Can Open-Source Semiconductors Upend the Chip Industry?

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode explains RISC-V, an open-standard instruction set architecture for chips, through an interview with Sci5 president Chris Lattner. It argues RISC-V could reshape semiconductor design by reducing dependence on proprietary CPU ecosystems, enabling more customized, power-efficient hardware, and supporting new business models amid slowing Moore’s Law and rising demand for specialized computing.

Main Topics: What RISC-V is (Priority: 5/5): Chris Lattner defines RISC-V as an open standard instruction set linking software and hardware, analogous to TCP/IP for networking or Linux for software. It allows different chip implementations to run the same software ecosystem. Why open standards matter in chips (Priority: 5/5): The conversation stresses that proprietary instruction sets can outlive the companies behind them and can limit competition, while open standards create longevity, interoperability, and market pressure. Sci5’s business model and role (Priority: 4/5): Sci5 is presented as a company that commercializes RISC-V implementations rather than merely providing software. It sells configurable processor technology to other hardware firms and also offers developer boards. Customization as a response to Moore’s Law limits (Priority: 5/5): Lattner argues that as traditional process-driven gains get harder, chip innovation will increasingly come from customization, heterogeneous compute, and accelerator-based designs tailored to specific workloads. Adoption and ecosystem momentum (Priority: 4/5): The episode discusses broad industry interest in RISC-V across major firms, academic projects, and product integrations, while noting that exact adoption is hard to measure because usage can remain internal and undisclosed. Geopolitics and supply-chain independence (Priority: 3/5): The hosts probe whether RISC-V can reduce reliance on major chip vendors or foreign supply chains. Lattner frames RISC-V as a collaboration-enabling standard that works across political boundaries, though he avoids making a direct geopolitical claim. Commercializing open hardware (Priority: 4/5): The interview explores whether it is unusual to build a for-profit company around an open technology. Lattner argues open standards can coexist with commercial businesses and may attract top talent and broader ecosystem contributions.

Key Arguments: RISC-V is an open standard instruction set, not a proprietary chip architecture, so multiple hardware vendors can implement it while preserving software compatibility. Open standards are valuable because software and hardware often outlast the companies that created them, reducing lock-in and continuity risk. Sci5 commercializes RISC-V by building implementations with different trade-offs in performance, size, area, and power rather than selling a closed platform. Many customers adopt RISC-V either to replace legacy or risky platforms such as MIPS and some ARM designs, or to create differentiated products no one else can build. As Moore’s Law slows and process-node improvements get more expensive, customization and heterogeneous computing become more important than simply pursuing the fastest general-purpose chip. RISC-V may matter most in IoT and specialized systems where time-to-market, power efficiency, and product fit matter more than raw benchmark leadership. Adoption is accelerating among major technology firms and could be visible only partially because many uses of RISC-V are embedded internally and never publicly announced. Open technologies can attract a broader community of engineers and researchers, and companies can still build profitable businesses around them, as seen with Linux and Red Hat.

Data Points: Episode length of Bloomberg Stock Movers reports: five minutes or less - Promotional intro for Bloomberg’s Stock Movers product RISC-V age: about 10 years old - Lattner says the project began in a Berkeley research lab roughly a decade ago Sci5 company age: five years - Lattner says the company was founded five years after RISC-V started Lattner tenure at Apple: 11+ years - He describes his background working on compilers and systems software Cloud data center socket power: roughly 250 watts - Used to explain power constraints in server computing Number of Bloomberg journalists and analysts referenced in promos: 3,000 - Mentioned in promotional copy for Bloomberg audio products

Pivotal Quotes: "RISC-V is a different approach to this. Instead of saying it's a proprietary interface between hardware and software, RISC-V is an open standard." — Chris Lattner: Defining the core concept of RISC-V "One of the great things about this standard: you can get different implementations from different companies." — Chris Lattner: Explaining the value of open competition in chip design "The other way to tackle this is to innovate in the hardware. And so, what we're seeing now is we're seeing a rise of GPUs and we're seeing a rise of machine learning accelerators." — Chris Lattner: Describing how the industry is adapting to the end of easy process-driven gains

Implications: RISC-V could widen competition in chip design, lower dependence on proprietary ecosystems, and accelerate specialized hardware development. If adoption keeps growing, it may become a major platform for next-generation, power-efficient, customized computing.