[invalidator]

The interest is BECAUSE it's well explored territory. The concept is proven and works fine.

On the low end where RISC-V currently lives, simplicity is a virtue.

On the high end, RISC isn't inherently bad; it just couldn't keep up on with the massive R&D investment on the x86 side. It can go fast if you sink some money into it like Apple, Qualcomm, etc have done with ARM.

[LeFantome]

ARM is RISC and dominates x86 in most markets.

In 2026, RISC-V is not what I would call “low end”. Look up the P870-D, or Ascalon, it C950.

Do you think Apple spends more money than Intel on chip design?

[adgjlsfhk1]

> Do you think Apple spends more money than Intel on chip design?

Absolutely. Apple's R&D budget for 2025 was 34 Billion to Intel's ~18 Billion (and the majority of Intel's R&D budget goes to architecture, while for Apple, that is all TSMC R&D and Apple pays TSMC another ~$20 billion a year, of which, something like 8 billion is probably TSMC R&D that goes into apple's chips).

Sure not all of Apple's 34B is CPU R&D, but on a like-for-like basis, Apple probably has at least 50% more chip design budget (and they only make ~10-20 different chips a year compared to Intel who make ~100-200)

[pjmlp]

ARM is mostly RISC, and doesn't dominate x86 in desktop and servers.

Apple business is vertical integration, they have zero presence in the chip market.

[LeFantome]

Correct, ARM does not dominate x86 in desktop and servers. Just everywhere else.

Apple is top 5 for laptop and desktop market share. So, pretty sure Apple RISC Silicon has a presence in those markets. Very recently, Qualcomm has entered as well. And of course Chromebooks are primarily ARM.

ARM has only recently entered the server market. Already it is having some success, especially with hyperscalers.

RISC-V is about to enter all those markets. I mean, RISC-V silicon is in use in the cloud. But it is still an experiment at this stage. And you can buy a RISC-V laptop. But they are only for devs.