Structured ASICs Not Dead

Representing a further sharpening of the company’s overall strategy, LSI Logic Monday announced it would be focusing the company on storage and consumer related markets represeting a shift away from being a broad-based ASIC supplier. As a result, LSI is discontinuing RapidChip development, according to CEO and president Abhi Talwalkar during a conference call.

Bryan Lewis, VP and chief analyst for Semiconductor Research told Electronic News of LSI’s move that, “Clearly it is a major impact on the structured ASIC market.”

At the same time, he made clear that this move doesn’t mean the structured ASIC approach is dead, and is revising his forecast to reflect this change.

“This was always a niche but it is clear it was nice in terms of design starts with lower NRE. But big customers control the market are not as concerned about NRE – they want performance with smaller die size,” he continued.

Previously, Lewis predicted structured ASICs would grow from 1 percent of total ASIC revenue in 2005 to 5 percent of total ASIC revenue in 2008, noting that current market data suggests 2005 will come in slightly below the forecast.