在去年，我们曾经报道过RISC-V基金会计划迁往瑞士的新闻。据路透社最新报道，非营利组织RISC-V基金会的首席执行官 Calista Redmond在接受路透社采访时说到，为了确保美国以外的大学，政府和公司可以帮助开发其开源技术，他们计划将其总部迁往瑞士。

据我们获得的最新消息，RISC-V基金会在3月17号给他们的会员发布了一个邮件，确定将总部迁往瑞士。他们在给会员的邮件中表示，RISC-V 基金会的法律实体已经过渡到瑞士，不再续签美国基金会会员资格。到2020年9月1日，基金会会将美国的基金会实体转变为一个非会员组织。同时将单独联系哪些尚未转为瑞士基金会组织会员的剩余会员。

在基金会发给会员的邮件中，他们讲到了为什么要将基金会总部迁往瑞士？

按照他们的说法，基金会已经从广泛的行业和社区领袖那里听说了开放协作和IP访问相关事宜受到地缘政治破坏的可能性。基金会进一步指出，虽然没有任何国家，公司或个人对RISC-V进行任何限制或禁运，但这一直是一个令人关注的问题。基金会认为，这些潜在的中断是阻碍RISC-V投资和推广的一个不确定因素。考虑到瑞士过往对开源技术、软件和协作的大力支持，并且拥有极低的地缘政治破坏风险，所以基金会选择 这里作为新的注册地址 。

基金会进一步指出，将公司移至瑞士并不会改变RISC-V的基本目的或主要IP条款。但是，我们正在对法规进行少量更改，以让其更具包容性，并为我们的会员中提供强而有力的支持，并为社区内快速发展的RISC-V项目提供资金。

基金会在邮件中指出，在将总部搬迁后到瑞时候，将会提出新的分级制度，将会员分为普通会员、战略会员和高级会员三个等级。

其中普通会员主要包括大学、非营利组织和不属于法人实体的个人，他们可以不缴纳任何年费，而享有正式会员的福利；

战略会员则包括公司、组织和其他法律实体。按照会员公司雇员的不同，他们将支付不同的会员费。按照邮件中的说法，少于500名员工的企业需要支付5000美元年费、员工处于500到5000之间的企业需缴纳15,000美元、拥有5000名以上员工的的企业则需要支付35000美元年费；

而高级会员则开放给对次非常感兴趣的法律实体，这个级别的的会员有两种选项：第一个选项是理事会级别，其中包括一名理事会和技术指导委员会的代表。这类型的企业每年需缴纳25万美元的会费。第二个选项是高级技术指导委员会级别，当中包括一名技术指导委员会的代表，年费为10万美元。

在邮件中，基金会还对会员后续的迁移工作做了详细的指导。

在之前的报道中 ，为标准组织工作的律师安德鲁·厄普德格罗夫（Andrew Updegrove）说，无论RISC-V基金会的总部在哪里，美国对将美国原产技术转让给中国公司的限制仍然适用。

而 RISC-V基金会的首席技术官拉斯·雷格（Lars Reger）也 说，在基金会的成员之一的荷兰恩智浦半导体公司说，他们的客户要求该公司详细说明芯片技术的来源。因为他们不希望在未来的贸易纠纷中被切断。

华为发言人更是表示：“我们支持RISC-V基金会，将瑞士确定为开源开发的中立场所。这对业界来说，使开源尽可能开放是重要的。”他说，RISC-V很适合华为关于这个异构开放世界的愿景。”

以下为基金会发给会员的邮件原文：

Dear RISC-V Members,

Together we have built an incredible community across our many interests in realizing the vision of an open ISA to revolutionize the silicon industry. Our progress has captured the attention and investment of stakeholders globally and we are humbled and grateful for the dedication, collaboration, and commitment of RISC-V members. Today we are building on our success and opening up the potential to build a stronger community with greater impact and potential as we enter our next phase of mainstream adoption.

