eASIC

eASIC Corporation was a United States semiconductor company focused on customized silicon and structured application-specific integrated circuits. Founded in 1999 in San Jose, California, by Zvi Or-Bach, the company was established as a fabless semiconductor developer rather than as a chip manufacturer operating its own fabrication plants. Its business centered on devices intended to occupy a position between conventional field-programmable gate arrays and fully custom application-specific integrated circuits, offering customers a route to customized hardware while reducing some of the time, cost, and manufacturing commitment associated with fully bespoke silicon. The company was incorporated in Delaware and later headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Its engineering and research-and-development organization extended beyond the United States, with teams reported in Romania, Russia, and Malaysia. This distributed technical structure supported the development and commercialization of eASIC's customized silicon technology, although the available reference material does not provide detailed product-level sales figures, customer lists, revenue data, or market-share information. eASIC's origins were connected to the broader custom-chip industry through its founder, Zvi Or-Bach, who had previously founded Chip Express, a company later renamed ChipX. eASIC developed its own identity around structured ASIC products and related customized silicon devices. The company was privately held and did not have publicly traded shares or a reported stock-market ticker. Intel announced an agreement to acquire eASIC on July 12, 2018. The acquisition brought eASIC's technology and organization into Intel, ending eASIC's existence as an independent company. The available sources do not specify the transaction price, the precise organizational structure adopted after closing, or whether the eASIC name continued as an Intel product or technology brand. Accordingly, eASIC is best characterized as a former independent semiconductor company whose principal historical significance lies in its structured-ASIC approach and its eventual integration into Intel.

eASIC Corporation was founded in 1999 in San Jose, California, by Zvi Or-Bach. Or-Bach had previously founded Chip Express, a custom-chip company that was later renamed ChipX. eASIC was incorporated in Delaware and developed as a privately held, fabless semiconductor business. Unlike an integrated device manufacturer, a fabless company designs and develops semiconductor products while relying on external manufacturing facilities for wafer fabrication and other production processes. The company's central technical and commercial focus was customized silicon, particularly structured application-specific integrated circuits. Structured ASICs are designed to provide more hardware customization than a standard programmable device while generally avoiding the full design and manufacturing path of a completely custom ASIC. This approach can appeal to customers seeking a compromise among development speed, engineering flexibility, unit economics, performance, and power characteristics. The available reference material describes eASIC's devices as being used in the production of customized silicon, but does not provide enough detail to reconstruct a complete product catalog or identify individual commercial programs. As the company developed, its headquarters moved or were established in Santa Clara, California. eASIC also maintained engineering and research-and-development teams in Romania, Russia, and Malaysia. These locations indicate an international technical footprint, although the cited material does not specify the size of each team, the chronology of their establishment, or the markets in which particular products were sold. eASIC remained privately held, and no public listing, ticker, financial statements, or transaction valuation is identified in the available sources. The company attracted attention within the programmable-logic and semiconductor press because its structured-ASIC technology was presented as an alternative to conventional FPGA implementations. A contemporary trade article titled “The Big eASY: eASIC Debuts 45nm FPGA Killer” discussed the company's 45-nanometer technology in the context of competition with FPGAs. The article's title reflects the competitive positioning used by industry commentators, but the available reference does not establish the scale of eASIC's sales, the exact performance advantages of its products, or the extent of customer adoption. On July 12, 2018, Intel announced that it would acquire eASIC. The transaction brought eASIC's technology and organization into Intel and ended the company's independent corporate history. No acquisition price or detailed post-acquisition operating plan is supplied by the reference material. The available information also does not establish whether eASIC continued as a distinct consumer-facing brand after the transaction. Consequently, the historically supportable account is that eASIC was an independent structured-ASIC specialist from 1999 until its acquisition by Intel in 2018, after which it ceased to operate as an independent company.

• 2018

  Intel announces acquisition

  [1]EASICen.wikipedia.org

  Intel announced on July 12, 2018 that it would acquire eASIC, bringing the company's structured-ASIC technology and organization into Intel.

• 1999

  eASIC is founded

  [1]EASICen.wikipedia.org

  Zvi Or-Bach founded eASIC in San Jose, California, establishing a privately held fabless semiconductor company focused on customized silicon and structured ASIC devices.

A fabless semiconductor developer positioned between FPGA-based programmable logic and fully custom ASIC development, emphasizing customized silicon solutions.

• Application-specific integrated circuits

  Structured ASIC devices

  eASIC's core offering consisted of structured application-specific integrated circuits designed for customized silicon applications. These devices occupied an intermediate position between programmable logic and fully custom ASICs, allowing hardware designs to be tailored for particular use cases without requiring the entire development process associated with a wholly bespoke chip. The available reference material does not identify specific model names, customer designs, pricing, or production volumes.

• Custom semiconductor solutions

  Customized silicon solutions

  The company offered technology used in the production of customized silicon devices. This broad offering supported customers seeking application-specific hardware based on eASIC's structured design approach. Publicly available reference material describes the business at the technology-category level rather than providing a complete list of commercial product families or end markets.

• 2018

  Intel acquisition of eASICM&A

  Background

  eASIC was a privately held developer of structured ASIC and customized silicon technology. Intel announced the acquisition on July 12, 2018.

  Action taken

  Intel agreed to acquire eASIC and integrate its technology and organization into Intel.

  Aftermath

  The acquisition ended eASIC's status as an independent company. The available reference material does not disclose the purchase price or provide a detailed account of the post-acquisition brand structure.

  Source

1. 1EASICen.wikipedia.org