My buddy, Mark, a dedicated home automation enthusiast, was wrestling with a particularly stubborn project last week. He wanted to build a completely self-sustaining, off-grid weather station, but he was always lamenting the black box nature of some of the components. “If only I could truly understand and control every layer of this thing,” he grumbled, “from the sensors right down to the core processor, without worrying about proprietary licensing or hidden backdoors.” He dreams of a future where his favorite single-board computer, the Raspberry Pi, offered an even deeper level of open-source freedom. This yearning for transparency and control, for a platform built on truly open foundations, often leads folks like Mark to ponder a monumental question in the world of embedded computing: Will Raspberry Pi use RISC-V?
The concise answer is: While Raspberry Pi currently relies exclusively on ARM architecture, a full transition to RISC-V for its flagship models isn’t on the immediate horizon. However, the rapidly evolving RISC-V ecosystem makes it an increasingly viable, and indeed compelling, candidate for future Raspberry Pi offerings, potentially in specialized or co-processor roles, or even as a primary CPU in a distant future. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is undoubtedly watching RISC-V’s progress with keen interest, but the hurdles to a full shift are significant and require substantial ecosystem maturation.
The Heart of the Matter: Raspberry Pi’s Enduring Relationship with ARM
For over a decade, the Raspberry Pi has been synonymous with accessibility, affordability, and the ARM architecture. From its humble beginnings with the Broadcom BCM2835 to the powerful Broadcom BCM2711 in the Raspberry Pi 4, and the latest custom silicon like the RP2040 microcontroller, ARM has been the bedrock. This isn’t by accident; it’s a strategic partnership that has allowed the Raspberry Pi Foundation to deliver incredible value.
Why ARM? The reasons are multifaceted and deeply ingrained in the computing landscape:
- Performance per Watt: ARM processors are renowned for their efficiency, delivering impressive performance while consuming minimal power. This is crucial for a device often powered by USB or batteries, and for keeping the board cool.
- Mature Ecosystem: ARM boasts an incredibly rich and mature software ecosystem. This includes operating systems like Debian-based Raspberry Pi OS (formerly Raspbian), Ubuntu, and myriad others, alongside extensive libraries, development tools, and a massive community of developers. Trying to port all of this to a new architecture is a colossal undertaking.
- Broadcom Partnership: Raspberry Pi’s System-on-Chip (SoC) designs are custom-made by Broadcom, a semiconductor giant with deep expertise and investment in ARM. This long-standing relationship provides reliable supply, custom features, and optimized performance.
- Established Supply Chain: The entire manufacturing process, from silicon fabrication to final board assembly, is optimized for ARM-based components. Shifting this infrastructure would require significant retooling and new partnerships.
- Market Dominance: ARM holds a dominant position in the mobile and embedded space, ensuring a continuous pipeline of innovation and economies of scale that benefit pricing.
In essence, ARM has provided the Raspberry Pi with a stable, powerful, and well-supported foundation, allowing it to become the ubiquitous platform it is today for hobbyists, educators, and industrial users alike. Breaking away from such a successful formula isn’t a decision made lightly.
RISC-V: The Open-Source Challenger on the Block
Enter RISC-V (pronounced “risk-five”), an instruction set architecture (ISA) that’s been making waves across the tech world. Unlike proprietary ISAs such as ARM or x86, RISC-V is an open standard, managed by RISC-V International. This “open” nature is its defining characteristic and its most potent weapon.
Here’s what makes RISC-V so compelling:
- Open Standard: Anyone can design, manufacture, and sell RISC-V chips without paying licensing fees or royalties to a central entity. This fosters innovation and competition.
- Modularity and Customization: RISC-V is designed to be modular. You can pick and choose the instruction sets you need, creating highly optimized processors for specific tasks. This flexibility is unparalleled.
- Transparency and Security: The open nature means the ISA can be thoroughly scrutinized by the community, potentially leading to more secure designs and the elimination of proprietary “backdoors.”
- Cost Efficiency: The absence of licensing fees can theoretically lead to lower silicon costs, which is a major draw for cost-sensitive markets like single-board computers.
- Freedom from Vendor Lock-in: Companies are not beholden to a single vendor for their processor IP, reducing supply chain risks and fostering greater control over their product roadmap.
