/ˈeɪsɪk/
noun — "custom chip designed for a specific task."
ASIC, short for Application-Specific Integrated Circuit, is a type of integrated circuit designed to perform a particular function or set of functions, rather than being general-purpose like a CPU or FPGA. ASICs are optimized for performance, power efficiency, and area for their specific application, making them ideal for consumer electronics, networking equipment, cryptocurrency mining, and embedded systems. Unlike reprogrammable hardware such as FPGAs, ASICs have fixed logic once manufactured, which provides speed and efficiency advantages but eliminates post-production reconfigurability.
Technically, an ASIC design process begins with a hardware description in an HDL such as Verilog or VHDL. The HDL is simulated to verify correctness, then synthesized into a gate-level netlist. This netlist is used in physical design steps, including placement, routing, and timing analysis, to generate a layout for fabrication. The final chip is fabricated using semiconductor manufacturing processes, embedding the designed logic permanently into silicon.
# Conceptual ASIC example: 4-bit adder logic
# HDL describes combinational logic
module adder4(input [3:0] a, input [3:0] b, output [4:0] sum);
assign sum = a + b;
endmodule
# synthesis tools translate HDL to fixed gate layout
In workflows, ASICs are used when high-volume, high-performance, or energy-efficient hardware is required. They are common in mobile devices, graphics processors, network switches, and custom chips for AI acceleration. While development cost and time are high due to fabrication and verification requirements, the resulting device offers unmatched efficiency for its intended function.
Conceptually, an ASIC is like a handcrafted tool: it does its job extremely well, but only that job. Unlike general-purpose devices, its circuits are permanently etched for one purpose, trading flexibility for peak efficiency and reliability.
See FPGA, HDL, Verilog, VHDL, Embedded Systems.