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The EE Times podcast episode published on February 18, 2019, framed RISC-V as a possible way to lower barriers to processor design—not as proof that it had already displaced Arm or x86. It also covered MIPS’s then-planned open-source move and a dispute over whether Arm licensing costs were pushing customers toward alternatives. Those remarks describe the debate in 2019, not today’s licensing terms or market position.
What the episode covered
Episode 23, presented by David Finch, runs 6 minutes and 18 seconds. It introduced an EE Times and AspenCore Media special project on RISC-V, developed with AspenCore’s EDN, EEWeb and EBN sites. The project leader, Richard Quinnell, described RISC-V as being “on the Verge of Broad Adoption,” while the project also pointed readers to coverage of custom RISC-V processor design. EE Times episode page and transcript.
The episode brought together three related questions: could RISC-V become an alternative host-processor instruction set architecture (ISA) to Arm and x86; what did MIPS’s open-source plan signal; and were licensing and royalty costs making open architectures more attractive?
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Could RISC-V become an alternative to Arm and x86?
The episode relayed technology editor Rick Merritt’s answer to whether RISC-V could make the next leap as a host-processor ISA: “the short answer is yes, but it could take several years and there are plenty of pitfalls along the way.” That was a cautiously positive forecast reported in 2019, not a claim that RISC-V had already matched the incumbent architectures or that it would do so on a particular schedule.
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Nitin Dahad’s segment described one appeal of an open ISA: a designer could customize a system-on-chip (SoC) around it without paying an upfront architecture fee. As Dahad put it, “One more factor seems to be emerging. That’s the awareness of the potential for alternatives which reduce the barrier for entry for SoC, that’s system on chip design such as open source instruction software or ISAs.” The episode’s point was about a potential reduction in one barrier, not the removal of chip-design costs.
What did MIPS say about its open-source plan?
Junko Yoshida’s segment checked on MIPS’s open-source plan, announced the previous December. The episode reported MIPS’s response as: “The plan is on track,” for a Q1 release. It said MIPS expected the move to attract larger, more mature hardware developers, including companies that already licensed Arm.
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This is a report of MIPS’s stated plan at the time of the episode. It does not establish whether that release happened as described or what MIPS’s strategy is now.
Why were some Arm licensees reportedly considering alternatives?
The episode said sources cited contract complexity and alleged increases in Arm license and royalty fees as reasons some licensees were exploring alternatives. Dahad described publicly discussed Arm license-fee levels as ranging from “one million to ten million dollars,” while noting that companies might keep their fees opaque. That is the episode’s account of figures discussed in 2019, not a current Arm price list or a verified fee schedule. The transcript also referred generally to possible royalties of “a few cents” per chip in the IP-licensing business; it did not establish that as an Arm-specific rate.
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Arm’s spokesperson rejected the fee-hike account. As Dahad recounted the response: “One is that the rumors about price hikes are absolutely not true.” The spokesperson also argued that the debate overlooked “the importance of wider ecosystem support and total cost of ownership.” The episode presents competing claims; it does not independently verify either the alleged increases or Arm’s denial.
Why the ecosystem argument matters
An ISA’s openness or licensing terms are only part of the cost of building a processor-based product. A practical comparison would also account for software availability, development tools, implementation choices, partner support, engineering work and costs across the product lifecycle. The episode highlighted this tension but did not provide a controlled, contemporary comparison of RISC-V and Arm.
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To illustrate the value Arm placed on ecosystem support, the spokesperson cited a comparison claiming that developing a 28-nanometer SoC with Arm’s ecosystem could cost 50% less over the total design cycle than developing without that ecosystem. This was Arm’s stated comparison as relayed by the podcast—not an independent study or a universal result.
How to read the episode now
The episode is useful as a record of how the RISC-V debate was framed in early 2019: an open ISA could offer customization and potentially lower the entry barrier, while established ecosystems might reduce engineering effort and whole-design costs. Its MIPS timeline, Arm-fee discussion and forecast about adoption are historical. The episode alone cannot answer what current licensing terms, adoption levels or ecosystem maturity are.
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