As the designer of "an ethernet connected beacon that counts and never overflows until the heat death of the universe" (https://talesonthewire.com/projects/until_heat_death_do_us_p...) I believe you have found the perfect audience for a memeish hardware project. So don't expect anything but my upmost support. :)
I detailed the roadmap for custom ASIC design a bit here: https://talesonthewire.com/projects/two_weeks_until_tapeout/... and joining the Tiny Tapeout discord community is a great place to reach out for help.