While RISC-V has already found considerable traction in microcontrollers, specialized accelerators, and embedded systems (like the Raspberry Pi’s own RP2040 which contains two ARM Cortex-M0+ cores, but the foundation has also explored RISC-V for future microcontroller use), its journey into the high-performance application processor space, where the main Raspberry Pi models reside, is still relatively young but accelerating rapidly.
Why Consider a Shift? The Allure of RISC-V for the Raspberry Pi
Given the strengths of ARM, why would the Raspberry Pi Foundation even contemplate a move, or even a partial embrace, of RISC-V? The arguments primarily revolve around the core tenets of open-source philosophy and long-term strategic advantages.
Cost Implications and Business Strategy
Licensing ARM’s core IP or entire architectures incurs costs, which are ultimately factored into the final price of the SoC and, consequently, the Raspberry Pi board. While Broadcom’s scale helps mitigate these, a royalty-free RISC-V core could potentially shave off some of these expenses, allowing for even more aggressive pricing or greater margins for reinvestment. For a product built on the ethos of accessibility, reducing costs is always a priority.
Deep Customization and Innovation
The modularity of RISC-V is incredibly attractive. Imagine a Raspberry Pi SoC where specific instruction extensions are added or removed to perfectly suit particular workloads – perhaps for AI acceleration, specialized cryptography, or ultra-low-power operation. This level of fine-grained control is difficult to achieve with proprietary architectures without significant custom licensing agreements. It opens doors for genuinely novel single-board computer designs tailored for emerging applications.
Long-Term Supply Chain Resilience and Control
The tech industry has learned some hard lessons about supply chain vulnerabilities. Relying on a single vendor for critical IP, while often beneficial, carries inherent risks. With RISC-V, the Raspberry Pi Foundation, or its silicon partners, could have more control over their processor IP, potentially sourcing from multiple design houses or even developing their own custom cores, ensuring greater supply resilience and strategic independence in the long run. This is a significant consideration in a volatile global market.
The “Open-Source Ethos” Alignment
At its heart, the Raspberry Pi project champions open-source software and hardware accessibility. While the ARM architecture itself is proprietary, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has always strived to make its hardware as open as possible on top of it. A move to RISC-V would align perfectly with this deeper philosophical commitment, offering an end-to-end open computing platform from the ISA up through the operating system. This could resonate powerfully with the maker and developer community, fostering even greater trust and collaboration.
Major Hurdles and Realities for Raspberry Pi Adopting RISC-V
Despite the compelling advantages, the path to a RISC-V powered mainline Raspberry Pi is riddled with substantial challenges. These aren’t minor speed bumps; they are fundamental ecosystem gaps that need to be addressed before such a transition could be viable.
Ecosystem Maturity: The “Software Problem”
This is arguably the single largest hurdle. The ARM ecosystem has decades of development behind it. For RISC-V to become a primary architecture for Raspberry Pi, it needs:
- Robust Operating System Support: While Linux distributions like Debian and Ubuntu are making progress on RISC-V, the level of optimization, driver support for various peripherals, and long-term maintenance is not yet on par with ARM. Raspberry Pi OS itself would need a complete, highly optimized port.
- Application Software Compatibility: Most existing applications, libraries, and frameworks used by Raspberry Pi users are compiled for ARM. While many open-source projects can be recompiled, proprietary applications or those with complex dependencies would require significant effort, or even complete rewrites.
- Development Tools: Compilers, debuggers, IDEs, and performance profiling tools need to be mature, stable, and widely adopted for RISC-V. While GNU toolchains exist, the depth and breadth of commercial and open-source tools available for ARM are vast.
- Community and Documentation: The sheer volume of tutorials, project guides, and community support for ARM-based Raspberry Pis is immense. Building a comparable knowledge base for RISC-V would take years.
Performance Parity and Power Efficiency
Modern ARM cores, especially those from reputable vendors like Broadcom, are highly optimized and deliver excellent performance-per-watt. While RISC-V designs are rapidly improving, achieving comparable performance in a commercially viable, mass-produced SoC package requires significant investment in core design, microarchitecture, and fabrication processes. The “free” aspect of RISC-V’s ISA doesn’t automatically translate to free or cheap high-performance silicon development.
