KaiSemi Offers Automated FPGA-to-ASIC Conversion

A breakthrough in automated FPGA-to-ASIC conversion allows fabless semiconductor company KaiSemi to provide customers with a seamless full turnkey ASIC solution, selling fully compatible replacement chips.

KaiSemi's proven process uses a unique in-house tool, which performs an automated conversion directly from the original FPGA netlist into a functionally-identical ASIC gate-level netlist.

Backed by a tier-one fab vendor, KaiSemi's automated conversion utilizes a database of multiple proven standard-cell fab process libraries. The wide range of libraries enables the conversion of any type and size of FPGA from any FPGA vendor to ASIC. This approach is accompanied by deep cost optimization during the automated conversion and allows the use of 3rd party standard hard cores (such as DDR interface, PCIe Phy, etc). The resulting ASICs – which are pin-compatible, timing-compatible, and functionally identical to the original FPGAs – consume less power and cost up to 70 percent less than their FPGA counterparts.

KaiSemi's automated conversion and flow eliminates the need for customer involvement and resources, NRE costs, long lead times, and the risks that are part of traditional FPGA-to-ASIC conversion flows. KaiSemi manages the whole FPGA-to-ASIC process for the customer, from the purchase order through conversion, the ASIC flow, manufacturing, all the way through to the shipment of the ASIC chips. This seamless conversion process – combined with the Zero NRE model – lets the customer order an ASIC chip as if it were an off-the-shelf second-source replacement chip with a relatively short lead-time.

"KaiSemi is focused on automating the process of converting any FPGA into an ASIC replacement chip while achieving the best cost solution in terms of price, power, area optimization, and the most appropriate fab process," said Gal Gilat, KaiSemi CEO. "Using a proven automated conversion tool with no RTL touch means we can offer a fully functional guarantee; we will provide a functionally-identical chip at a dramatically lower price within a significantly shorter lead time."

KaiSemi's team members originate in Flextronics-Semi's conversion division, where they specialized in VLSI, EDA and FPGA-to-ASIC gate array conversions. For more than 10 years, the team members performed over 500 successful conversions of FPGA/ASIC components.

KaiSemi