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Comment by doe_eyes

No, they used a semi-custom chip known as an uncommitted logic array (ULA). It was basically a bunch of building blocks on a die that were designed once for a variety of possible applications, and then reconfigured by the factory to customer's spec. The idea was that most of the design work only needed to be done once, so cranking out customer-specific ASICs was cheaper than a 100% custom design.

Now we have FPGAs, so this approach is pretty much obsolete.

parent doe_eyes 2 years ago

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