ASIC Development Cost Calculator
Work out asic development cost instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.
About ASIC Development Cost Calculator
ASIC non-recurring engineering is dominated by three items: the mask set, engineering effort and EDA tools plus IP licences. At advanced nodes the mask set alone runs into millions, which is what pushes low-volume designs toward FPGAs or structured ASICs.
Formula
ASIC NRE
NRE = mask set + (person-months x rate) + tools and IP
Worked example
With the default values below, ASIC Development Cost Calculator returns Total NRE cost of $15,440,000. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Mask set cost
- 4,200,000
- Engineering effort
- 480 person-months
- Cost per person-month
- 18,000
- EDA tools and IP
- 2,600,000
Results
- Total NRE cost
- $15,440,000
- Engineering cost
- $8,640,000
- Mask share of NRE
- 27.20% %
- Average burn rate
- $857,778
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2ASIC NRE
- 3Total NRE cost= 15,440,000
- 4Engineering cost= 8,640,000
- 5Mask share of NRE= 27.20 %
- 6Average burn rate= 857,778
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are mask sets so expensive?
Each of 60-90 layers needs an electron-beam-written reticle, and advanced nodes add multiple patterning plus EUV masks that cost far more per layer.
When does an ASIC beat an FPGA?
When volume amortises the NRE. The crossover is typically tens of thousands of units at mature nodes and hundreds of thousands at leading edge.
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