$1B Intel fund embraces RISC-V: Is this a Microsoft Loves Linux moment? | Hacker News Reader

$1B Intel fund embraces RISC-V: Is this a Microsoft Loves Linux moment?

tomshardware.com

10 pointsreilly30004 comments

From the article: "IFS is, Intel boasts, the only foundry optimised for x86, Arm and RISC-V."

So TSMC doesn't manufacture x86 (for AMD), ARM (e.g. for Apple) and RISC-V (e.g. for SiFive)? And I would argue that TSMC currently uses more advances technology than Intel. Also, one might also ask why a fab needs to be optimised for a specific architecture (compared to an implementation)?

After Intel's attempt to take over SiFive has failed (https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-failed-to-buy-sifive), this really sounds like extend and embrace...

They pretty much have to do something about ARM; x86 has seen its peak. By fostering a broad and robust RISC-V ecosystem they will help create some serious competitors for ARM and challenge the whole notion of paying licensing and royalties for hardware IP (see also Thunderbolt 3). They are a product-centric company that is building towards being the non-geopolitical-powderkeg fab of choice. ARM has no plans of making their own fab, nor is going to be capitalized well-enough to do so even if their IPO goes above expectations. That leaves them reliant on outpacing innovation from open source hardware. In principal this seems like a decent state of play that will probably accelerate RISC-V to its potential and make ARM better in the process.

>"IFS is, Intel boasts, the only foundry optimised for x86, Arm and RISC-V." Typical Intel marketing BS. Some things will never change.

https://www.bama.no/siteassets/fotoware/2021/4/gartner-roman...

You can't read the small print on the label, buy you know what is is, right? The text you can't read suggests that being grown near the arctic circle indicates that these subtropical berries are of particularly high quality.

Quite often, marketing is a matter of making people say or write things that they wouldn't say based on their own thinking or reasoning. Intel succeeded at that today.

The original source does not claim that, it's a deformation from Tomshardware.

Original claim [1]:

> IFS is the only foundry to offer IP optimized for all three of the industry’s leading ISAs: x86, Arm and RISC-V.

It's not the foundry that is "optimized for RISC-V & ARM & x86", it's the IP provided by the foundry services. This should be interpreted as: "IFS IPs (ARM & RISC-V & x86) are optimized for IFS fabs". And TSMC does not provide this service.

[1]: https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1525/...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com