IBM And Xilinx Shake Up Art Of Chip Design With New Custom Product
Embedding Xilinx FPGA Technology Into IBM ASICs To Offer Designers Unprecedented Flexibility
EAST FISHKILL, NY and SAN JOSE, CA--(INTERNET WIRE)--Jun 24, 2002 -- IBM (NYSE:IBM) said today
they have signed an agreement that could help custom chip
designers shave hundreds of thousands of dollars off the
cost of creating future chips.
Under the agreement, IBM has licensed field programmable
gate array (FPGA) technology from Xilinx for integration
into IBM's recently-announced Cu-08 application specific
integrated circuit (ASIC) product offering. Cu-08 will support
circuits as small as 90 nanometers -- less than 1/1,000th
the width of a human hair.
Today's news underscores the companies' commitment to a
technology relationship aimed at bringing innovative and
flexible new "hybrid" chips to market that combine the best
attributes of standard ASIC and flexible FPGA technology
for use in communications, storage, and consumer applications.
Engineers working on complex chip designs have been clamoring
for ways to achieve high levels of integration yet still
have the ability to change "on the fly" late in the design
cycle. Combining an FPGA--circuits that can be configured
by the customer to perform a wide variety of digital electronic
circuit functions--with a standard ASIC, gives these designers,
all on one chip, the flexibility of the FPGA with the density,
performance and overall cost advantages of an ASIC.
"Savings here could be dramatic," said Michel Mayer, general
manager, IBM Microelectronics Division. "When an ASIC takes
on more function, you can reduce cost by eliminating one,
two or even more separate chips. With this technology, customers
would be able to tweak designs and integrate new changes
immediately, eliminating the need to restart a whole new
design cycle, bringing tremendous time-to-market advantages."
Mayer said changes that force an additional chip prototype
can easily cost hundreds of thousands of extra dollars and
can stretch design cycles out for several additional months.
"This approach is expected to change the landscape entirely,"
he said.
Cu-08, with as many as eight layers of copper wiring separated
by an advanced low-k insulation, will support up to 72 million
wireable "gates", or basic logic circuits, for high-complexity
IC solutions. With today's announcement, a certain portion
of these gates, generally between 20,000 and 100,000, though
as high as 400,000 ASIC gates, could be dedicated to one
or more of the FPGA cores on the ASIC.
"We've improved upon our delivery of programmable hardware
by allowing reconfiguration using the same chip. Flexibility
is the beauty of combining ASIC and FPGA technology," said
Wim Roelandts, president and CEO at Xilinx. "Our latest
agreement with IBM is a natural extension of and a significant
milestone in our existing relationship that allows us to
address new opportunities like the high-end ASIC market."
Even after the custom chip is in an OEM's product, the manufacturer
of that product can add to its function, doing so simply,
easily and effectively either using on-chip resources or
a traditional programming approach. A good example would
be in the communication industry, where various protocol
and interface specifications are constantly evolving. Cell
phones, printers, set top boxes and other consumer electronic
products also are well-suited for this new approach.
IBM, the number one ASIC manufacturer worldwide, and Xilinx,
the number one PLD manufacturer worldwide with more than
15 years experience in FPGA design tools, have a productive
business relationship. IBM supplies embedded PowerPC processors
for the Xilinx FPGA device and Xilinx in March of this year
signed a high-volume, multi-million dollar manufacturing
agreement with IBM to manufacture the Xilinx Virtex-II Pro
semiconductor products using IBM's advanced 130 nanometer
and 90 nanometer copper-based chip-making technology.
The new FPGA cores, now in development, are expected to
be available from IBM embedded in an ASIC in early 2004,
following IBM's full release of its standard-setting Cu-08
technology.
About Xilinx
Xilinx is the worldwide leader in programmable logic solutions.
Additional information about Xilinx can be found at www.xilinx.com.
About IBM
IBM Microelectronics -- named the number one worldwide vendor
of ASICs by Gartner, Inc. for three years in a row -- is
a key contributor to IBM's role as the world's premier information
technology supplier. The division develops, manufactures
and markets state-of-the-art semiconductor technologies,
products, packaging and services. Its superior integrated
solutions can be found in many of the world's best-known
electronic brands. For more information on IBM's ASIC products
and services, visit:
www.ibm.com/chips
TRADEMARKS: PowerPC is a trademark of IBM; Virtex-II Pro
is a trademark and Xilinx is a registered trademark of Xilinx,
Inc.
