As Alibaba launches server-grade RISC-V silicon, Beijing seems set to back the ISA
(2025/03/05)
- Reference: 1741153095
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/03/05/china_alibaba_risc_v/
- Source link:
The permissively licensed RISC-V instruction set architecture appears to be gaining significant momentum in China.
One sign of enthusiasm for the architecture came late last week when an outfit named XuanTie, which is part of Alibaba’s DAMO Academy R&D operation, announced a [1]C930 processor that it’s pitched as the powerplant for servers, PCs, and autonomous cars.
XuanTie describes the processor as “a 64-bit high-performance multi-core processor that uses superscalar, out-of-order execution, 6-decode width, and 16-stage pipeline microarchitecture.” It’s apparently compatible with RISC-V RVA23 Profile and supports other extensions such as Vector Crypto, Zacas, Zama16b, Smmtt, CoVE, RAS, AIA, and Zalasr.
[2]
Support for RVA23 matters because it’s a [3]major update to the RISC-V architecture that introduced last year that, among other things, allows hypervisor extensions that are all-but-essential for a processor intended for deployment in servers, clouds, or other large-scale scenarios where the ability to run virtual machines is table stakes.
[4]
[5]
Machine translation of XuanTie’s product blurb produces the following description: “C930 uses advanced micro-architecture technology to achieve high performance, including TAGE-based branch prediction algorithm, Private L2 Cache, adjustable data prefetch mechanism, etc. C930 Specint2006 performance score exceeds 15/GHz.”
The company hasn’t revealed core count or clock speed, but the spec sheet states “A typical single cluster configuration supports 4 cores” and says a 64KB instruction cache, 64KB data cache, and 1MB L2 cache are all “typical”.
[6]
The included vector unit supports the RISC-V Vector 1.0 extension, handles 256-bit vector registers, and supports FP16/BF16/FP32/FP64/INT8/INT16/INT32/INT64.
Here’s a look at a diagram depicting the processor’s architecture.
[7]
XuanTie C930 processor die diagram - Click to enlarge
Chinese media [8]report that at the conference where XuanTie C930 was launched, a senior Alibaba Cloud execs predicted RISC-V will become a mainstream cloud architecture in five to eight years.
Xi we go, Xi we go
According to a Tuesday report from [9]Reuters , Beijing is close to releasing a policy that that could make that prediction real.
The newswire reported that eight Chinese government bodies are working on “guidance” that will encourage widespread use of RISC-V throughout China.
Such guidance would be consistent China’s 2024 [10]call for local orgs to stop buying American silicon and shop locally instead.
[11]
After that suggestion, Chinese chipmaker Loongson scored a [12]ten thousand-PC pilot in Chinese schools, and [13]a place on China’s space station . Lenovo [14]backed Loongson by porting its hyperconverged infrastructure stack to the company’s distinctive processor architecture.
Giant telco China Mobile [15]advised its future server procurement plans would require some machines using processors that employ the C86 architecture, a Chinese x86 variant.
A new edict from Beijing could perhaps accelerate similar purchasing plans.
[16]US adds Chinese RISC-V player that TSMC suspected of helping build Huawei GPUs to risky company register
[17]First all-Indian chips to debut this year, 25 more local designs in the works
[18]RISC-V is making moves, but it has work to do if it wants to hit the mainstream
[19]Faulty instructions in Alibaba's T-Head C910 RISC-V CPUs blow away all security
Chinese orgs have already expressed strong interest in RISC-V without notable results.
In 2021, China’s Academy of Sciences [20]promised to release new RISC-V designs every six months. While it didn’t meet that target, in February 2025 the Academy [21]teased a potentially powerful RISC-V design.
Middle Kingdom search giant Baidu [22]explored datacenter-grade RISC-V chips in 2023. In the same year, Alibaba [23]expressed a desire to create RISC-V chips capable of powering everything from wearable devices to clouds.
Results of those efforts are not yet obvious, and we’ve never heard of a Chinese RISC-V processor delivering eye-catching performance, as was the case last year when Alibaba Cloud’s [24]Yitian 710 CPU was rated the fastest Arm chip available in any hyperscale cloud.
