This article was compiled from EETIMES by Semiconductor Industry Perspectives (ID: icviews).
These initiatives aim to reduce Europe's dependence on U.S. and Asian chipmakers.
The European Union has invested heavily in initiatives to leverage the RISC-V open source architecture for chip independence. This work is being led by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, which has been a pioneer in the development of RISC-V technology.
The European Union has recently proposed several initiatives to promote the development of RISC-V-based chips in response to member states' concerns about dependence on foreign semiconductor companies. The recent global chip shortage has disrupted the ** chain and highlighted the importance of chip sovereignty, exacerbating this concern.
RISC-V is an open-source instruction set architecture that is owned by no single company. This makes it an attractive option for the EU to offer greater flexibility and security.
The Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) is one of Europe's leading research centers and plays a key role in the development of RISC-V-based chips.
To learn more about the European Semiconductor Program and the role of BSC, EE Times interviewed Mateo Valero, Director of the Barcelona Supercomputer Center, and Teresa Cervero, Principal Research Engineer at BSC.
BSC leads several RISC-V projects, including the European Processor Initiative (EPI) and its spin-off OpenChip. EPI is a €70 million project to develop a new generation of high-performance RISC-V processors. OpenChip is a company that commercializes BSC's RISC-V technology.
BSC began manufacturing chips using the Lagarto family of CPUs and taped out for the first time in May 2019 on a 65nm process. "Today, we're developing the Lagarto core, with the goal of enabling 7nm and beyond processes in the near future," Valero said.
BSC also collaborates with other European companies and research institutes to develop the complete RISC-V ecosystem, including software tools, compilers and operating systems.
Mateo Valero said the moves are aimed at reducing Europe's dependence on U.S. and Asian chipmakers. He pointed out that the lack of a solid chip industry in Europe is a major security loophole, making Europe dependent on foreign companies in key technologies. "RISC-V is the Linux of the hardware space. It is an open-source ISA that is owned by no company. This makes it an attractive option for the EU as it offers greater flexibility and security," he said.
Prof. Mateo Valero (**BSC).
Teresa Cervero is in charge of the European RISC-V program at BSC, and her view is that she agrees that chip sovereignty is essential to Europe's security and economic interests.
Cervero noted that RISC-V is an ideal platform for achieving chip sovereignty because it is open-source and royalty-free. While acknowledging Europe's strengths in knowledge and design, she cautioned against unrealistic expectations of complete independence and highlighted the complex ecosystem of the semiconductor industry.
Europe is knowledgeable and has potential in the design and development of solutions. Public and private entities are taking some kind of action to strengthen the manufacturing phase, creating infrastructure (clean rooms) for it. Medium-term bets require not only economic investment, but also talent who can take advantage of these facilities.
Dr. Teresa Cervero (**BSC).
Initially, BSC experimented with using ARM-based processors in its supercomputer. They even used the chip of the Samsung Galaxy 4 smartphone. "We took the chip from the phone and connected thousands of phones," Valero said.
After Brexit and SoftBank's acquisition of ARM, Valero understood that the EU had a problem: there would no longer be any proprietary European processors. "It wasn't until seven years ago that RISC-V came along, like Linux in hardware; This opens up the possibility for anyone in the world, including Europe, to manufacture processors. Because the United States, Europe, or China do not determine the instruction set, the instruction set is global. ”
In 2019, Mateo Valero persuaded the European Commission to help start production of RISC-V-based supercomputing chips. That's when the European processor program began.
EPAC 1. on the daughter card5-chip (**epi).
EPI is an industrial project in which there will be 3 European companies, one of which is our OpenChip, which is a spin-off of BSC, and it will continue as an independent company what we have done at BSC for years, and we will help them, and they will try to take advantage of these developments to compete with NVIDIA," Valero said. "Of course, NVIDIA has 200 floors of skyscrapers. We started with a cottage. Within three years, we want to make truly competitive chips, and the biggest goal is that within six years, Marinostrum 6 will use RISC-V-based chips. ”
Teresa Cervero mentioned Gaiser, Esperanto Technologies, Semidynamics, and CodaSip as examples of European companies offering RISC-V products. Nonetheless, their solutions are more focused on processors or accelerators rather than SoCs or platforms to use as the final solution.
In addition, she mentioned that "there is still a lack of entrepreneurship around RISC-V in Europe (there are not many startups or SMEs) to provide services, products or solutions to the market." Maybe it's too early, or it's not very attractive yet. ”
Cervero warns against unrealistic expectations of full sovereignty and calls for strategic cooperation to navigate the complex world of semiconductors. "I find it hard to believe that Europe or any other region can have sovereignty and independence in the semiconductor industry. There are many influencing factors: raw materials, precision machinery, knowledge ......"Europe can bet on manufacturing technology (<7nm)." Below this level, the current cost is too high. The semiconductor industry is interested in betting on RISC-V as a strategic route. Well-known companies are investing in this, although there is no public information about its results yet. ”
Despite these challenges, the EU is making significant progress in achieving chip sovereignty using RISC-V. BSC plays a leading role in these efforts, and its work is helping to become a leader in the development of RISC-V technology in Europe.
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