- Codasip sales fuel speculation of GlobalFoundries expanding RISC-V processor capacity
- Studio license strengthens the foundation of custom silicon along with manufacturing services
- Growing RISC-V portfolio increases the possibility of future competition with Arm and AMD
Codasip, a Munich and Bristol-based semiconductor design firm that develops RISC-V processor cores, is selling part of its business to an unnamed public US semiconductor company, with speculation that the buyer could be none other than GlobalFoundries, AMD’s former foundry arm.
Codasip confirmed that the company will divest its low-end RISC-V processor design unit while directing future work toward security-focused chip architectures and system-level products.
This lower-end division includes processor cores used in embedded electronics, automotive systems and industrial hardware, where efficient and customizable designs are widely used.
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A three-part structure
GlobalFoundries is seen as the most likely buyer because it has spent the past year acquiring RISC-V processor technology through several deals.
The company already owns MIPS and has agreed to acquire the ARC-V processor intellectual property from Synopsys, expanding its reach into higher performance and specialized processor designs.
Adding Codasip’s entry-level RISC-V cores would extend this portfolio to simpler embedded designs, creating coverage across both low-power and more advanced processor tiers.
The agreement also includes a broad license to Studio, Codasip’s processor development software that allows customization of processor instructions.
This capability enables GlobalFoundries, which began as AMD’s manufacturing arm before becoming an independent semiconductor manufacturer, to support custom chip development, allowing customers to change processor behavior rather than relying solely on fixed designs licensed from companies such as Arm.
Arm has long dominated the embedded processor markets through royalty-based licenses and charges fees from companies that build chips using its architecture.
A manufacturer that offers both manufacturing services and custom processor designs creates an alternative path, especially for companies developing automotive, industrial and edge computing systems.
Continued expansion into processor technology could eventually place GlobalFoundries in competition with established chip designers.
Codasip described the sale as part of a broader shift toward what it calls cyber-resilient semiconductor architectures.
Its future development work is centered on CHERI, short for Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions, a technology that focuses on limiting software exploitation by enforcing stricter memory access rules directly in hardware.
“Cyber ​​resilience has become a strategic imperative for governments, infrastructure operators and technology providers worldwide,” said Ron Black, CEO of Codasip.
“Traditional approaches inefficiently bolt security onto systems after the fact. Our focus is on enabling partners to build security into the fundamental architecture of computing systems from the beginning.”
The transaction is expected to close within about a month, and we will then know if GlobalFoundries is indeed the buyer of Codasip’s low-end RISC-V processor design unit.
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