[bsder]

The problem is that the interesting bits in the VLSI space right now aren't in digital design.

Nobody needs another processor. Even an old-ass MIPS core is good enough.

The interesting bits are RF, ADC, DAC, SerDes, high efficiency DC-DC, low leakage designs, etc. RISC-V does not one iota of good for any of these things. Nor do these things need 5nm technologies--180nm or 250nm would be just fine though you'd probably have to use 120nm just because everything else probably has too little fab capacity left.

Which is a shame because that is precisely the path RISC-V needed to take to unseat ARM. It needed to be really good in the under 10 cents category with some decent analog peripherals such that it could expand upward and eventually eat ARM.

The under 10 cents category of microcontrollers is an absolute shitshow and has been for 10+ years. RISC-V could have brought unified tooling and architecture to that space. However, that isn't sexy. It would only let you ship a zillion chips and make reasonable profits. And that's just not VC compatible.

[lizknope]

What's interesting to one person can be boring to another. I'm assuming you are on the analog side and find that stuff interesting. I'm on the digital side and was in a serdes team for 10 years and I'm glad to be gone.

You're absolutely right though that companies pick the process node based on the application. Everything I'm working on now is 5nm or smaller. Our customers DO want faster processors but we also have lots of serdes for 400+ gigabit networking and other stuff. I have friends doing DC power converters in 180nm. That's over 20 years old now but still useful for a lot of applications.

I worked at another startup and you're right about some things not being VC compatible. They want big investments and big payoffs. They aren't interested in investing in companies with lower risk but steady smaller profits.