Ask HN: What does RISC-V custom chips for under $100K mean?

113 points by zkirill - 379 Days, 19 Hours ago Hacker News

In 2016, SiFive blogged about custom chips for under $100K[1]. What does this mean in practice for a business? What does a business get if they give SiFive $100K? Does the business have to give SiFive anything in addition to $100K such as a schematic? What are the steps between giving SiFive $100K and getting physical chips in your hands?

> At the workshop, people asked me what it would cost to make a chip with SiFive. The room went quiet … people expected me to dance around the topic (like all other people do). Jaws dropped when I simply said “system architects and designers can get customized chips for less than $100,000” – less than the cost of just licensing most CPUs today.

[1] https://www.sifive.com/blog/custom-chips-for-under-100k