Qualcomm is rarely associated with open source, having built a business around proprietary intellectual property, but it is skilled at sensing the way industry winds are blowing, and has taken an investmnent in one of the growing tribe of start-ups supporting the open processor platform, RISC-V. Through its Qualcomm Ventures are, the chip giant has taken part in a $65.4m round of funding for SiFive, which already claims over 100 design wins. The news shows that Qualcomm is keeping a beady eye on RISC-V’s early moves towards processors for the 5G market, and particularly on the potential to build an intellectual property (IP) base (open source platforms still include patents of course). Qualcomm’s backing follows in the footsteps of Intel,…