Former Arm China CEO returns with RISC-V startup

News | April 30, 2024

By Peter Clarke

China Processor RISC-V

The controversial former CEO of Arm China, Allen Wu (Wu Xiongang) has formed a RISC-V startup that will compete with his former employer, according to the Chip_Inside WeChat channel.

The company is formally known as Zhongzhi Qixin (Shanghai) Technology Co. Ltd. but identifies itself through its website as CoreLab Technologies. The company already lists high-performance and real-time RISC-V processors along with vector extensions for machine learning.

Chip_Inside said it is unclear whether the company will create its own RISC-V core implementation or work with partners. The website said there are rumors that to help CoreLab move quickly the company will act as an agent in China for RISC-V developer Tenstorrent Inc. with the option to perform system-level design based around Canadian company’s core platform.

However, CoreLab is also recruiting widely for engineers to join the company. Chip_Inside referenced industry sources saying that a number of former Arm employees have joined the company. It is known that Wu enjoyed the support of Arm China employees when he led that company (see ARM China staff post open letter pledging loyalty to Allen Wu).

Wu was a controversial figure when between 2020 and 2022 when he refused to be sacked as CEO of Arm China against the wishes of the parent company Arm Ltd. The situation was eventually resolved in April 2022 paving the way to Arm’s eventually IPO.

CoreLabs was founded on September 11, 2023 and is focused on RISC-V processor intellectual property cores and computing platforms. It has the engineers and senior management for the creation of high-performance multi-core processors, a resource that is scarce in China, Chip_Inside said.

The company is said to be backed by “abundant resources” and highly compentent shareholders with Wu spearheading the effort from behind the scenes.