SAN JOSE, Calif., March 9, 2026 — MIPS, a GlobalFoundries company, and Green Hills Software announced a collaboration to develop a Safety Software Development Kit (Safety SDK) for products based on MIPS RISC-V microcontrollers. The companies said the toolkit is intended to support functional safety certification and streamline development processes for automotive and industrial systems.
The collaboration focuses on applications requiring certified real-time control, including motor control, traction inverters, and battery management systems. According to the companies, the development framework is designed to support platforms built on the MIPS Atlas M8500 RISC-V microcontroller and address safety requirements in mission-critical environments.
The Safety SDK is aimed at supporting development flows targeting Automotive Safety Integrity Level D (ASIL-D) and Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3/4 standards. MIPS and Green Hills Software said the collaboration combines the M8500 processor architecture with Green Hills’ safety-certified development tools and real-time operating system technologies.
The companies said that, when paired with Green Hills Software’s certified toolchain and RTOS, developers can implement verification and development processes aligned with ASIL-D and SIL 3/4 requirements. The system is designed to support applications such as real-time motor control and power management running on the µ-velOSity real-time operating system.
Development tools associated with the platform include the Green Hills MULTI debugging environment, certified C/C++ compilers designed for safety-critical development, and scripting capabilities intended to support earlier validation and testing during product development.
The MIPS M8500 processor architecture is designed for real-time, multi-threaded processing in safety-critical applications, including electric vehicles, power electronics, motor control systems, and industrial robotics. MIPS said the architecture can be deployed in automotive-qualified system-on-chip (SoC) platforms using multiple lock-stepped M8500 cores, providing a hardware platform intended for workloads with strict functional safety requirements.
The planned Safety SDK integrates the MIPS M8500 ASIL-D-targeted functional safety processor with Green Hills Software’s MULTI toolchain, optimizing C/C++ compilers, the DoubleCheck static analysis tool, and the µ-velOSity real-time operating system. The companies said the SDK is designed to provide a coordinated hardware-software development environment for safety-certified production systems.
MIPS and Green Hills Software said they are currently gathering requirements from early access customers as development of the Safety SDK progresses. The companies indicated that the offering is expected to include evaluation platforms, motor-control demonstrations, and development tools that will be made available to qualified customers.

