On August 25, 2009, Lianfa Ke, which occupied 90% of China's mobile phone chip shipments and 25% of global mobile phone chip shipments, suddenly made a big move.
On this day, Lianfa Ke of Wan Island suddenly held a press conference and officially announced its joining the RISC-V Foundation.
So far, Lianfa Ke has officially become the third official member of the RISC-V Foundation after Geek Technology and Dami Mobile!
Immediately afterwards, Lianfa Ke announced that they, Lianfa Ke, will develop a brand-new Lianfa Ke mobile phone processor based on the RISC-V open-source instruction set!
On the stage of the press conference, Cai Mingjie, President of Lianfa Ke, stated that Lianfa Ke will gradually abandon the ARM instruction set in the future and instead adopt the RISC-V open-source instruction set.
When reporters asked why Lianfa Ke would do this, Cai Mingjie, President of Lianfa Ke, bluntly pointed out the problem of ARM's high licensing fees.
So when this news was announced, ARM's stock price plummeted by 20% that day!
Because Lianfa Ke's mobile phone chip shipments account for 90% of the Chinese market share,
and 25% of the global market share.
At this time, Lianfa Ke's sudden betrayal will undoubtedly greatly reduce the market share of ARM chips.
Although Lianfa Ke did not immediately abandon the ARM instruction set, but adopted a gradual replacement method.
It will take several years for the RISC-V open-source instruction set mobile phone processor to gradually replace the ARM instruction set mobile phone processor.
But this is just the difference between chronic suicide and rapid suicide. As long as Lianfa Ke does not change its mind, the breakup between ARM and Lianfa Ke is inevitable!
Faced with this situation, ARM Company of Yin Country is said to have immediately sent a negotiating representative to Wan Island, wanting to offer preferential terms so that Lianfa Ke would not abandon ARM Company.
But they didn't even think about it. One charges fees, and the other is free. No matter how big the discounts ARM Company gives, it can't compare to being free.
Moreover, everyone can see that Geek Technology Company will definitely take better care of its own RISC-V open-source instruction set in the future, rather than the ARM instruction set.
Under such circumstances, it is possible that Geek Technology Company will suddenly announce one day that 'the next-generation system will no longer natively support the ARM instruction set'.
In order to avoid Lianfa Ke from encountering such a crisis, Lianfa Ke naturally needs to deploy RISC-V open-source instruction set mobile phone processors in advance.
Finally, the RISC-V open-source instruction set is indeed quite excellent, and it is actually more suitable for mobile devices than the ARM instruction set.
After all, it has higher work efficiency, lower energy consumption, and longer standby battery life. Lianfa Ke naturally has no reason to reject the RISC-V open-source instruction set.
Of course, Geek Technology Company's RISC-V open-source instruction set is very good.
But it is not easy to develop its own exclusive mobile phone processor core based on the RISC-V open-source instruction set after all.
In the next year or even a year and a half, Lianfa Ke Company will not be able to launch a mobile phone processor based on the RISC-V open-source instruction set.
However, the current media cannot think so far, nor do they pay attention to things so far away.
At this time, the global technology media have successively reported on Lianfa Ke's backstabbing of ARM Company, and reported on the long-term impact of this matter.
And in their reports, as time passed, people also surprisingly discovered that with Lianfa Ke joining the RISC-V Foundation.
In the next month, it was as if a domino had been pushed down, and various well-known or unknown chip companies also announced their joining the RISC-V Foundation.
Among these chip companies, there are both domestic and foreign companies.
The domestic ones include Huawei HiSilicon, Loongson, ZTE, Zhongxin International, Zhongxing Micro, Zhongtian Lianke,
RDA Microelectronics, Spreadtrum, Silicon Storage Technology, Rockchip, Datang...
As for the foreign companies, there are Sanhan Electronics, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Infineon, AMD, Qimonda,
Hynix, IBM—.
Adding up the domestic and foreign chip companies, in just one month, 62 companies have announced their joining the RISC-V Foundation!
The reason why this is the case is because the future of the RISC-V open-source instruction set is not only seen by Lianfa Ke, but also by other companies.
With the full support of the open-source Geek Smart Phone System to build a software and hardware ecosystem for it, and finally with its super-attractive feature of being permanently free.
It is naturally destined that the RISC-V open-source instruction set can occupy a place in the global instruction set market.
Finally, the membership threshold of the RISC-V Foundation is very low, and it does not force you to immediately develop RISC-V
open-source instruction set chips.
In this case, it is better to deploy the RISC-V open-source instruction set in advance. This way, you can not only have a certain say in the RISC-V open-source instruction set, but also prevent accidents.
Therefore, in just one month, many chip companies around the world, both domestic and foreign, announced their joining the RISC-V Foundation.
However, it is a pity that although there are many companies joining the RISC-V Foundation.
But in reality, there are no more than ten companies that will now adopt the RISC-V open-source instruction set and then develop their own processors.
So although the RISC-V open-source instruction set has made a lot of noise, in reality it is somewhat like a loud thunder but little rain.
Of course, even so, it is better than nothing.
After all, relying solely on Geek Technology Company, it is impossible to maintain and operate a software and hardware ecosystem of an instruction set in the long term.
At this time, with the joining of other chip companies to jointly maintain and operate the RISC-V open-source instruction set, it can greatly reduce the pressure on Geek Technology Company. This is a fact.
So, overall, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
Even in the future, as more and more chips using the RISC-V open-source instruction set appear, wouldn't it be possible to really eliminate the ARM instruction set?
However, the trees want to be quiet but the wind does not stop. When the RISC-V open-source instruction set was making a lot of noise, Apple Company, which had been holding back a big move for more than a year, suddenly made a move.
On October 15, 2009, two months after the release of the Geek S2 smart phone, Apple Company suddenly sent out invitations widely.
In this invitation letter, it was clearly written that they should go to the stadium near Apple Company's headquarters on October 20, 2009 to witness the great moment in history.
Because their Apple Company is about to release a smart phone called iPhone4!
In response, many media outlets also agreed after seeing this, and said that they would attend on time.
When this news reached Gao Nian's ears, it also made Gao Nian couldn't help but feel a little surprised.
After all, Gao Nian knew that the iPhone4 mobile phone in his previous life was not released until June of next year, 2010.
I didn't expect that Apple Company would skip the iPhone4GS mobile phone and directly release the iPhone4 mobile phone.
Considering the naming rules of iPhone mobile phones in the Jobs era, the fact that this mobile phone can be named iPhone4 is enough to prove that this mobile phone is not simple.
So Gao Nian, in his busy schedule, also decided to take some time to understand the relevant information.
And time passed slowly like this. On October 20, 2009, the press conference was held as scheduled in the stadium near Apple Company's headquarters.
Jobs was still wearing his black casual knitted sweater, and then slowly walked onto the stage of the press conference.
