Intel® FPGAs Resource Center

• FPGA functionality can change upon every power-up of the device. So, when a design engineer wants to make a change, they can simply download a new configuration file into the device and try out the change.
• Often, changes can be made to the FPGA without making costly PC board changes.
• ASSPs and ASICs have fixed hardware functionality that can’t be changed without great cost and time.

• FPGAs are sold “off the shelf” vs. ASICs (which require manufacturing cycles taking many months).
• Because of FPGA flexibility, OEMs can ship systems as soon as the design is working and tested.
• FPGAs provide off-load and acceleration functions to CPUs, effectively speeding up the entire system performance.

Today’s FPGAs include on-die processors, transceiver I/O’s at 28 Gbps (or faster), RAM blocks, DSP engines, and more. More functions within the FPGA mean fewer devices on the circuit board, increasing reliability by reducing the number of device failures.

• While ASICs may cost less per unit than an equivalent FPGA, building them requires a non-recurring expense (NRE), expensive software tools, specialized design teams, and long manufacturing cycles.
• Intel FPGAs support long lifecycles (15-years or more), avoiding the cost of redesigning and requalifying OEM production equipment if one of the electronic devices on-board goes end of life (EOL).
• FPGAs reduce risk, allowing prototype systems to ship to customers for field trials, while still providing the ability to make changes quickly before ramping to volume production.