The Milk-V Oasis was supposed to be a mini ITX motherboard featuring a Sophgo SG2380 processor featuring 16 SiFive P670 RISC-V processor cores, Imagination AXT-16-512 graphics, and an NPU with up to 20 TOPS of AI performance. First unveiled in October, 2023 the board was supposed to ship in mid-2024 for $120 and up.

But that never happened, and now Milk-V says it’s putting the project on hold and issuing refunds to customers who had pre-ordered coupons for the board through Arace.

The problem seems to have arisen because TSMC has suspended orders to manufacture chips for Sophgo in response to US sanctions. Rumor has this that this has been the case for a while, but this week Sophgo was officially added to a listed of Chinese companies that are subject to US trade restrictions, which may be why Milk-V has formally updated its plans.

The good news is that customers didn’t have to pay full price to pre-order the Milk-V Oasis. Up until recently Arace was just asking potential customers to put down $5 to reserve a chance to order the board when it eventually became available.

But Milk-V says that “given the prolonged development cycle and the exceptionally high expectations from our users, coupled with the fact that we cannot provide an accurate launch timeline,” the company has “decided to issue a full refund for all coupons purchased during the pre-order phase.”

Folks who want their $5 back can send an email to [email protected] to request a refund.

Milk-V says it does “not rule out the possibility of reintroducing [the Oasis] in the future,” but  the SG2380 processor was the most interesting thing about this board, and right now it’s unclear if or when that chip will be manufactured, which puts the future of the Oasis in question.

via LinuxGizmos