As 2024 comes to a close, it’s clear that this has been a transformative year for RISC-V. From achieving industry firsts to driving innovation across industries like AI, automotive, and IoT, RISC-V has continued to reshape the future of computing. This year brought groundbreaking announcements, key partnerships, and remarkable growth, all driven by our collaborative, global community. RISC-V International, the global open standards organization, is proud to celebrate the impressive momentum across the RISC-V ecosystem this year.
“One of the biggest takeaways for RISC-V this year is the remarkable market traction RISC-V has gained and the impact it has across industries. The ecosystem is expanding rapidly, according to SHD Group over two billion SoCs are now using RISC-V cores,” said Calista Redmond, CEO of RISC-V International. “This growth is just the beginning. We anticipate that by 2031, the number of SoCs powered by RISC-V cores will surge to 20 billion. The momentum we’re seeing reflects the increasing adoption of open standards and the growing recognition of RISC-V as a transformative force in the tech world.”
Today, RISC-V International has more than 4,120 members representing 52 countries globally, with more than 80 technical working groups driving progress on RISC-V standards, software, tools, and more. RISC-V has achieved remarkable adoption across diverse industry sectors, with leading global companies introducing cutting-edge hardware and software solutions built on the RISC-V ISA.
Join us as we celebrate five key moments from 2024 that set the stage for an even better 2025.
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Ratification of the RVA23 Profile Standard
RISC-V International announced the ratification of the RVA23 Profile in October. RVA Profiles align implementations of RISC-V 64-bit application processors that will run rich operating systems (OS) stacks from standard binary OS distributions. The newly ratified RVA23 Profile is a major release for the RISC-V software ecosystem and will help accelerate widespread implementation among toolchains and operating systems. RVA Profiles are essential to software portability across many hardware implementations and help to avoid vendor lock-in.
Key Components of RVA23 Include:
- Vector Extension: The Vector extension accelerates math-intensive workloads, including AI/ML, cryptography, and compression/decompression. Vector extensions yield better performance in mobile and computing applications with RVA23 as the baseline requirement for the Android RISC-V ABI.
- Hypervisor Extension: The Hypervisor extension will enable virtualization for enterprise workloads in both on-premises servers and cloud computing applications. This will accelerate the development of RISC-V-based enterprise hardware, operating systems, and software workloads. The Hypervisor extension will also provide better security for mobile applications by separating secure and non-secure components.
The ratification of the RVA23 Profile marks a significant milestone in RISC-V’s journey, paving the way for greater software portability and broader adoption across industries. We are eager to see the transformative impact of RVA23 on the ecosystem and its role in driving innovation throughout 2025 and beyond.
2. Global Events Highlighted RISC-V’s Growing Momentum
This year, we were inspired by the dedication and enthusiasm of the global RISC-V ecosystem. From large in-person conferences to engaging virtual open hours, the RISC-V community consistently showed up to connect, collaborate, and innovate.
At the recent RISC-V Summit North America, 948 members, leaders, and enthusiasts from around the world came together to celebrate the progress of RISC-V. Some of the world’s leading technology companies showcased how they are leveraging RISC-V to develop innovative, customized, and scalable solutions fueled by the latest specifications. A standout keynote came from Nvidia, which shared that it is estimated to ship between one and two billion RISC-V cores this year alone.
Other major events included:
- RISC-V Summit Europe: Hosted in Munich, the RISC-V Summit Europe was an amazing success, with 720 visitors and over 40 sponsors! Attendees from around the world gathered to listen to a rich program of talks including sessions on AI, automotive, embedded, security, and software development.
- RISC-V Summit China: The RISC-V Summit China brought together over 100 key enterprises and research institutions, and approximately 3,000 in-person participants. Featuring over 20 co-events, the Summit provided a platform for global developers to discuss the latest advancements and future direction of RISC-V. A highlight was a keynote from Jianyi Meng, Chairman of the RISC-V Summit China and Rotating President of the REVI Committee, who urged software ecosystem partners to increase their investments to drive large-scale commercialization of RISC-V.
