That what you need to make RISC-V a popular success. But really, it's already a success in a research context. I really wish something like it had been around when I was doing my thesis and by all accounts lots of researchers are using it as a base design that can be modified in various interesting ways.
And there are lots of successful architectures out there that don't go into PCs. On the low end there's AVR, at the high end there's MIPS, and then there's ARM that's sort of eating everything. ARM started out as a desktop but it spend a long time as an embedded only processor before returning to popular consciousness. If RISC-V takes over cell towers or NAS boxes or robots or flying cars or whatever it could be quite successful without ever penetrating popular consciousness.
And there are lots of successful architectures out there that don't go into PCs. On the low end there's AVR, at the high end there's MIPS, and then there's ARM that's sort of eating everything. ARM started out as a desktop but it spend a long time as an embedded only processor before returning to popular consciousness. If RISC-V takes over cell towers or NAS boxes or robots or flying cars or whatever it could be quite successful without ever penetrating popular consciousness.