Manufacturing and Supply Chain Realities
The Raspberry Pi Foundation has a deeply integrated and successful partnership with Broadcom for its main SoCs. Broadcom’s expertise in designing and manufacturing high-performance ARM-based chips is a cornerstone of the Raspberry Pi’s success. Convincing Broadcom to pivot to a full RISC-V design for their next-generation Raspberry Pi SoC, or finding an alternative silicon partner with comparable capabilities and a track record of mass production, is a monumental task.
Market Acceptance and User Experience
Millions of Raspberry Pi users are accustomed to a seamless experience. Introducing a new architecture would inevitably lead to compatibility issues, learning curves, and potential frustration if not managed meticulously. The “it just works” aspect, a key part of the Raspberry Pi’s appeal, could be jeopardized in the initial phases of a transition.
Initial Investment and Risk
Developing a new SoC from scratch, especially with a new ISA for a flagship product, requires massive research and development investment. The Raspberry Pi Foundation, while successful, operates on a model that prioritizes affordability and widespread adoption. Taking on such a significant financial and technical risk would need to be justified by extremely compelling long-term benefits and a clear path to market success.
The “When” and “How”: Potential Scenarios for RISC-V on Raspberry Pi
Given the complexities, a complete, abrupt switch from ARM to RISC-V for all Raspberry Pi models is highly improbable in the near to medium term. However, there are several more realistic scenarios for how RISC-V could integrate into the Raspberry Pi ecosystem.
Scenario 1: Co-existence and Specialized Models
The most likely initial adoption would be the introduction of a new Raspberry Pi variant running a RISC-V processor, existing alongside the established ARM models. This could target specific niches where RISC-V’s strengths are particularly advantageous, such as:
- Ultra-low-power embedded systems: Similar to how the RP2040 (with its ARM cores) caters to microcontrollers, a RISC-V based board could offer even greater power efficiency for deeply embedded or battery-powered applications, where the performance demands are less stringent and open-source control is paramount.
- Education and Research: A RISC-V Pi could serve as an excellent platform for teaching computer architecture, processor design, and low-level programming, leveraging its open and modular nature.
- Specialized Accelerators: A RISC-V chip designed for specific computational tasks, perhaps for AI inference or signal processing, could be integrated as a co-processor alongside an ARM main CPU on a future Raspberry Pi board.
This approach allows the Raspberry Pi Foundation to dip its toes into the RISC-V waters without alienating its massive existing user base or disrupting its core product line. It also provides an opportunity to contribute to and mature the RISC-V software ecosystem from a practical, hardware perspective.
Scenario 2: Hybrid Approach with RISC-V Co-processors
We’ve already seen Raspberry Pi incorporate specialized silicon, like the VideoCore GPU, alongside its ARM cores. A logical extension would be to include a RISC-V core or cluster as a dedicated co-processor for specific tasks. For example, a future Raspberry Pi SoC could feature an ARM main CPU for general-purpose computing and a RISC-V core dedicated to real-time control, security functions, or specialized data processing. This leverages RISC-V’s flexibility while retaining the robust ARM ecosystem for the heavy lifting.
Scenario 3: Gradual, Long-Term Transition (If RISC-V Matures Significantly)
In a distant future, perhaps five to ten years down the line, if the RISC-V ecosystem achieves true parity with ARM in terms of performance, software maturity, and commercial availability of high-end SoCs, then a more significant transition could be considered. This would involve a slow, generational shift, likely with extensive backward compatibility efforts and clear migration paths for developers. This scenario hinges entirely on the continued rapid evolution and widespread adoption of RISC-V across the industry.
A Detailed Look at the Ecosystem Challenge
Let’s double-click on the ecosystem challenge, as it’s the most critical bottleneck. A great piece of hardware is only as good as the software that runs on it and the tools available to developers. For Raspberry Pi, this means:
Software Porting Efforts: A Herculean Task
Imagine the entirety of Raspberry Pi OS, with its desktop environment, hundreds of packages, drivers for various peripherals (GPIO, cameras, displays, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth), and optimized kernels, all needing to be recompiled and thoroughly tested for a new ISA. This isn’t just a simple “recompile”; it involves low-level driver development, ensuring bootloaders work correctly, and optimizing for the specific RISC-V core microarchitecture. Then there’s the massive array of third-party applications and user projects, many of which rely on specific ARM instruction sets or libraries. This would be an ongoing project spanning years, requiring significant resources from the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the broader community.