- Embedded World: embedded world 2024 showed great momentum for RISC-V. Throughout the event, RISC-V International members showcased cutting-edge innovations and forged invaluable connections in the RISC-V Pavilion, expanding the reach of RISC-V across diverse markets and applications. Join us in 2025!
Other highlights of 2024 included RISC-V Day Taipei, RISC-V Day Tokyo, and more!
3. RISC-V Gained Market Traction Across Key Verticals
2024 marked a pivotal year for RISC-V, solidifying its role as a transformative force across industries. Adoption surged as companies embraced RISC-V to create innovative solutions tailored to their needs.
Key vertical markets where companies are building unique RISC-V solutions include aerospace, AI/ML, automotive, data center, embedded, HPC, and security. Some highlights include:
🚀 Aerospace: Aerospace organizations are increasingly turning to RISC-V for its flexibility, security, and cost-effectiveness. The European Space Agency (ESA) and Frontgrade Gaisler partnered to design a new RISC-V processor tailored to meet the requirements of microcontrollers for the space industry. RISC-V’s inherent configurability and efficiency provide the ideal foundation to drive innovation forward in critical sectors of the space computing landscape.
🚗 Automotive: At RISC-V Summit Europe, Infineon, the world’s number one automotive microcontroller company, shared its vision of the huge potential for future MCU innovation based on RISC-V. Automotive Grade Linux announced support for RISC-V with their Quirky Quillback release running on a SiFive Unmatched board. According to Omdia, AI and automotive applications will help RISC-V take nearly 25% of the processor market by 2030. Learn more.
🤖 Artificial Intelligence (AI): The rise of AI is a major driver for RISC-V adoption. At RISC-V Summit Europe, Edward Wilford of Omdia spoke about how RISC-V and applied AI will lift each other. The RISC-V ISA is a common language for developing AI systems, enabling a software-based approach to hardware that unleashes a new level of compute and algorithm innovation, along with a better business case for bringing these new ideas to market. Learn more on the RISC-V AI page, where you can discover technology announcements from around our ecosystem and watch the latest AI talks from our summits this year!
RISC-V’s accelerating adoption across diverse industries underscores its potential to redefine the future of technology, empowering innovation and collaboration on a global scale.
4. RISC-V Continued to Strengthen Education and Workforce Development
The RISC-V community has grown to over 16,000 engineers worldwide, with initiatives such as career fairs, hackathons, and the Mentorship Program, advancing careers, expanding expertise, and fostering collaboration and innovation within the ecosystem.
In 2024, 34 passionate RISC-V Ambassadors and Advocates played a key role in strengthening the community, inspiring engagement, and promoting adoption globally. Learn RISC-V programs continued to provide valuable resources, helping hardware and software professionals enhance their skills and career prospects. With over 9,678 participants this year, these programs further accelerated RISC-V’s global adoption.
Additionally, RISC-V hosted a wide range of Open Hours and Technical Sessions, offering engineers deep dives into cutting-edge technologies and reinforcing its leadership in open-standard hardware.
5. Major Industry Players Joined the RISC-V Ecosystem
RISC-V International continued to make significant strides in expanding the RISC-V ecosystem. This year, we welcomed new partners, companies, and governments from around the world.
Earlier this year, Brazil became a Premier member of RISC-V International, taking a leading role in the adoption of the RISC-V standard in Latin America. This move underscored Brazil’s commitment to advancing open standards and fostering collaboration in technological advancements. Brazil’s involvement aligns with a broader trend of global investments in RISC-V. For example, RISC-V member Tenstorrent recently partnered with Japan’s Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center (LSTC) on a program to train up to 200 Japanese engineers in the U.S. over the next five years, focused on RISC-V, AI silicon design, and other technologies.
Openchip joined RISC-V as a premier member. Based in Barcelona, they create high-performance and energy-efficient accelerators, essential for the European digital transformation. These devices will accelerate scientific discovery, visualize large amounts of data, and provide intelligent services to consumers on a large scale.
As we wrap up this incredible year, we want to thank everyone for their continued support and collaboration, and we look forward to even more exciting opportunities in 2025. Wishing you all a joyful New Year filled with success and new possibilities!
To check out more RISC-V news, please visit RISC-V International’s In the News section and the RISC-V Blog.