Intel announces first structured ASIC for 5G, AI, Cloud and Edge

     At Intel FPGA Technology Conference, Intel announced a new customizable solution, Intel eASIC N5X, to help accelerate application performance for 5G, artificial intelligence, cloud and edge workloads. The customizable solution features an Intel FPGA-compatible hardware processor system and is the first structured eASIC product family. Intel eASIC N5X helps customers migrate custom logic and design into structured ASics through embedded hardware processors in FPGas, resulting in lower unit costs, faster performance and lower power consumption.

     "The potential for data to transform industries and businesses has never been greater," said Dave Moore, corporate vice president and general manager of Intel's Programmable Solutions group. The Intel eASIC N5X gives our customers the unique advantage of being able to take full advantage of the flexibility and speed to market of Intel FPGas, as well as the performance benefits of lower operating power consumption of structured ASics. "Through Intel's portfolio of FPGas, EASics and ASics, which we call the 'custom logic continuum,' customers can harness the potential of data in a way that no one else in the market can."

     Fpgas provide customers with the strongest speed to market advantages and the highest flexibility in design, while ASics and structured ASIC devices provide the best hardware optimization performance at the lowest energy consumption and cost. Fpgas are ideal for agile innovation and the fastest path to the next generation of technology. The programmable nature of FPgas helps customers quickly develop hardware for specific workloads and adapt to changing standards - as was the case in the early days of 5G and the migration to open RAN deployments.

     As an innovative new product, Intel eASIC N5X devices can reduce core energy consumption and costs by up to 50% compared to FPgas, improve speed to market compared to ASics, and reduce non-repetitive engineering costs. Users can create power-optimized, high-performance, highly differentiated solutions. Intel eASIC N5X devices also have built-in security device managers from Intel's Agilex FPGA product family, including secure startup, verification, and tamper-proof capabilities, to help customers meet critical security needs for many applications.

     Intel is the only semiconductor company in the world to offer a complete custom logic continuum covering FPgas (such as Intel Agilex and Intel Stratix-10), structured ASics (such as Intel eASIC N5X), and ASics. This comprehensive data processing customizable logic portfolio helps Intel customers truly optimize unit cost, performance, power consumption and speed to market for specific market solutions in an industry-unique way.