What's the Path for Innovation in Silicon?

Question

If someone comes up with an idea, and pushes it through TinyTapeout or some other ASIC shuttle, and it actually meets design goals, such as lowering the cost of LLM computation by an order of magnitude. How does that lead to actually realized profit? Are there any VCs who specialize in this?

bigyabai · Accepted Answer

> How does that lead to actually realized profit?It depends. How many billion dollars are you willing to pay TSMC for fab access? If it's not at least $5 bln then you might as well pack it up and go home.

Someone · Answer

I would think patenting the idea is the way to go, rather than verifying your design on an ASIC. Chances are that&rsquo;s much more expensive, though, especially for a worldwide patent.

What's the Path for Innovation in Silicon?

If someone comes up with an idea, and pushes it through TinyTapeout or some other ASIC shuttle, and it actually meets design goals, such as lowering the cost of LLM computation by an order of magnitude. How does that lead to actually realized profit? Are there any VCs who specialize in this?

> How does that lead to actually realized profit?
It depends. How many billion dollars are you willing to pay TSMC for fab access? If it's not at least $5 bln then you might as well pack it up and go home.

I would think patenting the idea is the way to go, rather than verifying your design on an ASIC. Chances are that’s much more expensive, though, especially for a worldwide patent.