Abstract
HIGHLIGHTS:
This Report:
- Provides an historical overview of ASICs technology
- Describes various ASICs technologies used for telecommunications,
computing, consumer electronics, automotive applications, industrial
applications, and medical and scientific purposes
- Determines the current market status for ASICs, and makes forecasts over a
five-year period from 2008 to 2013
- Examines industry structure and competition
- Discusses the strengths of ASICs including superior functional performance
and efficiency in space and power utilization.
INTRODUCTION
ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) with attractive NRE
(non-recurring engineering) metrics are the proverbial holy-grail of
semiconductor manufacturing. ASICs have been around for a long time and have
survived the notoriety of being resource burners. As a matter of fact, the
ASIC sector has maintained steady growth, often outpacing the overall
semiconductor industry. This report is an attempt to unravel the reasons that
make ASICs such a resilient design methodology, and to examine and forecast
the current and future global market for ASICs. An interesting dimension to
the ASIC industry is the development and hype surrounding the introduction of
structured ASICs. This study forecasts that while structured ASICs read all
right on paper, their market performance is does not deliver justice to the
high expectations that it has set for itself. Finally, ASIC prospects cannot
be fully appreciated unless the implications of FPGAs, its principal
competitor, are factored into the analysis. Although originating from totally
different design philosophies, ASICs and field programmable gate arrays
(FPGAs) continue to carry their competitive battle to new and high-end
applications.
STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
This study has the following goals and objectives: Forecasting the market size
for ASICs Breaking down the ASIC market into structured and non-structured
ASICs Classifying the structured and non-structured ASIC markets on regional,
as well as on an end-application category basis. Breaking down the
end-application categories along specific device use cases and in turn
breaking these use cases along structured and non-structured ASICs. Breaking
down end-application categories along geographic regions Analysing the impact
and prospects of and for FPGAs vis-a-vis ASICs in all individual
end-application categories Providing an overview of various ASIC design
methodologies Explaining the ASIC stakeholder value chain Summarizing the ASIC
related initiatives of key stakeholders Analyzing mainstream ASIC patents
SCOPE OF THE REPORT
- The report forecasts the size of the structured and non-structured ASIC
market between 2009 and 2014.
- The executive summary provides a snapshot of key findings of the report.
- The section on technology and applications overview covers the technical
aspects of conventional as well as structured ASIC design and fabrication
methodologies with an emphasis on how structured ASICs plug the gaps in ASIC
functionalities. It covers history of ASICs and describes ASIC types such as
gate-array, full-custom, standard-cell, embedded, hybrid and structured ASICs,
and concludes by discussing the drivers and challenges for ASICs.
- The section on market breakdown by applications provides a granular
analysis of ASIC usage in multiple use cases in leading application
categories. Apart from providing a regional analysis of ASIC usage in
application end categories, this section provides a detailed implication for
and of competing methodologies.
- The section on stakeholders explains the criterion for classification of
stakeholders - ASIC user companies, foundries, electronic design automation
(EDA) suppliers, IP owners, semiconductor specialists, and ASIC specialists.
It also provides the lowdown on the ASIC related initiatives of key companies
in each category.
- The U.S. Patent Analysis section highlights the patenting activity
underway in the area of ASICs. The section classifies the patents awarded
according to their position in the ASIC value chain. It also provides a
geographic and distribution by company of ASIC patents.
- The report is punctuated with numerical findings and projections that
substantiate and drive the theoretical discussion.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kaustubha Parkhi has worked in a broad range of functional roles with leading
telecom operators and service providers such as Reliance Infocomm, Ramco
Systems, and BPL Cellular. He has written on a wide-ranging array of
telecommunications and electronics-related subjects based on his critical
analysis of the underlying technology and its business impact. Kaustubha holds
a B.S degree in Electronics and Telecommunications and a M.B.A. degree in
Systems.
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