Post: Why You Should Care About RISC-V

damian.buho@proton.me (Damián Búho) — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 02:59:00 GMT

I try to support RISC-V everywhere I can, and you should too.

Chances are (around 60%, actually) that you live in a country without an independent CPU/MCU industry. The consequences of the russian invasion in 2022 showed us that you can't really stop high-tech imports into a country that went batshit crazy, but you can make chips somewhat harder to get.

I obviously don't have a problem with sanctions against the axis of evil. But one of these days, some orange clown (or clowns of any color) could decide that Uruguay, Chile, or New Zealand are as bad as North Korea or Iran—because they are too friendly to China, too gay, or something like that. And your country could be next.

One Jacob Feldgoise already whines about RISC-V hindering good old world policing.

RISC-V is not the simplest, but it is the most logical way to get closer to an "Uruguayan Xeon" or a "Nigerian STM32." And it doesn't have to be an entirely national project: regional alliances could help lower costs and achieve scale faster. Getting an ARM license is probably easier, but it's another compliance leash from a country that loves exiting things without thinking them through.

Without a stable supply of chips, you will have issues with everything from ATMs to train networks. It won't be immediate—modern silicon is quite durable—but things will break down and require replacement. If you don't have the benefit of a "death cult of living in squalor and constantly overcoming unnecessary self-imposed problems" in your population (like Russia has), it will become an issue very fast. An issue that both internal and external malevolent actors will exploit. Be less gay, have a chip.

Sovereign RISC-V production is something that feels unnecessary, expensive, and alarmist now. But when it becomes "today's problem," it will be too late.

And even if you have 30+ CPU suppliers, you can still be enough of an asshole that all of them refuse to sell to you (though things won't change much for the real bad actors).

What Can You Do About It?

RISC-V is on the rise, but it still suffers from low adoption across both software and hardware — a classic chicken-and-egg issue.

If You Are a Developer

You can add cross-compilation to your project. It's very easy to do with C, Go, and Rust. In the case of platforms with less support, your interest and pressure can help speed up the process (e.g., Node, Crystal, PHP).
There is a project called RISE that offers RISC-V runners for GitHub CI. Although they use hardware without vector extensions, which makes running some distros (like Ubuntu 26.04) impossible, they can still be useful.
Also consider Cloud-V, they provide CI runners.

If You Are a User (Especially Corporate)

Ask maintainers of your favorite software to add RISC-V support. Vote for existing issues in issue trackers, or create new ones if they don't exist.
Get yourself some hardware or cloud units and research how ready your infrastructure is for a potential migration.

If You Are an Activist Type

Check if local universities have RISC-V programs; support them if you can.
Check if your jurisdiction has digital/semiconductor sovereignty programs. If not, ask your authorities why not.
Spread the word: go door-to-door and ask people if they want to hear the good news about RISC-V. Dress appropriately; don't be weird.

Having a strong alternative architecture will, in the end, benefit all of us.

// And after the end too, when we scavenge for RISC-V chips in the wasteland.

Where to Get One

This is very dynamic market with some supply chain issues, links will go stale faster than I hit publish.