A U.S.-based foundation overseeing promising semiconductor technology developed with Pentagon support will soon move to Switzerland after several of the group’s foreign members raised concerns about potential U.S. trade curbs.
The nonprofit RISC-V Foundation wants to ensure that universities, governments and companies outside the United States can help develop its open-source technology, its Chief Executive Calista Redmond said in an interview with Reuters.
Can’t blame them.
I can’t say I blame them, either. But I’ve wondered a long time about the logistics of such a move.
What/who actually moves? Yes, the non-profit in Switzerland gets set up with a contact address, the non-profit in the USA gets shut down. How many paper files have to move from the US office(s) to Switzerland? What about equipment? Oh, wait… 60 Hz vs. 50 Hz. Never mind that.
And then there’s people. What people would move? How many of the CxO’s, how many staff would have to Switzerland?
Does anyone here have experience with such an international transfer of corporate assets?
gus3,
I can’t say that I have such experience, but I can see how keeping an organization in internationally friendly territory would be beneficial to the foundation. These links have nothing to do with RISC-V foundation, but nevertheless illustrate the problems that worldly organizations may face in north america due to undesirable state intervention.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/10/24/773095904/u-s-travel-ban-disrupts-the-worlds-largest-brain-science-meeting
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cybercrime-usa-china/u-s-may-act-to-keep-chinese-hackers-out-of-def-con-hacker-event-idUSBREA4N07D20140524
https://www.coindesk.com/roger-ver-denied-us-visa-attend-miami-bitcoin-conference
Canada does it too…
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-russian-student-cries-foul-after-denied-visa-to-attend-conference-in-2/
This isn’t totally new, but it does seem to be getting worse with increasingly hostile policies for foreigners, trade wars, travel restrictions, export restrictions, etc. 🙁
AFAIK it is very possible to transfer company registration and ownership of all assets to a Swiss non profit and to manage from anywhere in the world. You will need a Swiss law firm who will appoint a local director to meet regulations. You will also need a minimum paid up capital in Switzerland to be a valid company. I am involved with an industry association that is registered in Switzerland for tax reasons and operates with all staff out of the UK.
The Swiss (technically a Brit living in Switzerland) gave us the World Wide Web and now we give them RISC V. Seems fair.
I’m not shore about the us but here in eurupe all equipment (ok not big electric motors an such but that’s not what we talk about here) has been sold wit universal psus 50/60 hz and 110/230v for a very long time, the only thing he might need are adapters to make the plugs fit in the wall socket/ new cables