In late October, at the North AmericanRISC-V Summit, a well-known research institutionSHD Group predicted that by2031, globalRISC-V chip shipments will exceed35 billion units, with a5year compound growth rate exceeding30%. Compared to last year’s report, the shipment expectations forRISC-V have been significantly raised, with the strong performance of the Chinese market being one of the reasons.
Undoubtedly,RISC-V is becoming an important pillar for domestic chips. As localRISC-V MCUs and variousSoCs accelerate their market entry, they also bring new challenges to the industry: how to avoidRISC-V from following the homogenization path ofArm MCUs? How to carve out a new path for high-quality development? In response to this challenge, Qingke’s unique practical approach toRISC-V provides a way to address these issues.
Breaking the Norm: Self-Developed Chip Underlying Technology
Generally speaking, in theArm-dominatedMCU market, chip manufacturers must first purchaseArm‘s coreIP modules, and then integrate them with self-developed or externally sourced peripherals and storage to createMCU chips. Using matureArm cores can shorten product development cycles and connect toArm‘s complete ecosystem and large user base, but products are prone to homogenization, leading to internal competition.
In contrast to the conventional chip design model, Qingke has chosen to self-develop the core processors ofMCUs and interface chips, focusing on the most critical processingIP and interfaceIP, adopting a research and development strategy of“first laying the foundation forIP, then building the chip skyscraper”, leveraging the flexibility of self-developedIP to enhance product competitiveness through specialization and differentiation, thus forging a path of self-reliance for domestic chips.
Qingke Core: Balancing Performance and Features
Thanks to the openness ofRISC-V, companies can independently developRISC-V processors, transforming the processorIP from an imported product into a core technology that can be truly mastered. As one of the first domestic companies to experiment withRISC-V, Qingke began laying outRISC-V in 2018, and its QingkeRISC-V has developed over eight years, forming a layout of more than ten cores ranging from low power to high performance. Throughout theMCU field, it is rare for chip design manufacturers to independently develop processors, except for a few leading companies in Europe and the United States. It is reported that Qingke’s high-endRISC-V core, Qingke V5F, achieves a performance of5.73 CoreMark/MHz, surpassingArm‘s high-end coreM7. This core has been mass-produced in chips such asCH32H417, demonstrating that domestic companies can achieve high-performanceMCU technology without relying onArm.
Another advantage ofRISC-V is its flexibility. Flexibility is the foundation of differentiation and specialization, and it is key to avoiding product homogenization. Qingke’sRISC-V has designed innovative features for downstream applications that enhance interconnectivity, such as interrupt-free interrupts to improve interrupt response speed, compressed instructions to enhance code density, memory copy to improve data transfer efficiency, and single/double line debugging for more efficient I/O operations. These kernel innovations ultimately translate into chip features, enhancing product competitiveness and recognition.
Built-in PHY: Combining Usability and Efficiency
As a long-established bridging chip company, Qingke has self-developed ultra-high-speedUSB, Ethernet, and Bluetooth physical layers/RF transceivers, controllers, protocol stacks, and even upper-layer drivers and application software, creating a vertical integration of various connection technologies. This deep layout of connection technologies not only results in a rich variety of interface chip types but also endows QingkeMCUs with distinctive interface features.
Based on the professional interfaces and integrated design of QingkeRISC-V cores, the interconnect-typeMCU not only achieves full integration ofUSB PHY, EthernetPHY, allowing high-performance interconnect applications to no longer require externalPHY chips, but also significantly enhances the performance and efficiency ofMCU communication interfaces. For example, theRISC-V dual-coreMCU chipCH32H417 provides450MB/s USB 3.0,500MB/s high-speed parallel ports,225MB/s digital image interfaces,200MHz SDMMC, and1.5Gbps SerDes, making it one of the fewUSB3.0 generalMCUs, and also a representative embodiment of Qingke’s self-developed processors deeply integrated with connection technologies.
Creating a Complete RISC-V Ecosystem: Annual Chip Sales Exceeding 100 Million
In the application of domesticRISC-V chips, Qingke has proposed the concept of aRISC-V ecosystem, which includes self-developed processors and interfacePHY and other key underlying technologies, creating specialized chip products, providing comprehensive development tools, and continuously investing in ecosystem construction, offering developers a one-stop solution. The professional integrated development environmentMRS significantly reduces the cost and difficulty for downstream customers to migrate toRISC-V, with hundreds of thousands of engineers already experiencing it. Currently, QingkeRISC-V chips have been widely used in various industrial and IoT products, with annual sales exceeding 100 million units, promoting the prosperity of the domesticRISC-V industry and further strengthening the industry’s confidence inRISC-V.
Self-Development and Self-Reliance: Promoting High-Quality Industrial Development
QingkeRISC-V is a reflection of the self-reliance of domestic chip companies. The recently released “14th Five-Year Plan” draft emphasizes strengthening original innovation and tackling key core technologies. In the future, more chip design companies like Qingke will focus on niche areas, creating product features through in-depth research and development. RISC-V will continue to break through in broader fields, injecting strong momentum into the high-quality development of China’s chip industry.
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