Chip Express drops Laser Programmable Gate Arrays for prototyping services

Chip Express drops Laser Programmable Gate Arrays for prototyping services
By Semiconductor Business News
April 12, 2000 (4:14 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20000412S0048

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Chip Express Corp. here today announced it was discontinuing its Laser Programmable Gate Array (LPGA) series for prototyping services and increasing its emphasis on production-level ASICs.

"With the increased demand for larger prototype quantities, coupled with the demand for high-volume production devices, a strategic evaluation of our efforts was required," said Stephen McMinn, president and CEO of Chip Express. "The LPGA, synonymous with prototyping, was historically a solid contributor to the overall Chip Express business. However, due to market changes and to enable increased growth of our ASIC business, we needed to strategically focus our efforts toward volume production."

As part of the move to refocus the company on fast-turn ASICs, Chip Express said it has appointed Robert Donner as vice president of engineering. Donner has more than 20 years of experience in the industry. He has worked on system design, ASICs , and electronic design automation tools at Sun Microsystems, Echelon, Toshiba, and IBM.

Chip Express produces ASIC designs in a single-wafer processing facility located in Santa Clara. The facility can produce initial ASIC parts in less than one week.

"Using the production flow for first article devices allows our customers to complete system qualification and instantaneously begin their production builds," McMinn said. "Initial production lead-time is eliminated, providing our clients with a significant time-to-market advantage."