Qualcomm Partners with Google to Develop Snapdragon Wear RISC-V Chips for Wear OS Wearable Devices

Qualcomm has recently announced a partnership with Google to create Snapdragon Wear chips for wearable devices. This collaboration will give us a glimpse of smartwatches running on RISC-V architecture, instead of the usual Arm-based chips. While details about this new chip are still scarce, it is exciting to see Google and Qualcomm working together.

Google has previously collaborated with Qualcomm on the Pixel Watch 2, which utilizes the Snapdragon SW5100 chip (the first-generation Pixel Watch used Samsung Exynos). Additionally, the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) has announced its support for RISC-V since early 2023, although not all components have been fully integrated yet. You can find the latest updates on GitHub, under Android/riscv64.

As a major player in the Arm chip manufacturing industry, Qualcomm’s increasing interest in RISC-V is noteworthy. They recently announced funding for a new RISC-V chip company focused on automotive applications. This shift may be a result of Qualcomm’s desire to reduce its reliance on Arm, especially after the ongoing legal disputes between the two.

TLDR: Qualcomm and Google are teaming up to develop Snapdragon Wear chips using RISC-V architecture for wearable devices. While details about the new chip are scarce, this collaboration represents Qualcomm’s growing interest in RISC-V technology. The Pixel Watch 2 already uses a Snapdragon chip, and the AOSP announced support for RISC-V in early 2023. This move suggests Qualcomm’s intention to diversify beyond Arm-based chips.