Sept. 15, 2025 –
According to Economic Daily News, Infineon announced in March that it will launch RISC-V–based automotive microcontrollers (MCUs). Infineon plans to provide samples to partners for product development in 2026, with mass production slated for 2028–2029. Notably, these RISC-V–based MCUs will be produced at TSMC’s Dresden, Germany fab (ESMC)—a joint venture established in 2023 by TSMC, Robert Bosch, Infineon, and NXP—while other zone controller MCUs will be manufactured at Infineon’s existing plants, the report notes.
Citing Hans Adlkofer, SVP at Infineon, the report notes that RISC-V’s automotive applications are concentrated in high-performance scenarios, with central computing units serving as a key use case due to their high processing demands. He further noted that future automotive architectures will shift from today’s distributed functional units to a large central computing unit, paired with four to five zone controllers that may use either TriCore or RISC-V architectures, as the report indicates.
Infineon: RISC-V Set to Gain Momentum in Automotive Processing
As for whether the RISC-V ecosystem is mature enough, the report highlights that Adlkofer noted RISC-V offers high compatibility, and adoption by MCU manufacturers is expected to further expand its ecosystem. Adlkofer added that while Arm performs better in power efficiency, RISC-V has strong potential in computing power.
As the report points out, citing Adlkofer, once RISC-V chips enter mass production in 2028–2029, the share of RISC-V–based processing units in vehicles could become very large after 2035, as demand for computing power in cars continues to grow.
Infineon’s plan to develop a large central computing unit based on the RISC-V architecture aims to meet the surging computing demands of software-defined vehicles (SDVs). According to TechNews, Adlkofer stated that the automotive industry is undergoing two major shifts: electric vehicles and SDVs. By 2030, about 45% of new cars are expected to be electric, while the share of assisted and autonomous driving is projected to rise from roughly 25% in 2024 to 60%. Smart vehicles with hybrid domain/zone architectures will also grow from 5% to 50%.