The RISC-V Foundation Board of Directors and I are honored to announce that we have now officially formed the RISC-V International Association (“RISC-V”) in Switzerland and we personally invite you to join the organization as our official new home via the new membership options.

The following details will set the context for the move to Switzerland and new membership levels.

Why move to Switzerland?

We’ve heard from broad industry and community leaders on the potential for geopolitical disruption related to open collaboration and IP access. While there are no restrictions or embargoes on the leverage of RISC-V by any nation, company, or individual, this has been an ongoing area of concern. We appreciate that the possibility of disruption has been cited as a reason to hold back investment and strategic adoption. Switzerland has been selected for our legal incorporation based on a history of strong support of open source technology and software, collaboration, and low risk of geo political disruption.

Under Swiss jurisdiction, what will change?

Moving the incorporation to Switzerland does not change the fundamental purpose or main IP provisions of RISC-V. We are however making a small number of changes in our regulations to be more inclusive, offer stronger leadership representation across our membership, and to fund programs to accelerate RISC-V for our community and industry.

-Inclusive. All technical and business work groups, task groups, and committees in general will continue to be non-confidential.

-Stronger governance, broader leadership. Under the new membership options, every level will have opportunity to elect representation on the Board of Directors.

-Enabling programs for the RISC-V community and industry. We have reset the membership levels to be more consistent with larger open source organizations and best practices. As part of this we are including a new top level that will contribute greater financial support to build meaningful programs to serve the entire community. These programs center on 6 principles: Technical deliverables, Compliance and Certification, Visibility, Learning and Training, Advocacy and Outreach, and Marketplace.

What are the new Membership options?

We now offer three membership options to serve the broadest interests for RISC-V development and adoption. The basic differences between membership levels are listed here. More detail on all membership and governance is available in our Regulations and Membership documents.

-Community membership. This level is available to universities and non-profit organizations, as well as individuals not affiliated with a legal entity. Companies may not join this level. Community membership carries no annual membership fee and includes all benefits of full membership. The members at this level will have the right to nominate one representative to the Board from University/organization members and one representative for individual members.

-Strategic membership. This level includes companies, organizations, and other legal entities and conveys all of the benefits of full membership. The members at this level will incur an annual membership fee based on the employee size of their legal entity as follows: less than 500 employees -- the annual fee is $5,000 USD, between 500-5,000 employees – the annual fee is $15,000 USD, and for 5,000+ employees – the annual fee is $35,000 USD. The members at this level will have the right to nominate three representatives to the Board of Directors.

-Premier membership. This level includes any legal entity with deep interest and financial support with all the benefits for full membership. The members at this level have two options for participation. The Board level includes a representative on the Board of Directors as well as on the Technical Steering Committee and carries an annual membership fee of $250,000 USD. A second option Premier TSC level includes a representative on the Technical Steering Committee for an annual membership fee of $100,000 USD. The Premier TSC level will have the right to nominate Board representatives together with the Strategic members.

How will the Swiss and membership option transition work?

We are working together with the community to make this transition as seamless as possible.  The key documents for the new Swiss foundation are located at https://riscv.org/membership-application/.  Please review the documents together with any internal approval processes or counsel as soon as possible.

Sign-up is now available at all levels. We will also begin accepting nominations for Board reps from Community, Strategic, and Premier TSC members through May 31, 2020 for Board nominations and elections to be held in June 2020. Membership in the new entity is required to participate.

All member-only activities will transition to the new Swiss structure immediately and allow for participation by both US and Swiss RISC-V members through August 31, 2020. Beginning September 1, 2020, membership in the Swiss RISC-V entity is required to participate in member-only activities.

Once you’ve selected your new membership level and submitted the online membership form, we will apply your pro-rated remaining membership fees from the US entity as a credit to your new Swiss entity membership. You’ll receive an electronic invoice at the new level.

Beginning immediately, we will not be renewing US entity memberships as we transition the legal entity to Switzerland. Beginning September 1, 2020 we will be transitioning the US entity to be a non-membership organization. At that time, remaining members who have not yet transitioned to a Swiss organization membership will be contacted individually.