Qualcomm has announced the acquisition of Ventana Micro Systems, a move that, although it doesn’t change anything “overnight” for the end user, says a lot about the company’s direction: more control over its CPUs, greater technological independence, and increased capacity to design custom processors in a market increasingly driven by Artificial Intelligence and energy efficiency.
The acquisition brings into Qualcomm a specialized team focused on developing the Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) of RISC-V, an open standard that has been gaining traction in the industry for years for a very simple reason: it allows the creation of compatible processors based on a common foundation, without depending on a “closed” design owned by a single entity. In sectors where every watt counts — mobile devices, laptops, IoT, automotive, edge computing, and increasingly data centers — this flexibility has become a highly valuable commodity.
Who is Ventana and Why Does It Matter?
Ventana Micro Systems is a Cupertino-based company founded in 2018, known for its focus on high-performance RISC-V-based processors and for pushing a “modular” design strategy using chiplets, especially aimed at demanding scenarios like data center computing. Additionally, the company has been involved in the RISC-V ecosystem at an institutional level (participation in RISC-V International bodies) and has previously secured funding to advance RISC-V CPUs in the data center class.
Qualcomm, on the other hand, is no stranger to designing “efficient brains”: it has dominated the mobile world for decades and has recently taken significant steps towards developing its own CPUs with its Oryon technology, intended to compete in performance and power consumption outside of smartphones (for example, in PCs). Qualcomm frames this acquisition as a direct enhancement of its CPU engineering capabilities: Ventana joins to complement its work on RISC-V and its development of Oryon, with the goal of accelerating its leadership “in the age of Artificial Intelligence.”
Strategic Perspective: Control, Costs, and Dependence
Behind these moves lies a uncomfortable reality for any manufacturer: over-dependence on a single architecture or a single licensor limits maneuverability. Qualcomm is well aware of this. Its 2021 acquisition of Nuvia — crucial for its push into high-performance CPUs — was driven, among other things, by the desire to reduce payments and technological reliance. Reuters reported that in a legal context, Qualcomm saw the Nuvia deal as a way to potentially save large amounts on Arm-related costs as it expanded into bigger markets.
Without delving into legal battles, the core message is clear: controlling more parts of your CPU design means better control over your roadmap, optimizations, and partly, your cost structure. In a world where product cycles shorten and competition hinges on performance, sustained performance, NPUs, efficiency, security, and on-device AI, having “in-house” team and intellectual property offers a significant advantage.
What Role Does RISC-V Play Here?
RISC-V is not automatically “the new Arm” or “the new x86,” but it has established itself as a genuine alternative across multiple segments: microcontrollers, embedded devices, industrial electronics, and increasingly ambitious proposals for general-purpose computing. Its appeal lies in being an open standard: manufacturers can implement the ISA and extend it for specific needs, maintaining compatibility and leveraging a growing ecosystem of tools and software.
For Qualcomm, this opens two interesting avenues:
- Cost/energy-efficient products (IoT, edge, automotive): RISC-V can serve as a flexible foundation to design highly optimized solutions.
- High-performance scenarios (where Ventana has its historical focus): here, the promise is more complex, but the idea of “customizable CPU” is especially attractive for optimizing specific workloads, including AI tasks.
And What Does This Mean for Developers and “Regular” Users?
In the short term, the impact is likely to be invisible: there won’t be an “update” turning your mobile into a RISC-V device. But gradual effects could emerge:
- Increased hardware diversity over the coming years, driving competition to improve performance per watt.
- Greater experimentation in products and form factors: when a large company invests in an open architecture, it accelerates the development of tools, SDKs, and support.
- More focus on local execution of AI: the value isn’t just in having AI capabilities, but in doing so quickly, privately, and with reasonable power consumption (where CPU + NPU + memory are as important as the model itself).
In summary: this acquisition is less a “headline for the mass market” and more a “chess move” for the industry. Qualcomm isn’t buying an app or a brand; it’s acquiring talent and expertise to better design the cores of its devices at a time when architecture matters more than ever.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is RISC-V and why is it so talked about?
It’s an open instruction set architecture (ISA). It enables designing compatible CPUs based on a common standard without dependence on a single owner, facilitating customization and potentially fostering a more diverse ecosystem.
Does this mean Qualcomm will abandon Arm?
Not necessarily. Typically, multiple architectures coexist depending on the product. The move suggests diversification and internal strengthening rather than an immediate “shutdown” of current technologies.
Did Ventana Micro Systems make chips for consumers?
Its historical focus has been more technical and industrial (high performance, chiplets, data centers/computing). The acquisition leans more towards engineering capabilities than direct consumer products.
When will we see this in actual products?
In such acquisitions, effects usually manifest in the medium term: team integration, new platform designs, and validation cycles that take time.
via: Qualcomm