3 ms·

Naive q: does RISC-V potentially impact any of this?

• zozbot234 6y ago
  In a way; if you're doing a custom ASIC at an older process node as discussed in the article, there's basically no real reason not to use RISC-V (perhaps RV32E when applicable for minimized area requirements) for your logic. (16-bit and 8-bit logic might also be viable but is really quite constrained these days.) But RV is only one part of what might become a thriving open-hardware-blocks ecosystem over time, that would be especially compelling for these sorts of designs.
  • milesvp 6y ago
    I've been watching RISC-V for the last year, and for me it represents a coming tipping point that I've seen in other tech areas in the past. Having an open standard that people are rallying around is a game changer. I don't know how it effects ASICs specifically, but it seems to be helping open up FPGA development and tooling, making it easier for people outside big established companies to work. I see chip design getting easier (or at least more approachable) in the next 5 years, and I think it will only accelerate from there. Mind you, I may have rose colored glasses on. I've been dreaming of JITs all the way down to the hardware layer ever since I first heard of an FPGA that could flash itself in a single clock cycle over a decade ago...
• staycoolboy 6y ago
  Yes, but I think it depends on where the company is coming from already. The IP licensing cost goes to zero when using RISC-V, and if the company already has a design force set up for MCU dev, it could be a big deal (if RISC-V works out its architectural issues). Comparing this to ASICs still has to take into account what all of the other top-level comments in this thread have discussed. It still doesn't answer the question of MCU vs ASIC (vs. FPGA), but it does add a significant cost reduction to the mix if an MCU is in the running.