Lattice and SiFive Announce Collaboration to Allow Lattice FPGA Developers Easy Access to RISC-V Processors

SAN MATEO, Calif – December 11, 2019 – SiFive, Inc., the leading provider of commercial RISC-V processor IP and silicon solutions, and Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAC: LSCC), the low power programmable leader, today announced they have agreed to collaborate to enable easy availability of SiFive scalable Core IP for developers using Lattice FPGA product families, including Lattice’s new 28 nm CrossLink-NX™ FPGAs.

The need for intelligent processing at the Edge and endpoint is increasing, with new AI/ML applications in industrial, automotive, and consumer IoT being developed to reduce latency, power, and cost. Performing AI/ML processing outside of the data center reduces bandwidth and privacy concerns while increasing responsiveness through lower latency. These factors combine to drive the increasing need for embedded intelligence in an anticipated more than 64 billion new devices¹ at the Edge and endpoint in the coming decade. Lattice low power FPGAs utilizing SiFive RISC-V implementations are well-positioned to create embedded solutions that enable a smart, secure, and connected world.

Enabling Low Power Solutions

SiFive’s scalable approach to processor core design enables Lattice to create application targeted Core IP, focused on the features and performance requirements of the workload. Lattice and SiFive plan to collaborate on delivering new, optimized processor cores using SiFive IP based on the free and open RISC-V ISA. SiFive E2 Core IP will power Lattice FPGA solutions for a diverse array of use cases and markets, from control plane processing in communications infrastructure to data path processing in Edge applications.

“Lattice is pleased to be collaborating with SiFive to enable easy customer access to the SiFive Core IP on our small form factor, low power FPGAs,” said Esam Elashmawi, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer, Lattice Semiconductor. “SiFive’s flexible and scalable RISC-V based Core IP running on our FPGAs will provide developers with a compelling hardware solution for emerging applications such as embedded vision and AI processing on Edge devices.”

“The collaboration with Lattice is a great moment for SiFive,” said Dr. Naveed Sherwani, President & CEO of SiFive. “The simple and rapid creation of smart new products requires a flexible solution to scalable IP design that SiFive is perfectly positioned to provide. The ability for Lattice FPGAs to support RISC-V applications is expected to drive the production of millions of innovative, efficient solutions.”