Controversial former Arm China CEO founds RISC-V chip startup

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A number of former Arm China employees have reportedly followed Allen Wu to new venture

datacenterdynamics.com, Apr. 22, 2024 – 

The ex-chief executive of Arm China, Allen Wu, has reportedly founded a RISC-V chip company to potentially challenge his former employer.

Wu is best known for refusing to leave his role at Arm China despite being fired twice, first in 2020 and then again in 2022. The company only managed to successfully oust him in 2023.

The news was first published by market tracker TrendForce, which cited a report from a WeChat account dubbed "Chip_Inside." The company, called Zhongzhi Chip, is actively recruiting RISC-V professionals, with a number of former Arm employees having reportedly jumped ship.

At the time of Wu's second firing, 430 employees purportedly signed a post saying they would remain loyal to Wu and that there were "major legal flaws" with the attempted firing.

According to information seen by TrendForce, Zhongzhi Chip is a company focused on the development of RISC-V processor IP and computing platform solutions. RISC-V is an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) based on established RISC principles, which is provided under open-source licenses that do not require fees.

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