RISC-V: An Open Standard for Chip Development

The chip crisis in early 2020 clearly revealed how dependent German and European industry was on the supply chains for  microelectronic components. Despite experts repeatedly emphasising the importance of microelectronics to Europe’s capacity for  innovation, shortages occurred which threatened major industrial  sectors. In response, the European Chips Act was passed and  the establishment of chip fabrication facilities in Europe was  accelerated.

In addition to fabrication, a key factor in ensuring Europe’s technological sovereignty is to strengthen innovative chip development  capabilities by providing appropriate specialist personnel. In this context, the RISC-V open standard instruction set architecture holds great promise because it eliminates many of the constraints of proprietary command sets.

Since RISC-V is characterised by a very variable architecture, numerous different use cases are conceivable. This acatech IMPULSE discusses the opportunities and threats of different scenarios and outlines options for decision-makers in business and politics.