Rim Semiconductor Company (fka RSMI)

[spokeshave]

I know he personally didn't produce them and there was a large staff, however, if they take 6 months doing 135 of them seams difficult to do in a year. That makes me suspicious of the 6 months figure.

Believe what you wish, Ernie. HOwever, you might also want to consider some of these resources:

New tools and methodologies are also coming into play that compress ASIC design cycles, which can stretch out to two yearsfor the most complex chips.

“There are no shortcuts; you cannot eliminate any of the steps,” he said. “You can shave off some time, but for any design today, it would be unrealistic to think ASIC design [from vendor selection through RTL handoff] can be done in less than six months.”

http://www.us.design-reuse.com/articles/article2286.html

Already, typical ASIC development time to first silicon is generally around 18 months...

Even a relatively small design fix to bring the device up to desired performance specifications can lead to a catastrophic delay in time-to-market of as much as six to nine months. Today, 24 to 27 months is often the equivalent to an entire product or process generation.

http://www.rtcmagazine.com/home/article.php?id=100227

Here's one for structured ASICs:

In fact, Freescale’s SemiCustom operation can develop ASIC products within a six- to nine-month timeframe, thereby accelerating each customer’s time to market and extending time in market.

http://www.freescale.com/files/abstract/article/LEADERSHIP_SEMICUSTOM.html?tid=ASIChome_geninfo1

Standard Cell designs are extremely complex and therefore take an average of 2-3 years to develop.

http://www.chipx.com/about/index.asp

...it can take up to two years to design and produce a ASIC.

http://www.edn.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA489811&partner=eb&industryid=211....

According to this source, typical ASIC production times are 12 to 18 months, with 9 months being the minimum:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/8/f/18f8cee2-0b64-41f2-893d-a6f2295b40c8/SW04032_WINHEC2004.... To Market

Upfront investment in a single ASIC can exceed $6M and time to market 12-18 months.

http://www.connextechnology.com/about.asp

Nearly all of the resources I have researched inidcate that typical ASIC time-to-market is somewhere around 2 years. Structured ASICs can cut that time in half. That puts it at a year. As you can sxee, I have been very generous by saying a minimum of 6 months.

YOu don't have to believe me. After all, jjz has established that I am not the be-all, end-all. But before you take the company's word at face value, look into what actually happens in the real world.