core ISA instruction set as everybody else and
b) all of these companies are pooling their resources regarding lawsuits or patent fights against the core ISA.