Toolchain Development: The Foundation for Innovation
The entire development workflow, from writing code to debugging and deploying, relies on a robust toolchain. While basic GNU GCC and Clang compilers support RISC-V, the specialized optimizations, sophisticated debuggers, profiling tools, and integrated development environments (IDEs) that ARM developers take for granted are still catching up for RISC-V. For Raspberry Pi to maintain its ease of use for education and prototyping, these tools need to be mature and user-friendly.
The Community Aspect and Support Networks
A huge part of the Raspberry Pi’s success is its vibrant, active global community. When users encounter problems, they turn to forums, documentation, and fellow enthusiasts. If a RISC-V Pi were introduced, the existing knowledge base, which is almost entirely ARM-centric, would be less relevant. A new RISC-V specific community, or at least a significant portion of the existing one converting their expertise, would need to develop to provide similar levels of support, tutorials, and project ideas. This takes time, organic growth, and significant evangelism.
Industry Perspectives and Expert Commentary
Statements from key figures within the Raspberry Pi Foundation, such as CEO Eben Upton, have indicated a pragmatic approach. While acknowledging the excitement around RISC-V and its open nature, the focus remains on delivering high-performance, cost-effective solutions with a stable software ecosystem. There’s a recognition of RISC-V’s potential, particularly for microcontrollers or embedded applications where the current ARM Cortex-M line dominates, but a cautious stance on its readiness for mainline application processors. The general industry sentiment is that RISC-V’s growth is undeniable, but it still has a journey to complete before challenging ARM’s strongholds in areas requiring broad software compatibility and raw computational horsepower at scale.
Impact on the Maker Community
For Mark and other makers, a RISC-V Raspberry Pi would be a double-edged sword, at least initially:
- Opportunities for Innovation: The open nature of RISC-V could spark entirely new categories of projects, especially those requiring deep hardware-software co-design or customized security features. It could also lower barriers for small companies to create their own specialized hardware based on the Pi’s form factor.
- Learning Curve: There would be a definite learning curve for existing Pi users. Understanding the nuances of the RISC-V ISA, adapting existing code, and troubleshooting new issues would require dedication.
- New Projects and Applications: Over time, a new ecosystem of projects optimized for RISC-V would emerge, potentially leading to breakthroughs in areas like embedded AI, open robotics, and ultra-secure IoT devices.
Checklist: What Needs to Happen for a Mainline Raspberry Pi RISC-V
For a mainstream Raspberry Pi model to fully embrace RISC-V as its primary processor, here’s a checklist of critical developments:
- Performance Parity: RISC-V cores need to consistently match or exceed ARM’s high-performance cores in benchmarks for general-purpose computing, particularly in floating-point operations and memory bandwidth, all while maintaining excellent power efficiency.
- Mature Software Stack: A fully optimized Linux distribution (like Raspberry Pi OS) with robust drivers, comprehensive libraries, and widespread application compatibility must exist and be actively maintained for RISC-V.
- Strong Silicon Vendor Partnerships: A major semiconductor partner (like Broadcom or a comparable alternative) needs to commit to designing and mass-producing a high-performance RISC-V SoC specifically tailored for a Raspberry Pi form factor, at a competitive price point.
- Developer Community Buy-in: A significant portion of the existing Raspberry Pi developer community needs to adopt RISC-V, contributing code, documentation, and projects to ensure a vibrant ecosystem.
- Cost-Effectiveness at Scale: The total cost of a RISC-V SoC, including design, manufacturing, and support, needs to demonstrably offer a better value proposition than existing ARM solutions.
- Hardware IP Availability: Key peripherals (e.g., high-performance GPUs, neural processing units, video codecs) and their associated drivers need to be readily available and integrated into RISC-V SoCs.
Until these criteria are largely met, the current ARM-based Raspberry Pi models will likely remain the standard. However, the open-source spirit that drives the Raspberry Pi project means that RISC-V will always be an intriguing, aspirational choice for future innovation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main advantage of RISC-V over ARM for Raspberry Pi?
