What is an application-specific integrated circuit?
Definition
An application-specific integrated circuit implements hardware around a targeted workload. By removing flexibility that the workload does not need, designers can improve throughput, latency, energy use, size, or cost.
Specialization also creates tradeoffs. The chip may depend on custom software, support fewer algorithms, and become less useful if model architectures change beyond what its design can handle.
Acronyms and aliases
ASIC acronymapplication-specific chip variant
Specialised terms
Frequently asked questions
What does ASIC stand for?
ASIC stands for application-specific integrated circuit, a chip created for a narrower purpose than a general-purpose processor.
Why use an ASIC for artificial intelligence inference?
A workload-specific design can improve token throughput and performance per watt when the targeted model operations are stable enough to justify specialization.
