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On Design Reuse
- Design reuse refers to the widespread practice by a majority of today’s integrated circuit design companies of implementing design solutions across multiple cycles of semiconductor product development. Such reuse fundamentally results in reduced cost and power usage; increased functionality; and faster time-to-market. In short, reuse drives the increasing adoption of integrated electronic circuits across broad industry segments.
- The driving force behind integrated circuit reuse is simple economics: Reuse is the most cost-effective means by which new generations of chips can be designed and manufactured. Major semiconductor companies practice design reuse to enable expected economies of scale, regular product updates, increasing energy efficiency and expected functionality. Most semiconductor companies patent inventive circuit solutions that can be reused and/or licensed to other companies for reuse.
- Additionally, reuse is the foundation of the IP core industry, wherein off-the-shelf logic, cell, or chip layout designs are purchased, integrated with desired features and used in a variety of applications. Many companies provide IP cores for a range of integrated circuits including: processors, controllers, memory (SRAM, DRAM, Flash, ROM), A/D converters, PLLs, DSPs, and MPEG decoders.
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