IBM, Xilinx Join on Chip Design

EAST FISHKILL, N.Y., June 24 -- IBM and Xilinx Inc. have signed an agreement under which IBM will license 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 nm.

The companies said the agreement underscores their commitment to developing flexible new "hybrid" chips that combine the best attributes of standard ASIC and flexible FPGA technology for use in communications, storage and consumer applications.

"Savings here could be dramatic," said Michel Mayer, general manager, IBM Microelectronics Div. "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."