Qualcomm this week announced the acquisition of Ventana Micro Systems, a developer of high-performance RISC-V CPU designs for datacenter and enterprise applications. The acquisition brings proven RISC-V engineering talent and existing chiplet designs into Qualcomm’s portfolio, complementing its custom Arm-based Oryon CPU development.

While financial terms remain undisclosed, the deal represents Qualcomm’s most significant commitment to RISC-V as a viable alternative instruction set architecture for high-performance computing workloads.

The move provides Qualcomm architectural optionality beyond Arm while validating RISC-V’s evolution from embedded controllers to performance-oriented CPU cores.

Implementation timelines and product integration strategies remain unspecified, creating uncertainty around near-term commercial impact.

Who is Ventana Micro Systems?

Ventana Micro Systems, founded in 2018, has focused exclusively on developing high-performance RISC-V CPU core designs targeting datacenter and enterprise computing markets. The company’s flagship Veyron V2 chiplet architecture features up to 32 RISC-V RVA23-compatible CPU cores operating at frequencies up to 3.85 GHz, making it a potential performance-oriented alternative to traditional x86 and Arm datacenter processors.

The V2 design incorporates substantial cache hierarchies with up to 1.5 MB of L2 cache per core and 128 MB of shared L3 cache. Each core includes a 512-bit vector unit compliant with the RVV 1.0 specification alongside a custom matrix math accelerator delivering 0.5 TOPS (INT8) per GHz per core for AI and machine learning workloads.

Ventana’s chiplet-based approach allows multiple dies to be assembled into a system-in-package configuration for higher-performance applications, though silicon production has been delayed from the originally projected second half of 2024 to early 2026.

The company has previewed its next-generation Veyron V3 design, targeting clock speeds up to 4.2 GHz and adds FP8 data type support for the matrix accelerator.

Ventana’s value proposition centers on delivering competitive single-thread and multi-thread performance using an open ISA without the licensing constraints associated with proprietary architectures. However, the company has operated as a design house rather than a silicon vendor, meaning its commercial traction and customer deployments remain largely unverified in production environments.

Strategic Rationale and Fit

Ventana addresses multiple strategic objectives for Qualcomm, while also hedging against architectural dependencies that have historically constrained its roadmap flexibility.

The company has maintained a long-standing relationship with Arm as a licensee, building mobile, automotive, and PC platforms on Arm instruction sets. However, recent litigation between Qualcomm and Arm (stemming from Qualcomm’s 2021 acquisition of Nuvia and subsequent disputes over license transfers) has highlighted the risks of single-architecture dependency.

While a December 2024 jury verdict sided with Qualcomm on key claims, ongoing countersuits and appeals demonstrate that the relationship carries persistent legal and business uncertainty.

RISC-V offers architectural sovereignty that Arm licensing cannot match. As an open ISA, RISC-V eliminates per-unit royalties and removes external control over roadmap direction, instruction set extensions, and custom implementations.

For a company like Qualcomm that increasingly competes across mobile, PC, automotive, edge AI, and soon, datacenter markets, architectural optionality becomes strategically valuable even if Arm remains the primary platform for flagship products.

Ventana brings proven engineering talent with demonstrated expertise in translating RISC-V specifications into high-performance core designs, accelerating Qualcomm’s ability to credibly execute RISC-V products beyond the embedded microcontrollers it has shipped since the Snapdragon 865 generation.

The acquisition complements rather than replaces Qualcomm’s existing Oryon CPU development, which originated from the Nuvia acquisition and currently powers Snapdragon X-series PC processors using custom Arm cores.

Qualcomm stated it intends to continue developing Ventana’s designs in parallel with Oryon, suggesting a multi-ISA portfolio strategy where RISC-V addresses specific markets or customer requirements while Arm maintains ecosystem advantages in software compatibility and developer tooling.

This approach mirrors strategies employed by companies like SiFive and others that maintain both Arm and RISC-V roadmaps to serve different performance, power, and cost segments.

The timing also aligns with Qualcomm’s announced return to datacenter CPU markets, a segment it previously abandoned in 2018 after unsuccessful Arm-based server product launches.

Ventana’s datacenter-focused designs provide a technical foundation for renewed datacenter ambitions without re-entering through the same Arm licensing structure that contributed to earlier challenges.

Whether Qualcomm pursues datacenter products using Ventana’s RISC-V IP, Oryon-derived Arm cores, or both remains unspecified, but the acquisition expands technical options for addressing hyperscaler and enterprise server markets.

Analysis

The acquisition makes Qualcomm the first tier-one semiconductor company to simultaneously develop custom Arm cores and high-performance RISC-V CPUs for commercial markets. This dual-ISA capability differentiates Qualcomm from peers like Apple (Arm-only), AMD and Intel (x86-focused with emerging Arm efforts), and Arm itself (IP licensor rather than silicon vendor). Only a handful of companies globally possess the engineering resources, software ecosystem influence, and market reach to credibly execute multi-architecture CPU portfolios at scale.

We don’t expect the acquisition to impact Qualcomm’s PC and mobile businesses. In those markets, however, RISC-V provides negotiating leverage and architectural insurance rather than immediate product substitution. The Snapdragon X-series has gained traction in Windows on Arm PCs, leveraging Arm’s mature software ecosystem and Microsoft’s continued investment in Arm compatibility. Switching to RISC-V would sacrifice ecosystem advantages without clear technical or economic benefits in the near term. However, the credible threat of RISC-V migration strengthens Qualcomm’s position in Arm licensing negotiations and reduces exposure to future license disputes or unfavorable royalty terms.

In the datacenter market, RISC-V’s open architecture and customization flexibility are more compelling. Hyperscalers and enterprise customers increasingly value architectural sovereignty and ISA-level transparency as compute infrastructure becomes strategically critical rather than commodity purchasing.

Google’s collaboration with Qualcomm on RISC-V wearable platforms demonstrates early hyperscaler interest in open ISAs for specialized workloads. Ventana’s chiplet-based approach aligns well with emerging datacenter requirements for modular, scalable processor designs that can be tailored to specific AI inference, data analytics, or general-purpose computing tasks.

The acquisition will bring the most benefit to Qualcomm’s efforts to aggressively move into the IoT and intelligent edge space, where ISA loyalty comes second to the ability to quickly deliver stable, low-cost products. There’s a natural fit between Ventana’s RISC-V IP and Qualcomm’s recent acquisition of Arduino and the launch of its Dragonwing brand.  

Overall, the deal brings proven RISC-V engineering talent and datacenter-class CPU designs into Qualcomm’s portfolio, providing technical capabilities to develop high-performance RISC-V products across mobile, PC, automotive, edge AI, and datacenter markets.

For technology decision-makers evaluating future CPU architectures, the acquisition signals that RISC-V has graduated from experimental status to viable alternative for strategic compute workloads.