Foreign media: The U.S. Department of Commerce sent a letter to the U.S. Congress, saying that it is reviewing the "risks" brought about by China's use of RISC-V chip technology, and the excuse is "national security"

Globe.com

2024-04-25 14:56Posted on the official account of Shaanxi Global Network

Reuters quoted a letter from the U.S. Department of Commerce to members of the U.S. Congress on the 24th, saying that the U.S. Department of Commerce is reviewing the risks posed by China's use of RISC-V chip technology, under the pretext of so-called "national security".

According to the observer network previously, like the traditional X86 and ARM, RISC-V is also the underlying instruction set standard for chip design. Just as different languages can write different articles, different instruction set standards can also design different chips, and then build the corresponding software and hardware ecology. The difference is that X86 and ARM are owned by one company, and other companies need to be licensed. RISC-V is an open standard, and anyone can download and use the instruction set manual. At present, half of the senior members of the RISC-V International Foundation are Chinese companies, including Huawei, ZTE, Alibaba, UNISOC, Tencent, etc. But at the same time, there are also many American companies, including Intel, Google, Qualcomm, SiFive and other companies. Because of this, the foundation is also mainly open and cooperative.

The picture shows the RISC-V processor Source: foreign media

According to Reuters, RISC-V chip technology is currently being used by some large Chinese technology companies and has become a new battlefield in the strategic competition between China and the United States in advanced chip technology.

According to the report, 18 members of the Senate and House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress pressed the Biden administration in November last year on the grounds of "sacrificing the cost of U.S. national and economic security" to take measures to prevent China from "achieving dominance in the field of RISC-V technology." "While the RISC-V open-source partnership is expected to bring significant benefits to the advancement and development of the U.S. semiconductor industry, such benefits can only be realized if the contributors are solely interested in improving the technology, rather than helping to achieve China's technological goals and geopolitical interests," the letter reads. ”

According to Reuters, a spokesman for the U.S. Commerce Department said at the time that Secretary Raimondo said that the letter had been received and would respond through appropriate channels.

According to the latest news from Reuters, the content of the letter it saw on Tuesday (23rd) shows that the U.S. Department of Commerce responded in a letter to the U.S. Congress, saying that it is working hard to review "potential risks" and assess whether appropriate actions should be taken to effectively address any potential problems. At the same time, the U.S. Department of Commerce said caution is needed to avoid harming U.S. companies involved in research and development.

In October last year, the hand of some anti-China congressmen in the United States also reached out to the RISC-V field. Lawmakers, represented by the chairman of the Select Committee on China, Mike Gallagher, also urged the Biden administration to take action on RISC-V at the time, citing "national security," fearing that China would use RISC-V to undermine the current U.S. leadership in chips to modernize its military.

In this regard, Ms. Raimondo, CEO of RISC-V International Foundation, published a signed article on the official website, saying that RISC-V was born for openness, and enterprises that embrace open standards can innovate quickly instead of reinventing the wheel, and RISC-V will be as ubiquitous as open standards such as Ethernet, HTTPS, JPEG and USB. Therefore, what China needs to do is to fully embrace RISC-V, embrace open source, continue to break through the key core technologies of chips and basic software, seize the commanding heights of the RISC-V ecosystem, and consolidate the industrial foundation. Iron striking also needs its own hardness, and improving its own strength is always the most effective way to deal with it.

The proposal of American politicians at that time was also criticized by American industry. "The potential U.S. government's restrictions on RISC-V would be a huge tragedy," said Jack Kang, vice president of business development at SiFive, "and it's like banning us from working on the internet." That would be a huge mistake in terms of technology, leadership, innovation, companies, and jobs. ”

Regarding the frequent increase in the United States' suppression of China's chip-related fields on the grounds of so-called "national security", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press conference in January this year that the facts clearly show that the United States is deliberately suppressing the development of China's chip industry, not out of "national security" considerations, let alone legitimate competition, but a unilateral bullying behavior without a principled bottom line, depriving emerging markets and developing countries of the right to pursue a happy life. Mao Ning said that the US behavior has seriously affected the stability of the international production and supply chain, poisoned the atmosphere of international cooperation, and encouraged division and confrontation. This self-serving approach is destined to shoot itself in the foot.

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