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> As a layperson though, how would I be able to tell whether any of this is true? You probably won't ever know. Do you know the architecture of the microcontro

> As a layperson though, how would I be able to tell whether any of this is true? You probably won't ever know. Do you know the architecture of the microcontroller on your first computer's hard drive? I don't. The stuff that RISC-V will replace first is the low-margin hardware that can be mass-produced by China et. al and exported without license violation. ARM's goose was already cooked in this sense, and even ARM China won't fix it. For IO controllers, ICs and network switches, it's hard to see why manufacturers would stick with higher-margin ARM hardware. If RISC-V cores are cheap, stable and available, you could replace them without the user ever noticing. > By the time Apple is shipping a RISC-V phone I hope to be retired! Apple is reportedly looking to replace some of their A-series ICs with RISC-V ones: https://www.techpowerup.com/298936/report-apple-to-move-a-part-of-its-embedded-cores-to-risc-v-stepping-away-from-arm-isa https://www.techpowerup.com/298936/report-apple-to-move-a-pa... Hopefully you don't intend to retire this soon :p

AprilArcus 3y ago
Apple holds a rare Architecture license to the ARM ISA due to their role as a founding partner, and can make original implementations without incurring licensing dues, as they do with the A and M series CPUs. I understand why they would want to switch to homegrown designs instead of licensing ARM reference designs (which they do have to pay for), but why migrate instruction sets too when RISC-V doesn't save them any marginal cost over novel ARM designs that would be binary compatible with the existing firmware?
- klelatti 3y ago
  > Apple holds a rare Architecture license to the ARM ISA due to their role as a founding partner, and can make original implementations without incurring licensing dues Sorry, the architecture license wasn’t a thing when Arm was founded and there is no way that Arm would hand out free licenses at a later date. It’s just a myth.
- zie 3y ago
  "We have entered into a new long-term agreement with Apple that extends beyond 2040, continuing our longstanding relationship of collaboration with Apple and Apple's access to the Arm architecture," - ARM's IPO Document. I assume they paid something for it, but who knows how much, ARM and Apple have not decided to tell us. Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1973239/000119312523228059/d393891df1a.htm https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1973239/000119312523...
NortySpock 3y ago
Western Digital announced an open source core ("SweRV") in 2019, so I assume they already use them now that we are a few years on from that announcement. https://github.com/westerndigitalcorporation/swerv_eh1 https://github.com/westerndigitalcorporation/swerv_eh1 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25002448 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25002448

AprilArcus 3y ago

Apple holds a rare Architecture license to the ARM ISA due to their role as a founding partner, and can make original implementations without incurring licensing dues, as they do with the A and M series CPUs. I understand why they would want to switch to homegrown designs instead of licensing ARM reference designs (which they do have to pay for), but why migrate instruction sets too when RISC-V doesn't save them any marginal cost over novel ARM designs that would be binary compatible with the existing firmware?

klelatti 3y ago
> Apple holds a rare Architecture license to the ARM ISA due to their role as a founding partner, and can make original implementations without incurring licensing dues Sorry, the architecture license wasn’t a thing when Arm was founded and there is no way that Arm would hand out free licenses at a later date. It’s just a myth.
zie 3y ago
"We have entered into a new long-term agreement with Apple that extends beyond 2040, continuing our longstanding relationship of collaboration with Apple and Apple's access to the Arm architecture," - ARM's IPO Document. I assume they paid something for it, but who knows how much, ARM and Apple have not decided to tell us. Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1973239/000119312523228059/d393891df1a.htm https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1973239/000119312523...

NortySpock 3y ago

Western Digital announced an open source core ("SweRV") in 2019, so I assume they already use them now that we are a few years on from that announcement. https://github.com/westerndigitalcorporation/swerv_eh1 https://github.com/westerndigitalcorporation/swerv_eh1 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25002448 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25002448