Structured ASICs speed receiver differentiation

XM Satellite Radio Holdings has used ChipX structured application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for volume production of XM receiver integrated circuits.

XM Satellite Radio Holdings has used ChipX structured application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for volume production of XM receiver integrated circuits.

By offering the ability to rapidly design and prototype multiple iterations of ASICs the ChipX products helped XM bring different versions of its satellite receiver integrated circuits (ICs) to meet diverse end-user requirements.

XM is America's number one satellite radio service with more than 3.2 million subscribers.

The ChipX products perform critical functions in sets that receive XM Satellite Radio Service broadcasts.

To speed the development of advanced XM receiver models, ChipX provided multiple design iterations and quickly delivered working prototypes.

ChipX is also providing a seamless migration path to standard cell ICs for extremely low-cost, high-volume production.

"ChipX was highly responsive to our needs, delivering the fastest possible turnaround time for the design iterations we required", said Paul Marko, Senior Vice President of Technology, XM Satellite Radio.

"ChipX has consistently met their commitments and is dedicated to the success of our products in our marketplace".

"In any emerging market, customer requirements fluctuate and getting the design perfectly right the first time is virtually impossible", said Elie Massabki, Vice President of Marketing, ChipX.

"With ChipX Structured ASICs, XM was able not only to respond quickly to the market needs, but also to offer a cost-effective solution essential for the success of high-volume consumer products".

Structured ASICs are a relatively new category of semiconductors targeted at developers who are looking for fast time to market and lowest cost to profit, which is one of the most important metrics to track.

Structured ASIC devices reduce much of the up-front NRE and shorten development time by using pre-diffused transistors and metal layers to implement logic cells, memory, and I/O common to many designs.

Custom logic for a specific application is then implemented in the final few layers of metal, requiring far fewer mask layers for each design.

Because of its granular architecture, ChipX structured ASICs offer high gate density and much lower device cost compared with programmable devices.

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