Alibaba achieved that result just a few years after starting work on its own designs. Perhaps it could do the same with RISC-V, although the company will need to improve on its past efforts that in August 2024 were found to have [25]serious security flaws .
China’s RISC-V efforts are taking place as the USA leads efforts to prevent the transfer of advanced tech to the Middle Kingdom, largely on national security grounds.
US lawmakers are [26]already worried that RISC-V’s license, which allows developers to use the architecture for free, means Chinese firms can use IP created in America to develop advanced tech. ®
Get our [27]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.xrvm.cn/product/xuantie/C930
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z8gu1_UkJZjo34YU3DqkVQAAAVY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/23/rva23_profile_ratified/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z8gu1_UkJZjo34YU3DqkVQAAAVY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z8gu1_UkJZjo34YU3DqkVQAAAVY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z8gu1_UkJZjo34YU3DqkVQAAAVY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/03/05/supplied_alibaba_xuantie_c930_risc_v_processor.jpg
[8] https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250228A08RIX00
[9] https://www.msn.com/en-xl/money/markets/exclusive-china-to-publish-policy-to-boost-risc-v-chip-use-nationwide-sources/ar-AA1AbNVv
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/05/china_stop_buying_us_chips_advice/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z8gu1_UkJZjo34YU3DqkVQAAAVY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/china_schools_riscv_pc/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/24/asia_tech_news_in_brief/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/27/lenovo_loongson/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/22/china_telecom_local_servers/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/16/entity_list_chinese_expansion/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/24/india_semiconductor_industry_designs_debut/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/02/riscv_journey_to_mainstream/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/07/riscv_business_thead_c910_vulnerable/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/06/china_riscv/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/08/chinese_riscv_project_teases_2025/
[22] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/27/baidu_starfive_datacenter_promotion_investment/
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/06/asia_tech_news_roundup/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/29/arm_cloud_server_database_performance/
[25] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/07/riscv_business_thead_c910_vulnerable/
[26] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/24/us_commerce_china_risc_v_investigation/
[27] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
One sign of enthusiasm for the architecture came late last week when an outfit named XuanTie, which is part of Alibaba’s DAMO Academy R&D operation, announced a [1]C930 processor that it’s pitched as the powerplant for servers, PCs, and autonomous cars.
XuanTie describes the processor as “a 64-bit high-performance multi-core processor that uses superscalar, out-of-order execution, 6-decode width, and 16-stage pipeline microarchitecture.” It’s apparently compatible with RISC-V RVA23 Profile and supports other extensions such as Vector Crypto, Zacas, Zama16b, Smmtt, CoVE, RAS, AIA, and Zalasr.
[2]
Support for RVA23 matters because it’s a [3]major update to the RISC-V architecture that introduced last year that, among other things, allows hypervisor extensions that are all-but-essential for a processor intended for deployment in servers, clouds, or other large-scale scenarios where the ability to run virtual machines is table stakes.
[4]
[5]
Machine translation of XuanTie’s product blurb produces the following description: “C930 uses advanced micro-architecture technology to achieve high performance, including TAGE-based branch prediction algorithm, Private L2 Cache, adjustable data prefetch mechanism, etc. C930 Specint2006 performance score exceeds 15/GHz.”
The company hasn’t revealed core count or clock speed, but the spec sheet states “A typical single cluster configuration supports 4 cores” and says a 64KB instruction cache, 64KB data cache, and 1MB L2 cache are all “typical”.
[6]
The included vector unit supports the RISC-V Vector 1.0 extension, handles 256-bit vector registers, and supports FP16/BF16/FP32/FP64/INT8/INT16/INT32/INT64.
Here’s a look at a diagram depicting the processor’s architecture.
[7]
XuanTie C930 processor die diagram - Click to enlarge
Chinese media [8]report that at the conference where XuanTie C930 was launched, a senior Alibaba Cloud execs predicted RISC-V will become a mainstream cloud architecture in five to eight years.
