this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Just to clarify a few points in #1: CISC has gone largely (entirely?) extinct, so it doesn't play into this. Arm processors are more efficient than x86, but Risc-v is even more efficient than Arm, giving them an edge in cheap, low power computing. However, some companies have started experimenting with Risc-v for HPC applications, so it's turning out more versatile than expected. Just this week there was also news of a bunch of companies banding together to develop Risc-v chips for automobile and Telecom, so don't be surprised if we get Risc-v smartphones and tablets in the near future.
Citation needed? Isn't x86 considered a CISC?
Yes and no. AFAIK when coding assembler for these chips you use CISC-instructions but they get translated into RISC-instructions by a hardcoded mikroprocessing-unit (not sure about the real term). So the processor itself gets RISC-instructions.
In reality it seems to be more complicated: https://fanael.github.io/is-x86-risc-internally.html