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It's patent licenses that prevent more x86-64 compatible CPUs appearing. All the best recent stuff is controlled by Intel and AMD, who have cross-licensing agreements with each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_x86_manufacturers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86

Even without the patents, there is a lot in x86 and it would take an order of magnitude more engineers to make a compatible x86 CPU than a RISCV with standard extensions.

They don't need to. Recompilation techniques like Rosetta2 are well understood now and they can add extensions to RISC-V processors that aid in reimplementing x86 behavior on top of RISC-V.

As a note, non-competes are for the most part illegal in California, from my understanding.

The linked company page says they are located in Hillsboro, Oregon[1]. Which is where Intel also has a campus[2]. My guess is that most people of this new company just moved across the street. How are non-competes in that state?

1. https://www.aheadcomputing.com/#comp-lzm51d9d

2. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/corporate-responsibi...