Xi we go, Xi we go
According to a Tuesday report from [9]Reuters , Beijing is close to releasing a policy that that could make that prediction real.
The newswire reported that eight Chinese government bodies are working on “guidance” that will encourage widespread use of RISC-V throughout China.
Such guidance would be consistent China’s 2024 [10]call for local orgs to stop buying American silicon and shop locally instead.
[11]
After that suggestion, Chinese chipmaker Loongson scored a [12]ten thousand-PC pilot in Chinese schools, and [13]a place on China’s space station . Lenovo [14]backed Loongson by porting its hyperconverged infrastructure stack to the company’s distinctive processor architecture.
Giant telco China Mobile [15]advised its future server procurement plans would require some machines using processors that employ the C86 architecture, a Chinese x86 variant.
A new edict from Beijing could perhaps accelerate similar purchasing plans.
[16]US adds Chinese RISC-V player that TSMC suspected of helping build Huawei GPUs to risky company register
[17]First all-Indian chips to debut this year, 25 more local designs in the works
[18]RISC-V is making moves, but it has work to do if it wants to hit the mainstream
[19]Faulty instructions in Alibaba's T-Head C910 RISC-V CPUs blow away all security
Chinese orgs have already expressed strong interest in RISC-V without notable results.
In 2021, China’s Academy of Sciences [20]promised to release new RISC-V designs every six months. While it didn’t meet that target, in February 2025 the Academy [21]teased a potentially powerful RISC-V design.
Middle Kingdom search giant Baidu [22]explored datacenter-grade RISC-V chips in 2023. In the same year, Alibaba [23]expressed a desire to create RISC-V chips capable of powering everything from wearable devices to clouds.
Results of those efforts are not yet obvious, and we’ve never heard of a Chinese RISC-V processor delivering eye-catching performance, as was the case last year when Alibaba Cloud’s [24]Yitian 710 CPU was rated the fastest Arm chip available in any hyperscale cloud.
Alibaba achieved that result just a few years after starting work on its own designs. Perhaps it could do the same with RISC-V, although the company will need to improve on its past efforts that in August 2024 were found to have [25]serious security flaws .
China’s RISC-V efforts are taking place as the USA leads efforts to prevent the transfer of advanced tech to the Middle Kingdom, largely on national security grounds.
US lawmakers are [26]already worried that RISC-V’s license, which allows developers to use the architecture for free, means Chinese firms can use IP created in America to develop advanced tech. ®
Get our [27]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.xrvm.cn/product/xuantie/C930
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z8gu1_UkJZjo34YU3DqkVQAAAVY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/23/rva23_profile_ratified/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z8gu1_UkJZjo34YU3DqkVQAAAVY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z8gu1_UkJZjo34YU3DqkVQAAAVY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z8gu1_UkJZjo34YU3DqkVQAAAVY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/03/05/supplied_alibaba_xuantie_c930_risc_v_processor.jpg
[8] https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250228A08RIX00
[9] https://www.msn.com/en-xl/money/markets/exclusive-china-to-publish-policy-to-boost-risc-v-chip-use-nationwide-sources/ar-AA1AbNVv
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/05/china_stop_buying_us_chips_advice/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/systems&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z8gu1_UkJZjo34YU3DqkVQAAAVY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/china_schools_riscv_pc/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/24/asia_tech_news_in_brief/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/27/lenovo_loongson/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/22/china_telecom_local_servers/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/16/entity_list_chinese_expansion/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/24/india_semiconductor_industry_designs_debut/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/02/riscv_journey_to_mainstream/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/07/riscv_business_thead_c910_vulnerable/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/06/china_riscv/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/08/chinese_riscv_project_teases_2025/
[22] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/27/baidu_starfive_datacenter_promotion_investment/
[23] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/06/asia_tech_news_roundup/
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/29/arm_cloud_server_database_performance/
[25] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/07/riscv_business_thead_c910_vulnerable/
[26] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/24/us_commerce_china_risc_v_investigation/
[27] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/