In a significant development, Qualcomm, in collaboration with four major European semiconductor firms, has announced the establishment of Quintauris GmbH. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, Quintauris aims to drive the global adoption of the RISC-V open standard instruction set architecture, positioning itself as a pioneering force in shaping the future of cutting-edge hardware.
Quintauris is founded by industry giants Qualcomm, Bosch, Infineon, Nordic, and NXP. Initially, the company will focus on automotive hardware development, but it has ambitious plans for expansion into the mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) sectors in the long run.
Leading the way at Quintauris is Alexander Kocher, a seasoned industry executive with a rich background. Kocher assumes the role of CEO, bringing his extensive leadership experience from serving as the CEO of German embedded software supplier Elektrobit and heading the automotive division at Wind River, a prominent U.S. embedded systems and cloud software company.
RISC-V, an open standard instruction set architecture with over a billion global chip adoptions, is poised for unprecedented growth. Calista Redmond, CEO of RISC-V International, predicts a remarkable 40% annual increase in RISC-V system chips by 2030, exceeding 16 billion chips. The architecture is already making significant inroads into various sectors, including microcontrollers and Qualcomm’s mobile System-on-Chip (SoC), as well as artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.
Quintauris aims to play a pivotal role in standardizing the RISC-V ecosystem. The current RISC-V software and hardware landscape involves numerous participants but lacks unified standards. Backed by support from five major enterprises, Quintauris capitalizes on the collaborative nature facilitated by the open-source architecture of the RISC-V instruction set.
While Quintauris focuses on hardware development, another initiative called the “RISC-V Software Ecosystem” (RISE), backed by RISC-V International, concentrates on software development. These initiatives share common objectives but distinguish themselves with Quintauris emphasizing hardware and RISE concentrating on software development.
Qualcomm’s collaborative initiative with Quintauris underscores its leadership in the semiconductor industry. The move reflects the industry’s widespread acknowledgment and high expectations for the RISC-V architecture. With the establishment of Quintauris and the growing involvement of industry players, the RISC-V architecture is poised for extensive adoption and promotion in the years ahead.
In conclusion, with the establishment of Quintauris GmbH, spearheaded by Qualcomm and European semiconductor leaders, the RISC-V architecture is set to revolutionize the hardware industry. Quintauris aims to standardize the RISC-V ecosystem, capitalizing on the collaborative nature of the open-source architecture. With the leadership and expertise of Alexander Kocher, Quintauris is well-positioned to drive the global adoption of RISC-V, initially focusing on automotive hardware development and expanding into other sectors in the future. As the industry recognizes the potential of RISC-V, the architecture’s growth trajectory is expected to be remarkable, with Quintauris playing a pivotal role in shaping its future.
