Google’s RISC-V removal from Android: What it means for chip vendors and the global impact of China in the tech industry.

Last week, Google made the decision to remove RISC-V support from the Android kernel. This move is expected to have an impact on RISC-V chip vendors targeting Android systems and devices, according to William Li, an analyst at Counterpoint research.

While developers have the option to restore RISC-V support themselves, it will require more effort than it would have if Google had not removed it. However, the global impact of this decision is likely to be limited as most companies designing chips around RISC-V are not focusing on Android devices, as noted by Li.

RISC-V International, the non-profit organization promoting the technology, has over half of its premier members based in China. Chinese tech giants like Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Technologies, ZTE and Beijing Institute of Open Source Chip are actively developing chips based on RISC-V with initiatives such as Alibaba’s XuanTie series of processors being used in various industries like 5G communications, robotics and financial services. Companies like Baidu backed StarFive Technology are also working on RISC-V based central processing units with plans to establish a semiconductor research and development lab in Hong Kong.

Despite concerns in the US about China’s contribution to the RISC-V ecosystem remains strong. Zhang Xiaorong from Cutting-Edge Technology Research Institute noted that companies already working on RISC-V support for Android are expected to continue their projects despite the additional work that lies ahead.