On October 19, 2021, at the 2021 Apsara Conference, Zhang Jianfeng, President of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, announced that T-Head has made the XuanTie RISC-V series processors open-source and opened a series of tools and system software. This is the global first full-stack open-source of the series processors and basic software. It will promote the maturity of RISC-V architecture, help RISC-V software and hardware technologies accelerate the fusion and development, and drive innovation to implement.
In the AIoT era, RISC-V architecture is expected to become the widely used CPU architecture in the next generation after Intel x86 and ARM due to its open and flexible features. However, the current RISC-V architecture faces problems, such as application fragmentation, low development efficiency, and difficulty adapting software and hardware. The software and hardware ecosystem is not mature yet.
The XuanTie RISC-V series processors adopt self-developed technology to cover various scenarios ranging from low power consumption to high performance scenarios. They support operating systems, such as AliOS, FreeRTOS, RT-Thread, Linux, and Android. They have been applied to microcontrollers, industrial control, intelligent household electrical appliances, smart grid, image processing, artificial intelligence, multimedia, and automotive electronics. Recently, XuanTie 910 gained Android compatibility for the first time, expanding the vision of RISC-V architecture for an open ecosystem. Catch the replay of the Apsara Conference 2021 at this link!