Intel updated its lineup of the famous Nios soft processors with the latest Nios V softcore, designed around the open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture.
The Nios family of processors is Intel’s implementation of simple low-power processors designed to fit inside Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) designs and occupy just a tiny portion of it, supplying basic CPU functionality. According to Gartner, the Nios CPU family is the most widely-used softcore tech in the FPGA industry. These soft cores allow FPGA designs to have the basic functionality that the design would require from a CPU. This way, the company provides hardware designers with basic CPU needs with their Intel FPGAs, enabling faster hardware development.