Intel Joins RISC-V International, Will Help With RISC-V Open-Source Software

Intel Foundry Services already courted SiFive as a customer and there were even those talks last year of Intel reportedly trying to acquire that leading RISC-V chip designer while today Intel has announced it joined RISC-V International as its latest move around this open-source processor ISA.

Intel is joining the RISC-V International organization as a Premier member. This move is part of Intel's continued investment into the open RISC-V architecture. While they already have their RISC-V based Nios V processors, Intel isn't necessarily planning anything like replacing x86_64 with RISC-V in the short term but is making this move to invest in the ecosystem for the long-term and hopefully luring more customers to the Intel Foundry Services.

According to today's announcement, Intel will also be helping RISC-V accelerate in their open-source software support, "Today Intel announced several immediate RISC-V community benefits led by Intel Foundry Services (IFS). IFS will sponsor an open-source software development platform that allows for freedom in experimentation, including partners across the ecosystem, universities, and consortia."

They also added in today's press release, "The IFS strategy will provide a broad range of leadership intellectual property (IP) optimized for Intel process technologies. IFS is the only foundry to offer IP optimized for all three of the industry’s leading ISAs: x86, Arm and RISC-V. Intel has already seen strong demand from foundry customers to support more RISC-V IP offerings."

Intel also announced today a $1 billion USD fund to help build a foundry innovation ecosystem.