Qualcomm Dives Deeper Into RISC-V, Acquires Ventana Micro Systems
Aims to have its new subsidiary assist with the development of its Oryon and future CPU families.
Qualcomm has announced the acquisition of Ventana Micro Systems, a RISC-V specialist — which the company says will help to bolster the development of its custom Oryon CPU line.
"At Qualcomm, we are committed to shaping the future of intelligent computing. We believe the RISC-V instruction set architecture has the potential to advance the frontier on CPU technology, enabling innovation across products," Qualcomm's Durga Malladi says of the deal. "The acquisition of Ventana Micro Systems marks a pivotal step in our journey to deliver industry-leading RISC-V based CPU technology across products."
"We are thrilled to join the Qualcomm team and contribute our RISC-V expertise in the development of Qualcomm's leading Oryon CPU technology," adds Ventana Micro Systems chief executive officer Balaji Baktha. "Qualcomm's acquisition marks an exciting new chapter for our team and we look forward to joining Qualcomm's team to push the boundaries of energy-efficient high-performance for next-generation products and experiences."
Ventana Micro Systems was founded in 2018 with a focus on the development of commercial products built around the free and open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture, which has been gaining ground in recent years as a competitor to the proprietary Arm ISA. Qualcomm, meanwhile, has previously used Arm across the majority of its products, but has more recently been experimenting with RISC-V — and while its next-generation Oryon CPU is primarily built around Arm cores, its design includes RISC-V components too.
It's in that work where Qualcomm's interest in Ventana lies. The company is unlikely to focus on Ventana's existing product line-up, but will use the company's IP and expertise in the development of its Oryon and future system-on-chip lines. "Ventana's Veyron cores and toolchains will sit alongside, not instead of, Qualcomm's Arm-based Oryon roadmap," Jon Peddie Research analyst David Harold predicts, "and we think the near-term impact will be to inform future CPU designs rather than to ship Ventana blueprints unchanged."
Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.