China’s self-sufficiency drive hits new milestone with powerful RISC-V chips

New chips and claimed performance leap

China this week unveiled two high-performance processors based on the open-source RISC-V instruction set, a milestone Beijing sees as critical to cutting reliance on foreign semiconductor technology. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS, 中国科学院) introduced the Xiangshan high-performance CPU at the Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing; it has been reported that the CPU core scored 16.5 points/GHz on the SPEC CPU2006 benchmark, which state media described as “internationally advanced levels.” Separately, Alibaba Group Holding (阿里巴巴集团)’s research arm Damo Academy (达摩院) last week showcased the XuanTie C950 — reportedly the most powerful RISC-V core currently available — aimed at cloud and AI workloads.

Why RISC-V matters and the geopolitical backdrop

RISC-V is an open, modular architecture that gives designers freedom to innovate without licensing fees tied to Arm or x86 designs. That freedom is politically and economically attractive to Beijing as the US tightens export controls on advanced chips, design tools and manufacturing equipment. Can China use RISC-V to break decades of dependence on Western architectures and toolchains? The short answer: possibly, but not overnight. Benchmarks matter, yet real-world deployment will hinge on foundry access, advanced packaging, software ecosystems and tooling — areas where sanctions and global supply chains still bite.

Implications for industry and supply chains

The moves by CAS and Alibaba appear coordinated with a broader state-backed push to build domestic compute stacks for cloud, AI and critical infrastructure. It has been reported that Chinese institutions and companies are accelerating investment across silicon design, compiler toolchains and OS-level support for RISC-V. For Western observers, the rise of capable RISC-V silicon in China complicates export-control strategies: even if high-end manufacturing remains constrained, design sovereignty and growing software maturity can blunt some effects of sanctions. Whether these new cores will translate into market share or exported products remains to be seen — but the trajectory is clear: China intends to reduce strategic vulnerabilities and to do so fast.