An anecdote, the Allwinner, the company that once made MP3 and MP4 player chips made once thunderously popular A10 SoC with just $1,000,000 USD (set as a condition of the investor.)
Though, I admit, making just any IC under $1m requires really knowing what you are doing. Not something for a team of green engineers, and engineers whose only experience was doing cookie cutter SoCs from hard macros.
Though, I admit, making just any IC under $1m requires really knowing what you are doing. Not something for a team of green engineers, and engineers whose only experience was doing cookie cutter SoCs from hard macros.