Qualcomm starts a RISC-V joint venture

Arm is facing down its biggest competition ever, with the up-and-coming RISC-V architecture threatening to unseat it as the CPU at the center of almost every portable device. Now, one of Arm's biggest customers is trying out RISC-V, as Qualcomm isgetting involvedin a joint venture dedicated to the architecture.

The joint venture doesn't have a name yet, but Qualcomm, NXP, Nordic Semiconductor, Bosch, and memory giant Infineon are all teaming up to form a new company that Qualcomm's press release says is aimed at advancing the adoption of RISC-V globally by enabling next-generation hardware development." At first, the group will be focused on automotive uses, with an eventual expansion" to IoT and mobile, Qualcomm's biggest market.

Statements of intent are easily written, so let's hope this is more than a fart in the wind.