LSI Logic Places Trust in ASICs

LSI Logic will put RapidChip, its structured ASIC family, at the heart of its future plans as it transitions to a fabless business model, making the company more like its FPGA competitors.

This major strategy change at LSI will see the ASIC supplier addressing a handful of specific markets. Two weeks ago the company announced the sale of its Oregon fab, which will see it become fabless.

LSI had started down the path of becoming fabless some time ago, but the change has been accelerated by the company’s recently appointed CEO, Abhi Talwalkar.

He has decided that it is more cost effective to rely on specific foundry partners for leading edge process technology, a move that is proving successful, with 17 percent of all chip revenues now coming from fabless companies.

Significantly, this shifts LSI’s strategy from that of a traditional ASIC supplier nearer to that of its recent FPGA rivals, Altera and Xilinx.

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