On April 2, 2025, RIVAL officially released China's first fully self-developed high-performance RISC-V server chip, the Lingyu processor. This milestone event not only marks the breakthrough of RISC-V architecture in the field of high-performance computing, but also provides new possibilities for China's semiconductor industry in the international market competition. As a processor targeting the data center and enterprise computing markets, the launch of Lingyu shows that the RISC-V architecture is gradually penetrating from edge computing to core computing, and poses a challenge to the traditional x86 and ARM camps. China Exportsemi will deeply analyze the industry impact of Lingyu processors from four aspects: technological innovation, market potential, ecological challenges and future prospects.
Ⅰ Technological innovation: A breakthrough in the high-performance RISC-V architecture
1. Computing architecture and core technologies
Based on the high-performance CPU core IP independently developed by RIVAL, the Lingyu processor adopts an out-of-order (OoO) execution architecture, with high-bandwidth data paths and Mesh interconnection structures, to achieve significant improvements in single-core and multi-core computing performance. Its design goal is to match or even surpass mainstream server processors such as Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC, and in some application scenarios, Lingyu's SPEC CPU benchmark results have reached the industry-leading level.
In addition, Lingyu supports multi-core expansion up to 128 cores, and adopts chiplet packaging technology to improve computing density and power consumption ratio. Its efficient caching architecture and intelligent prefetch mechanism enable it to have excellent throughput performance in tasks such as large-scale parallel computing and artificial intelligence inference.
Figure: RIVAL officially released China's first fully self-developed high-performance RISC-V server chip, the Lingyu processor
2. High bandwidth and advanced interfaces
In order to meet the high throughput requirements of data centers, Lingyu processors support DDR5 memory, providing up to 16 channels and up to 4TB memory bandwidth to ensure high-speed access to massive data. In addition, it has a PCIe 5.0 interface and is compatible with the CXL 2.0 protocol, which greatly enhances the scalability of heterogeneous computing.
In terms of server interconnection, Lingyu provides 8-channel SMP interconnection and supports parallel deployment of multi-channel servers, making it more adaptable to computing clusters. This design makes Lingyu not only suitable for single-node servers, but also for building large data centers and high-performance computing (HPC) clusters.
3. Optimized for reliability and energy efficiency
In enterprise applications, RAS (Reliability, Availability, Serviceability) features are critical. The Lingyu processor has a built-in ECC error correction mechanism and supports dynamic frequency and voltage regulation to ensure the stability of long-term high-load operation. In addition, Lingyu adopts advanced power management technology, which reduces the energy consumption of mainstream x86 server chips by about 15% under the same computing load, saving a lot of operating costs for data centers.
Ⅱ Market Potential: RISC-V Opportunities in High-Performance Computing
The global high-performance computing market is in a period of change, and the demand for server chips with non-x86 architecture is growing rapidly. According to IDC's forecast, by 2028, the shipment of non-x86 server processors in the Chinese market will reach 2 million, of which the RISC-V architecture will occupy the million level, with a market size of more than 5 billion US dollars. This trend means that RISC-V is not only on the rise in the embedded and edge computing markets, but is also gaining a foothold in the server market.
The launch of the Lingyu processor fills the gap in the domestic high-performance RISC-V server chip, and its success not only provides more diversified choices for domestic manufacturers, but also is expected to attract more software and hardware ecological partners to join the RISC-V camp.
In terms of cost advantages, RISC-V adopts an open-source instruction set architecture (ISA), and manufacturers do not need to pay expensive patent licensing fees, which provides the possibility to reduce the cost of server chips, so that data centers and enterprise users can obtain high-performance computing power at a lower price.
Ⅲ Industry Challenge: Ecological Construction and Application Optimization
1. The software ecosystem still needs to be improved
Although breakthroughs have been made in hardware, RISC-V still faces great challenges in terms of software ecosystem. At present, most enterprise applications are still optimized around x86 and ARM architectures, and RISC-V needs to establish a more complete tool chain, compiler optimization, and application adaptation.
At present, RIVAL has cooperated with a number of domestic operating system vendors (such as UnionTech and Kylin) to optimize server-side software, and is also actively promoting cooperation with international open-source communities to promote the adaptation of mainstream databases, middleware and AI frameworks on the RISC-V architecture.
2. Performance optimization and industry adaptation
Although Lingyu has reached the international mainstream level in integer computing and multi-core parallel computing, there is still room for further optimization in some floating-point computing-intensive tasks (such as high-performance scientific computing and financial analysis). To close the gap, PrxCore is strengthening its R&D on technologies such as vector computing, dedicated accelerators, and plans to integrate more efficient FPGA/AI compute units in next-generation chips.
Ⅳ Future Prospects: How RISC-V is Challenging x86 and ARM
With the iteration of technology and the improvement of the ecosystem, RISC-V is expected to become the third largest server chip architecture after x86 and ARM. The addition of companies such as RIVAL makes RISC-V a key step forward in the field of high-performance computing.
In the future, we expect RISC-V to accelerate in the following directions:
1. More companies joining: Huawei, Alibaba, SiFive and other companies have already laid out the RISC-V high-performance chip market, and it is expected that more players will enter in the future.
2. Cloud computing and AI acceleration: The openness of RISC-V makes it easier to customize, and more RISC-V server chips for AI inference and cloud computing optimization may appear in the future.
3. Rapid maturity of the ecosystem: With the optimization of compilers such as LLVM and GCC, and the adaptation of server operating systems such as Linux and BSD, the software ecosystem of RISC-V will be more perfect.
Ⅴ Conclusion
The release of the Lingyu processor not only represents a breakthrough for RISC-V in the field of high-performance server chips, but also a new starting point for China's self-developed chips in the international market competition. Although challenges still exist, RISC-V is expected to become an important competitor in the global server chip market in the coming years as the ecosystem continues to optimize and the technology gradually matures.
In the context of the transformation of the global semiconductor industry, Lingyu's success may be just the beginning. With the advancement of technology and the improvement of industry recognition, the road of RISC-V counterattack is accelerating, and the competitiveness of China's semiconductor industry in the field of high-performance computing will be further enhanced.
