[lallysingh]

I think a lot of the motivation here is to avoid RPI leading to further interest and development on the RISC-V side. SIFIVE may be willing to make something perfect for the RPI, but the real risk is if RPI goes RISC-V, then software gets ported and tested on RISC-V. People start liking it and hacking it. And then RISC-V suddenly gets a lot more interest from ARM licensees and their competitors. Which, at the very least, will lead to higher licensee leverage in negotiations with ARM on renewal.

[freedomben]

Bingo. This is what they mean by "strategic investment." It's not because they are just lovers of the education and maker market. They'd be negligent to their shareholders to not make this investment.

[snvzz]

>but the real risk is if RPI goes RISC-V, then software gets ported and tested on RISC-V.

It's already happening. RISC-V doesn't need the Raspberry Pi.

Yet it would indeed be an accelerator, but I'm not sure how big. ARM are certainly very afraid.