FPGAs or ASICs - What Are Their Differences and Similarities and How to Use Them for Security?

By Xiphera Ltd.

June 21, 2023

FPGAs and ASICs carry plenty of similarities but are also different in multiple levels. Xiphera offer security for both, letting the customers choose either one based on their specific needs and requirements.

Hardware-based digital logic in electronic devices is typically implemented either in Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) or as Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). They have obvious differences, but also similarities. The main difference is already implied in the word FPGA, namely (re)programmability, and consequently an FPGA can be used for multiple applications, whereas an ASIC is designed for a specific application and cannot be reprogrammed.

The reprogrammability of an FPGA comes with a price, and this is due to the fact that their structure is typically – but not exclusively – based on Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) -based lookup tables (LUTs) and reprogrammable internal routing architecture. As ASICs are not based on reprogrammable LUTs and routing but instead implement the required digital logic directly in silicon and connect them with fixed wiring, they have a smaller silicon area at a corresponding process node and therefore their unit cost is significantly lower compared to FPGAs. ASICs also typically have better performance and lower power consumption.

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