describes XiangShan's goal as eventually becoming "the Linux of processors"
That's a pretty cool goal. I'm glad to see Chinese organizations (and state run education institutions nonetheless) driving for open source hardware designs. Most big open source projects like Linux are entirely US and Europe dominated but China has been investing a lot in RISC-V such that they could actually create the "Linux of processors". It seems like open source processors would be beneficial to both private companies that want to add in a bit of their own special sauce, and projects like Linux which would have an even easier time implementing new drivers and features.
It really depends on if companies actually use the open source designs and mass-produce them or put them in commodity devices people can buy. If they just end up being a starting point and are customized so much that they become their own thing before becoming real hardware, it might be less useful for anything other than externalizing R&D costs.
