Intel Reportedly Attempting to Acquire SiFive
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at hwdoh@nhqv.com. -- Ed.
Recent media reports say that Intel is attempting to acquire SiFive. Nvidia’s acquisition of ARM is attracting stronger market attention towards RISC-V architecture.
Interest growing in RISC-V
Media reports are saying that Intel is attempting to acquire SiFive. Representing a potential competitor to ARM, SiFive is a startup that is developing RISC-V architecture. The acquisition price under negotiation is reported to be around US$2bn. In 2020, investors sized the value of SiFive at about US$500mn. The processor architecture market is divided into x86 and ARM. The PC and server segments are currently dominated by x86, and the mobile segment is dominated by ARM.
Recently, ARM processors such as Apple’s M1 and AWS’s Graviton2 have been making successful headway into the PC and server markets. With ARM architecture now in the spotlight, Nvidia is in the process of acquiring ARM Holdings. Currently, it is awaiting approval from governments in Europe and China. If Nvidia succeeds in obtaining ARM, it will create a worrisome situation for several tech players currently using ARM architecture, as their competitor (ie, Nvidia) will be in control of their core architecture.
China paying keen attention to RISC-V; investment in related startups to rise
As an open source, RISC-V represents an alternative to ARM architecture. SiFive uses open source RISC-V to develop its own designed core IP and processor design templates. Accordingly, customers can develop their own desired processors by using SiFive’s IP. Qualcomm, Western Digital, and SK Hynix have all invested in SiFive.
China, which is subject to US semiconductor sanctions, is paying attention to RISC-V. Processors such as Alibaba’s Xuantie-910 have been developed using RISC-V architecture. Having attracted the interest of major IT players such as Intel, the RISC-V-related ecosystem is expected to expand at an accelerated pace going forward. Accordingly, investment in related startups is set to rise.