Fabless Israeli chip firm KaiSemi has launched a service that replaces end-of-life asics and FPGAs with functionally identical chips; automatically converting the old components into functionally identical asics.
"As process geometries become smaller, and the lifecycles of products and technologies become shorter, more hardware companies face end-of-life problems", said KaiSemi v-p marketing Tomer Kabakov. "We are able to supply a pin-to-pin, functionally identical asic chip, based on the net list of the obsolete component. The flow is automatic and transparent to the customer."
The firm's intellectual property is the automated conversion tool and process which works form the original net list to a functionally-identical asic gate-level net list, using a database of various fab processes and libraries.
"We eventually proceed to tape out, manage the entire manufacturing and shipping process and provides the customer with a drop-in chip within up to 20 weeks," said the firm. 