Apple is possibly exploring an open source alternative to the arm architecture

Apple may be exploring the possibility of using an open source alternative to the Arm architecture, which it has been using in its products for decades.

According to a recently published job alert, detected by Tom Hardware, Apple is looking for an engineer who specializes in RISC-V, a set of open source architecture instructions that allows device manufacturers to build their own chips without having to pay for a license or any gift. Apple currently uses the Arm architecture in its products and pays the company a usage fee to use its instruction set.

Apple’s job posting description indicates that the engineer will implement “innovative RISC-V solutions and state-of-the-art routines” into Apple products. Specifically, Apple expects potential engineers to be able to work with the RISC-V instruction set, as well as have an understanding of Arm.

Tom Hardware theorizes that if Apple adopted the RISC-V open source instruction set, it could save the company money because it would not have to pay Arm a license fee for its instruction set.

All Arm cores require Apple to pay a license fee to Arm, and since the number of cores for SSD drivers and smart watches will only increase, so will Apple’s payments to Arm. As such, replacing at least some Arm cores with RISC-V cores could save millions of dollars in royalty payments to Apple each year …

The job listing confirms that Apple is exploring the use of RISC-V, but it remains to be seen if the company decides to implement open source technology. Apple’s confidence in Arm has increased over the past year, as Apple is changing its line from Mac to Arm-based processors instead of Intel.