The primary advantage of RISC-V for Raspberry Pi lies in its open-source and royalty-free nature. Unlike ARM, which requires licensing fees for its instruction set architecture (ISA), RISC-V is an open standard. This means anyone can design and implement RISC-V processors without proprietary restrictions or ongoing royalty payments. For the Raspberry Pi Foundation, this could potentially lead to lower silicon costs in the long run, allowing for even more affordable boards or greater investment in other areas.
Beyond cost, RISC-V’s modularity offers unparalleled customization. Designers can select only the instruction extensions they need, making it possible to create highly specialized and efficient processors tailored precisely for specific applications, such as low-power IoT devices or embedded AI accelerators. This flexibility is a significant draw for a platform like Raspberry Pi, which serves a vast array of niche and general-purpose applications within the maker and industrial communities. It aligns deeply with the open-source ethos that underpins the entire Raspberry Pi project, offering a truly open computing stack from the hardware instruction set all the way up to the operating system.
How developed is the RISC-V software ecosystem today?
The RISC-V software ecosystem is growing at an incredible pace, but it is still relatively nascent compared to the decades-old ARM ecosystem. For microcontrollers and deeply embedded systems, the tools and operating system support (such as RTOS, bare-metal development) are quite mature and robust. You can find stable toolchains like GCC and Clang, along with various debuggers and simulators.
However, for high-performance application processors, which power the mainline Raspberry Pi models, the ecosystem is still playing catch-up. While major Linux distributions like Debian and Fedora have RISC-V ports, they often lack the extensive optimizations, broad peripheral driver support, and the sheer breadth of pre-compiled software packages and libraries available for ARM. The graphical environments, multimedia codecs, and specific hardware acceleration drivers that Raspberry Pi users take for granted are either still in development, less optimized, or simply unavailable for RISC-V. The community and developer support, while passionate, is also not yet as widespread or deep as it is for ARM, meaning troubleshooting and finding project resources can be more challenging.
Could Raspberry Pi use a hybrid ARM/RISC-V chip?
Yes, a hybrid ARM/RISC-V chip is not only possible but also a highly plausible scenario for future Raspberry Pi integration. We’ve already seen the Raspberry Pi design team leverage multiple CPU cores and specialized hardware accelerators within their SoCs. The RP2040 microcontroller, for instance, features two ARM Cortex-M0+ cores alongside custom silicon for I/O and peripherals.
In a future mainline Raspberry Pi, a hybrid approach could involve a powerful ARM main CPU handling general-purpose computing, running the primary operating system, and managing demanding tasks. Alongside this, a dedicated RISC-V core or cluster could be incorporated as a co-processor for specific, specialized workloads. This might include ultra-low-power control tasks, security enclaves, real-time operations, or even custom acceleration for AI/ML inference. This strategy allows the Raspberry Pi to benefit from RISC-V’s customizability and open nature for specific functions, without having to abandon the mature and robust ARM ecosystem for its core computational needs. It’s a way to gradually introduce RISC-V and explore its potential in a production environment with reduced risk.
What kind of performance could we expect from a RISC-V Raspberry Pi?
Predicting the exact performance of a future RISC-V Raspberry Pi is challenging, as it would depend heavily on the specific core design, the silicon fabrication process, and the surrounding SoC architecture. Initially, if Raspberry Pi were to adopt RISC-V, it might likely be for specialized, lower-power applications where raw computational horsepower isn’t the primary concern. In such cases, performance might be comparable to current low-end ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers or older Raspberry Pi models, optimized for power efficiency and specific tasks.
For a mainline Raspberry Pi equivalent to models like the Raspberry Pi 4, achieving performance parity with current ARM Cortex-A series processors would require a significant leap in RISC-V core design. While high-performance RISC-V cores are under active development by various companies, consistently matching ARM’s performance-per-watt in general-purpose computing, especially with a fully optimized software stack, is still an ongoing effort. Over time, as RISC-V designs mature and benefit from advanced fabrication nodes, it’s reasonable to expect performance to close the gap. However, for the near future, any RISC-V Raspberry Pi aimed at replacing current flagship models would need to demonstrate substantial progress in core efficiency and clock speeds to compete effectively.
Will existing Raspberry Pi accessories work with a RISC-V version?
