Samsung Embraces RISC-V Amid ARM Licensing Fee Concerns

According to a report by Business Korea, semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics that have been using ARM services are now considering parting ways with ARM. They believe that ARM has been abusing its power by increasing licensing fees and enforcing the use of its designs. An alternative option being explored is RISC-V, an open-source semiconductor design asset. Samsung, Google, Intel, Qualcomm, and other companies are actively promoting the use of RISC-V.

On June 1st, Samsung Electronics announced its membership in the RISC-V Software Ecosystem (RISE) Steering Committee. RISE is an open-source software development project initiated by the non-profit Linux Foundation. It aims to utilize RISC-V for software development and includes participants such as Samsung Electronics, Google, Intel, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and other global IT and semiconductor giants.

RISC-V has been evaluated as the best alternative for companies looking to move away from ARM. Founded by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley in 2010, RISC-V can produce semiconductors with comparable performance to ARM chips while reducing chip area by approximately 50% and chip power consumption by 60%. Most importantly, since RISC-V is open-source, no single company can possess semiconductor design assets like ARM, and therefore, it does not require licensing fees. For these reasons, IT and semiconductor companies have been advocating for RISC-V as an alternative solution.

RISC-V is already yielding positive tangible results. Qualcomm began incorporating RISC-V microcontrollers into its Snapdragon 865 in 2019. So far, around 650 million RISC-V cores have been shipped for mobile devices, automotive applications, and the Internet of Things. Google has expressed its desire for RISC-V to become an Android Tier 1 platform, similar to ARM.

However, open-source also has its limitations. Since anyone can freely use open-source technologies, they can become fragmented. This feature hinders the creation of a stable and consistent ecosystem based on open-source. To address this, several companies are collaboratively developing software, which is crucial for building a RISC-V-based ecosystem. In particular, it will make it easier to run applications and services on RISC-V-based chipsets, reducing the resources required for development and maintenance. RISC-V is expected to find applications in various fields, including mobile devices, home appliances, data centers, and automotive applications.

Meanwhile, ARM, which is set to go public, is also striving to improve its profitability. It is reported that the company is considering charging licensing fees based on devices rather than chips. Since devices are more expensive than chips, applying the same proportion of licensing fees to devices could generate more revenue for ARM compared to applying it to chips.

ARM also plans to enforce companies to use only ARM designs starting from 2024. For instance, Samsung currently uses ARM designs and AMD's graphics cores to manufacture Exynos chips for smartphones, but this will no longer be possible in the future. This point has already been known when ARM filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm.