China is set to issue its first nationwide guidance to encourage the adoption of open-source RISC-V chips, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The move is part of Beijing's broader strategy to reduce reliance on Western-owned technology.

The policy, which could be released as early as this month, is being drafted by eight government bodies, including the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the China National Intellectual Property Administration. The sources, who declined to be named due to ongoing policy discussions, noted that the release date is subject to change.

RISC-V, a new open-source instruction set architecture based on reduced instruction set computing (RISC) principles, was first introduced in 2010 by a research team at the University of California, Berkeley. It aims to provide a free, open, and scalable standard for processor design. Unlike proprietary architectures such as x86 (Intel/AMD) and Arm, RISC-V’s specifications are fully open, allowing anyone to use, modify, and extend them without licensing fees, thereby lowering the barrier to chip design.

In recent years, Chinese state entities and research institutes have increasingly embraced RISC-V, viewing it as geopolitically neutral. While Chinese chip designers are drawn to its cost-effectiveness, the government has yet to formally endorse it in policy. At the 2025 XuanTie RISC-V Ecosystem Conference on February 28, Ni Guangnan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, emphasized that the open-source model helps RISC-V build an inclusive and collaborative global ecosystem, positioning it as a new engine for innovation in the chip industry.

The growing adoption of RISC-V in China has raised concerns in the United States, where tensions with Beijing over technology continue to escalate. In 2023, Reuters reported that some U.S. lawmakers were pressuring the Biden administration to restrict American companies from collaborating on RISC-V, citing fears that China could exploit its open-source nature to advance its semiconductor industry.

China's leading RISC-V intellectual property providers include Alibaba's XuanTie and startup Nuclei System Technology, which supply commercial RISC-V processors to chip designers. At a recent RISC-V event organized by XuanTie, industry executives highlighted that the rising popularity of AI startup DeepSeek could further drive RISC-V adoption, as its models run efficiently on less powerful chips.

Sun Haitao, a manager at ICT equipment provider China Mobile System Integration, noted during the event that smaller companies looking to adopt AI and DeepSeek could turn to RISC-V-based chips. “Even if a RISC-V solution priced at 10 million yuan might only reach about 30% of the level of NVIDIA or Huawei, buying three sets means the overall cost could still be lower,” he said. “I think this is a breakthrough point.”

The upcoming policy underscores China’s commitment to fostering homegrown innovation in the semiconductor industry, leveraging open-source technologies like RISC-V to strengthen its technological independence. By promoting RISC-V, China aims to accelerate the development of a self-reliant chip ecosystem while reducing its dependence on Western technologies.