When they say "RISC-V", they're not talking about the ISA, but all the tech that goes along with making a core with things like the Rocket or BOOM generators.

When they say "RISC-V", they're not talking about the ISA, but all the tech that goes along with making a core with things like the Rocket or BOOM generators. I suspect they're dissing on SiFive because they created a proprietary derivative of the Rocket core generator, transferred it to a Chinese subsidiary (StarFive), and then couldn't compete with StarFive because SiFive was mostly staffed by academics and then had the temerity to not be bought by Intel. I had always thought SiFive management got approval for the tech transfer (you're supposed to give the State Department / FISA Courts the right to deny the transfer of tech overseas.) I don't believe State or Commerce had a problem with what SiFive was exporting at the time. My guess is some republicans in congress found out the Trump Administration allowed the export of technology a Chinese subsidiary did something cool with and that just rubs them the wrong way, so why not blame a Democrat? So yes... there are corners of congress that are hilariously uninformed, but it's not quite as bad as you make out.