Alibaba DAMO Academy announced XuanTie E908A, automotive-enhanced RISC-V CPU intellectual property (IP), at the RISC-V China Summit in Shenzhen on October 19, 2026, according to EET China and Sohu. Chipmakers would license the design, integrate it into a chip and fabricate that chip before pursuing automotive qualification and a vehicle program.
The vehicle roles DAMO has in mind
The reports describe E908A as intended for safety islands, domain controllers and in-vehicle gateways. These are proposed uses for the CPU IP; the announcement is about a design for chipmakers to integrate, not a finished chip. EET China
The reported safety claims
EET China and Sohu report that Alibaba DAMO Academy says E908A meets both ASIL-B and ASIL-D, automotive functional-safety levels. Sohu also reports a DAMO-attributed Single Point Fault Metric (SPFM) above 90%. EET China Sohu
Li Weili, a DAMO processor architect, said an automotive-grade chip typically takes three to five years to complete functional-safety and other qualification. That is a general timeframe, not an E908A delivery estimate. EET China
C950A has a separate performance target
DAMO’s reported roadmap sets a five-times performance target for XuanTie C950A against existing automotive RISC-V products. That target belongs to C950A, not E908A. EET China Sohu
