According to Qualcomm, this shift will benefit the entire value chain, which includes chip vendors, OEMs, device makers, and users.
Qualcomm, in collaboration with Google on Tuesday, announced a new RISC-V-based smartwatch platform (SoC) for WearOS. The open-source RISC-V instruction set (reduced instruction set computer-five) will help in designing and developing smartwatch processors with custom CPU cores that require low power and deliver high performance.
Right now, Qualcomm’s WearOS chips are designed using ARM instruction sets. Moving ahead with the RISC-V instruction set, an open-source architecture, designed by the University of California, Berkeley, Qualcomm will have more leverage on the power and performance of the chip.
“Qualcomm Technologies have been a pillar of the Wear OS ecosystem, providing high performance, low power systems for many of our OEM partners. We are excited to extend our work with Qualcomm Technologies and bring a RISC-V wearable solution to market,” says Bjorn Kilburn, GM of Wear OS by Google.
Qualcomm is building a next-generation @Snapdragon wearable platform on RISC-V architecture for use with @WearOSbyGoogle. This new platform will help reduce time to market for OEMs when launching smartwatches with advanced features like custom cores, low power, and higher… pic.twitter.com/hrnFBWwDEE
— Qualcomm (@Qualcomm) October 17, 2023
According to Qualcomm, this shift will benefit the entire value chain, which includes chip vendors, OEMs, device makers, and users. Back in August, Qualcomm joined forces with other prominent players like Robert Bosch GmbH, Infineon Technologies AG, Nordic Semiconductor, and NXP Semiconductors to accelerate RISC-V ecosystem and hardware development.
Qualcomm is yet to define the commercial launch date of its RISC-V based platform for WearOS.
With this move, Qualcomm will reduce its dependency on ARM for designing and developing microprocessors. There is an active legal battle in the US court between Qualcomm and ARM regarding license fees, and if this new partnership fruitions, then Qualcomm might slowly transition from ARM instruction set to RISC-V for its entire portfolio of chips.
Source:indianexpress.com