As the global adoption of the open-source RISC-V chip architecture gains momentum, US intellectual property provider MIPS is engaging in significant collaboration with Chinese firms, reflecting ongoing cross-border cooperation amid rising technological competition between Washington and Beijing. Yankin Tanurhan, chief technology officer of MIPS—which was acquired by US chipmaker GlobalFoundries last year—outlined these developments during a media briefing held in Shanghai in September.

Tanurhan noted that MIPS is actively involved in driving RISC-V standardization efforts closely with Chinese partners. This initiative is part of a broader movement under the supervision of RISC-V International, the non-profit organization responsible for managing the architecture. The organization aims to unite global technology players—including those from the US, Europe, China, and academia—to establish common standards across a diverse range of applications, from artificial intelligence (AI) to microcontrollers and data center servers.

The collaboration underscores a notable shift in China’s domestic RISC-V sector, which is rapidly moving from niche uses toward mainstream adoption, supported by both industrial uptake and policy incentives. Qi Xiaoning, a chip industry veteran at Alibaba Group Holding, echoed Tanurhan’s remarks at the SCMP China Conference 2026 in Hong Kong in July. Alibaba is an active participant in the RISC-V ecosystem through its research arm, Damo Academy. Qi emphasized the global nature of this cooperative effort, describing major corporations worldwide working collectively as “one unified ecosystem” focused on the RISC-V open-standard architecture for edge computing—processing data locally on devices—as well as cloud applications.

RISC-V, short for fifth-generation reduced instruction set computer, is a free-to-use, open-standard instruction set architecture (ISA) enabling developers to design central processing units (CPUs) without resorting to proprietary platforms such as Intel’s x86 or Arm architectures. Its cost-effectiveness, openness, and customizability have contributed to a surge in its popularity, especially in China, where the government and domestic companies seek to reduce reliance on foreign technologies.

Beyond traditional sectors like automotive, industrial equipment, and Internet of Things devices, RISC-V chipmakers have expanded into next-generation computing and AI-related fields. Beijing-based Eswin Computing Technology is poised to become the first pure-play RISC-V chip manufacturer to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange, with its initial public offering scheduled for Friday. Liu Shuai, Eswin’s vice-president and chief marketing officer, cited the company’s efforts to build a “RISC-V plus AI” ecosystem in collaboration with partners. He also highlighted that the global shipment growth of RISC-V chips has outpaced that of both x86 and Arm architectures, driven by the technology’s energy efficiency and flexibility.

MIPS also reported significant progress in high-performance computing, sharing that the core of its RISC-V platform has entered mass production in AI data centers. The company counts 13 of the world’s top 15 AI and data center chip suppliers among its customers. Additionally, China is emerging as a leading hub for physical AI—where AI integration extends to mechanical systems such as autonomous vehicles and robotics—further strengthening its position in the global semiconductor landscape.