SiFive, the RISC-V chip IP firm founded by Berkeley engineers who created the open-source instruction set architecture, raised $400 million in an oversubscribed Series G on April 9, 2026, at a valuation of $3.65 billion. Led by Atreides Management and supported by Nvidia, Apollo Global Management, D1 Capital Partners, Point72 Turion, T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Capital Group, Prosperity7 Ventures, and Sutter Hill Ventures, this round is described by CEO Patrick Little as the final private funding before an IPO.
RISC-V is an open-source instruction set architecture, developed at the University of California, Berkeley, from 2010. Unlike proprietary architectures maintained by Arm Holdings and Intel, RISC-V allows implementation, extension, and commercialization without royalties. SiFive, founded in 2015 by principal architects Krste Asanović, Andrew Waterman, and Yunsup Lee, with Turing Award winner David Patterson, designs CPU IP and licenses it to customers. The independence of RISC-V became commercially valuable in March 2026 when Arm launched its AGI CPU, repositioning from a neutral IP licensor to a direct hardware competitor, fostering interest in open-standard alternatives. Efforts by Intel to acquire SiFive in 2021 collapsed, subsequently joining Elon Musk’s Terafab as a foundry partner in April 2026.
The $400 million Series G by Atreides Management, involving participants like Nvidia and T. Rowe Price Investment Management, raised SiFive’s total valuation to $3.65 billion. Nvidia’s participation is significant, as SiFive integrates NVLink Fusion into its data center platform for compatible RISC-V-based CPUs and Nvidia GPUs, reducing latency and improving AI inference. SiFive’s open-standard, customizable approach offers hyperscale customers a distinct option from proprietary solutions. In April 2026, Amazon’s $50 billion commitment to its Trainium chip program exemplifies the accelerating demand for custom silicon, fostering the rise of alternatives like SiFive’s RISC-V CPU IP.
SiFive plans to allocate Series G funds to R&D for high-performance RISC-V CPU IP, software ecosystem enhancements porting CUDA and Linux to RISC-V, and customer enablement for integrating SiFive IP. This open-standard approach promises choice and flexibility. SiFive has expanded, with more than 10 billion RISC-V cores shipped in various sectors. The data center market is seen as a potential $100 billion-plus opportunity, motivating SiFive’s trajectory towards an IPO, though the timeline remains unconfirmed. The firm’s positioning aligns with a market shift influenced by AI chip investments reaching record levels in 2025, situating SiFive at the forefront of a significant industry transition.