The compatibility of existing Raspberry Pi accessories with a hypothetical RISC-V version would be a mixed bag, largely depending on the type of accessory and the level of RISC-V integration. For many basic accessories, such as USB keyboards, mice, and most HATs (Hardware Attached on Top) that primarily use the GPIO pins for simple digital I/O, they would likely be compatible at a physical level. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is known for maintaining physical form factor and pinout compatibility across generations, and there’s no inherent reason a RISC-V board couldn’t adhere to this.
However, the software layer is where challenges would arise. Accessories that rely on specific drivers, proprietary software, or complex communication protocols (e.g., advanced camera modules, some display drivers, specialized sensor boards requiring specific kernel modules, or AI acceleration hardware) would very likely require new drivers and software compiled for the RISC-V architecture. If these drivers are closed-source or difficult to port, compatibility could be severely limited. Even for open-source drivers, porting and optimizing them for a new ISA and potentially a different SoC internal architecture would be necessary. Therefore, while physical compatibility might be maintained, full functional compatibility for all accessories would be a significant hurdle requiring extensive software development and community effort.
What are the biggest challenges facing RISC-V adoption in mainstream SBCs?
The biggest challenges facing RISC-V adoption in mainstream single-board computers (SBCs) like the Raspberry Pi are predominantly related to ecosystem maturity, rather than the intrinsic design of the ISA itself. Foremost among these is the lack of a fully mature and optimized software stack. This includes robust, production-ready operating system distributions with comprehensive driver support for all common peripherals (GPU, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, camera interfaces), as well as a vast repository of pre-compiled application software and libraries that are easily accessible to end-users.
Another significant challenge is performance parity and power efficiency in high-performance application processors. While RISC-V cores are rapidly improving, consistently matching the benchmarks of highly optimized, decades-in-the-making ARM designs from established vendors, especially in terms of performance-per-watt, requires substantial R&D investment. Finally, the supply chain and commercial availability of high-end RISC-V SoCs at competitive prices and in large volumes present a hurdle. Established silicon vendors have deep relationships and optimized manufacturing processes for ARM. Convincing them to pivot or finding new partners with comparable capabilities is a complex business and engineering undertaking for any mainstream SBC manufacturer.
When is the earliest we might see a RISC-V Raspberry Pi?
Given the current trajectory and the significant challenges outlined, it’s unlikely we will see a mainstream, flagship Raspberry Pi model fully powered by a RISC-V application processor in the immediate future, say within the next 2-3 years. The necessary ecosystem maturation for high-performance computing, particularly on the software front, is still a few years away from reaching parity with ARM’s established dominance.
However, a more realistic and earlier possibility is the introduction of a specialized Raspberry Pi board or a variant that incorporates RISC-V in a more targeted role. This could manifest as an ultra-low-power RISC-V microcontroller board, akin to the RP2040 but with a RISC-V core, or a mainline Raspberry Pi board that features a RISC-V co-processor alongside its primary ARM CPU. Such specialized offerings could appear within the next 3-5 years. A complete transition for a flagship model would likely require a longer timeline, possibly 5-10 years, contingent on RISC-V achieving undeniable market and technical maturity across the board. The Raspberry Pi Foundation’s strategic decisions will be driven by practical considerations of cost, performance, and user experience, rather than solely by the open-source philosophy, no matter how appealing it is.
Does the Raspberry Pi Foundation have an official stance on RISC-V?
While the Raspberry Pi Foundation has not announced any immediate plans to replace ARM with RISC-V for its flagship single-board computers, their stance can be described as one of cautious optimism and active interest. Key figures, including CEO Eben Upton, have publicly acknowledged the potential of RISC-V, particularly its open nature and the opportunities it presents for innovation and customization in the long term. They recognize its growing importance in the embedded and microcontroller space, areas where Raspberry Pi already operates (e.g., with the RP2040 microcontroller, albeit ARM-based).
The Foundation’s approach is pragmatic; their priority remains delivering powerful, affordable, and well-supported computing platforms to their users. This necessitates working with established, mature ecosystems. However, they are undoubtedly monitoring RISC-V’s rapid development closely and participating in the broader industry dialogue. It is entirely plausible that they are internally evaluating RISC-V for future product lines, particularly for specialized or deeply embedded applications, or even as a co-processor in future SoCs. Their public commentary suggests an open mind, but a firm commitment to the existing, proven ARM ecosystem for their primary product range until RISC-V reaches a comparable level of maturity and commercial viability for that specific application domain.
