Strategic Considerations for Emerging SoC FPGAs

Semiconductor devices that integrate FPGA fabric, hardened CPU subsystems, and other hardened IP—SoC FPGAs—have reached a tipping point that will lead to their broad proliferation in the next decade, therefore offering many options for system designers. These SoC FPGAs complement the decade-long availability of soft-core CPUs and other soft IP for building systems on FPGAs. This white paper describes the emergence of system on a chip (SoC) FPGAs, the drivers behind that emergence, and strategic considerations for executive management and system designers when choosing these devices.