Sujai Shivakumar and Julie Heng
Many believe that the future of chip design—and the development of new technologies like next-generation artificial intelligence (AI)—will depend on RISC-V architecture. RISC-V is an open standard developed through international collaboration. Participating in international standards like RISC-V is perceived as enabling firms to maintain greater control over their intellectual property and strengthen innovation across public and private sectors. However, some U.S. policymakers also worry that the RISC-V architecture standard could endanger U.S. national security and competitive advantage.
Q1: What is (and isn’t) RISC-V?
A1: An instruction set architecture (ISA) determines how software controls a processor’s hardware. It instructs a chip on what to do, including how to handle data or perform memory operations. Chip designers implement ISAs in their own ways to build their own chips. Currently, designers of specialized AI chips, like Nvidia, often design custom in-house ISAs, whereas chips for general computing (also known as central processing units, or CPUs) usually adopt existing ISAs instead of creating new ones, citing lower costs, software compatibility, and proven reliability.
No comments:
Post a Comment