Programmable logic is becoming mainstream in design

EDN Asia recently met Moshe Gavrielov, President and Chief Executive Officer, Xilinx, at the Xilinx R&D Center in Hyderabad, India. Excerpts:

EDN Asia: What was the biggest challenge you faced since you took over as Xilinx President and CEO in January 2008?
Gavrielov: We were pursuing too many goals in different directions. My major thrust was to become more focused. In 2009 we focused on 40nm at high end and 45nm for high volume. This focus has helped us deliver.

EDN Asia: What is the major challenge for programmable logic in future?
Gavrielov: We have so many opportunities arising in programmable logic while it replaces ASICs that we need to continue working on new generations of technologies and invest heavily in them. Currently we are implementing 40-45nm, but we are already working on two generations ahead.

EDN Asia: In spite of these opportunities, there does not seem to be any new player entering the market?
Gavrielov: FPGA is a very support intensive service industry. It goes far beyond merely manufacturing state-of-the-art chips. While the top semicon companies have good experience in manufacturing chips, they don’t have the complete set of experience required to deliver successful FPGA products. Many companies that had ventured into FPGA manufacturing failed and quit the segment. (Krishna Rangasayee, Vice President, Corporate Strategic Planning, added that “in the last 25 years, there were 53 companies who tried programmable logic but failed.”)

EDN Asia: What part does India play in the overall strategy of Xilinx?
Gavrielov: India is a leading technology developer for digital convergence and has great potential across the entire eco-system. Xilinx has a huge R&D center in India, second only to that in the U.S. In terms of developing state-of-the-art technologies, our R&D center in India is at par with that in the U.S. Xilinx also has 15 alliances in the country with local companies and a number of alliances with the local universities. We’ve huge expansion plans in India. From 135 employees in March 2009 end, we’re growing to 260 in March 2010. We’ve expanded our facility here to 57,000 sq. ft. with a capacity of 456 employees to carry out a wide range of activities, such as IC and IP design, and software system and application development.

EDN Asia: How quick have Indian designers been in adopting programmable logic into their designs?
Gavrielov: We invest heavily in teaching designers the benefits of using programmable logic in their designs, both from the points of view of costs and flexibility. Gradually, programmable logic is becoming mainstream in design.

EDN Asia: With the size of the ASIC market almost five to six times that of FPGAs’, do you expect the gap to be bridged?
Gavrielov: There’s hype in some people claiming that FPGAs will ultimately replace ASICs. ASICs will continue to be used in high volume segments. However, FPGAs are poaching into more and more areas earlier served exclusively by ASICs, including high volume.

EDN Asia: What new applications for FPGAs are you seeing in the foreseeable future?
Gavrielov: FPGAs are rapidly moving into two new applications; first, those demanding capacity, performance, and bandwidth; and second, those needing high volume production. Consumer and automotive segments provide such applications, as also communications, wherein FPGAs have already extensively been used, contributing 49 percent to the total FPGA market.

Xilinx