ARM's ecosystem is both expansive and pervasive these days, with Samsung's latest cutting-edge Exynos 2600 chips also leveraging ARMv9.3 CPU cores. Even so, Samsung is apparently taking its first tentative steps towards the open-source RISC-V architecture via a custom SSD controller chip.
Samsung is tentatively exploring the RISC-V open-source architecture via a custom SSD controller chip, moving away from ARM's IP
According to South Korea-based ETNews, Samsung's upcoming SSD lineup, called the BM9K1 and designed entirely in-house, will leverage a controller chip that is based on the open-source RISC-V architecture.
For the benefit of those who might not be aware, the controller chip is the proverbial brain of an SSD, managing data transfers between the host PC and the NAND flash memory, as well as ancillary tasks such as error correction, garbage collection, and wear leveling, where the data is distributed evenly across all NAND cells.
Of course, until now, Samsung used ARM's instruction sets within its SSD controller chips, incurring hefty licensing fees in the process. What's more, with Western Digital SSDs already using RISC-V-based SweRV cores within their controller chips for a number of years now, it was only a matter of time until Samsung made the switch, especially as the transition makes too much economic sense.
Do note that, over the years, Samsung has repeatedly tried to incorporate the RISC-V architecture within its sprawling portfolio of products. However, none of those efforts managed to graduate beyond the demo stage. As such, the BM9K1 SSDs represent Samsung's first practical steps toward an open-source instruction set, and entail tantalizing possibilities for the future. For instance, a future Exynos chip might well leverage RISC-V CPU cores instead of those based on ARM's intellectual property.
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