The Economics of ASICs: At What Point Does a Custom SoC Become Viable? (.PDF Download)

Much has been made in the press recently of the rising use of custom ASICs among Silicon Valley’s biggest tech firms. It’s part of a drive to create cutting-edge artificial-intelligence chips and cloud-computing services.

In April, it was Tesla reporting its ASICs for self-driving vehicles. In February, it was Facebook. And before those, Amazon and Google. Indeed, Amazon’s 2015 acquisition of Annapurna Labs, which gives Amazon the ability to create the ASICs that runs its EC2 software at a higher speed and lower cost, was recently cited by Forbes as “one of the most successful and strategic acquisitions for Amazon, [giving Amazon Web Services] an edge against its arch-rivals, Microsoft and Google.”