> Going into wild-ass speculation mode, if this board really is affordable, I wonder if it's being subsidized by the Chinese gov't to encourage RISC-V adoption.

> Going into wild-ass speculation mode, if this board really is affordable, I wonder if it's being subsidized by the Chinese gov't to encourage RISC-V adoption. You might find this[1] meeting with Steven Zhao interesting. Steven Zhao is the guy behind Orange Pi, raspberry pi alternative. Interesting part translated: Steven announces that Orange Pi can buy a good quality WiFi component for $1, that his cards will have a good WiFi connection for that price. - Uh, if the purchase of the component is $1, inevitably the exit price will be a little higher for the end customer, Mr. Zhao? - If you tell me the price, I will know your margin ... - - No, because today all Orange Pi cards are sold at the BOM (Bills Of Material) price. - Does that mean that the cost of engineers, premises, development hardware, design and all that ... isn't impacted in the price of a card? - That's right. - But how is that possible? - We benefit from government grants. And here's a statement that takes your breath away. Orange Pi is a private company in a state dumping system. This can be said from a Western point of view, of the international agreements and of all the conceptual set-up intended to protect the big established industrialists. 1: https://www.minimachines.net/a-la-une/orange-pi-steven-zhao-52858 https://www.minimachines.net/a-la-une/orange-pi-steven-zhao-...