Gowin - This Just Got Real

roduct available through mainstream distributors. The one I like the most i s Gowin because of the easy to use packages they offer, 100QFP, 88QFN, etc. I'm working on a ventilator project and have specified a Gowin part for th at for many of the same reasons that I would use it myself.

ing an AKM part that was being made in the factory that burned down. The FP GA on that board is EOL and starting to get expensive, so along with the AK M part, the FPGA will be replaced. Gowin is looking pretty good. I've been watching them for some time which is why they were on my list for the venti lator project.

? I don't see where they are traded on the markets. So I have to figure the y are still in VC startup mode. They did announce a year ago having reached 10 million parts shipped. That's not huge, but it seems well on the way to being a real FPGA company.

They're a private company HQ'd in China so you're not likely to find much p ublicly available info on their financials. Based on their Crunchbase prof ile, news releases, and history of social media posts, it looks like they w ere founded in 2013 with first lines of FPGAs released in 2015. Looks like most of their management team has worked at Lattice in the past, which is interesting given how much their logos look alike.

It certainly sounds like they're investing in new devices and tools, which seems to indicate a healthy trajectory. Not sure what qualifies a company as a "real FPGA company", but they're still quite a ways off from the big g uys in terms of technology and product portfolio.

product available through mainstream distributors. The one I like the most is Gowin because of the easy to use packages they offer, 100QFP, 88QFN, et c. I'm working on a ventilator project and have specified a Gowin part for that for many of the same reasons that I would use it myself.

using an AKM part that was being made in the factory that burned down. The FPGA on that board is EOL and starting to get expensive, so along with the AKM part, the FPGA will be replaced. Gowin is looking pretty good. I've bee n watching them for some time which is why they were on my list for the ven tilator project.

re? I don't see where they are traded on the markets. So I have to figure t hey are still in VC startup mode. They did announce a year ago having reach ed 10 million parts shipped. That's not huge, but it seems well on the way to being a real FPGA company.

publicly available info on their financials. Based on their Crunchbase pro file, news releases, and history of social media posts, it looks like they were founded in 2013 with first lines of FPGAs released in 2015. Looks like most of their management team has worked at Lattice in the past, which is interesting given how much their logos look alike.

h seems to indicate a healthy trajectory. Not sure what qualifies a company as a "real FPGA company", but they're still quite a ways off from the big guys in terms of technology and product portfolio.

In my real job I build a board with an EOL Lattice part. It may sell for a nother 10 years. I don't want to have to redesign it again. I actually st ill have 2,000 FPGAs, but I was using an AKM part and their factory burned down. Now a $3 part is $60 and up. So I expect we will redesign the board for that and pick a new FPGA as well. I don't want to hop out of the fryi ng pan and into the fire. lol

--
Rick C. 

-- Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging 

publicly available info on their financials. Based on their Crunchbase pro file, news releases, and history of social media posts, it looks like they were founded in 2013 with first lines of FPGAs released in 2015. Looks like most of their management team has worked at Lattice in the past, which is interesting given how much their logos look alike.

h seems to indicate a healthy trajectory. Not sure what qualifies a company as a "real FPGA company", but they're still quite a ways off from the big guys in terms of technology and product portfolio.

Well, things may have taken a turn for the worse. The US government has la beled them a Communist Chinese Military Company (CCMC). For the moment tha t only means people in the US are not allowed to trade their securities. B ut many listed as CCMCs are on "the Military End User List or the Entity Li st" which restricts sales and shipments of goods. I'm not certain what thi s means, but I think it puts me back to square one looking for an FPGA to u se on my board.

1.0 mm 256 pin BGA is an option, but not so inexpensive. There's also a pr icey 196 pin 1.0 mm BGA from Xilinx with a 6 kLUT Spartan 7 that would wast e a bit less board space. Heck, that part has 52 pins on the outer ring al one, so it might be practical to ignore the inner I/Os eliminating a bunch of vias. Still, the power, ground, configuration and some other I/Os must be accessed no matter where in the package they are.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm not a big BGA fan.

--
Rick C. 

-+ Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging 

ch publicly available info on their financials. Based on their Crunchbase p rofile, news releases, and history of social media posts, it looks like the y were founded in 2013 with first lines of FPGAs released in 2015. Looks li ke most of their management team has worked at Lattice in the past, which i s interesting given how much their logos look alike.

ich seems to indicate a healthy trajectory. Not sure what qualifies a compa ny as a "real FPGA company", but they're still quite a ways off from the bi g guys in terms of technology and product portfolio.

abeled them a Communist Chinese Military Company (CCMC). For the moment tha t only means people in the US are not allowed to trade their securities. Bu t many listed as CCMCs are on "the Military End User List or the Entity Lis t" which restricts sales and shipments of goods. I'm not certain what this means, but I think it puts me back to square one looking for an FPGA to use on my board.

ricey 196 pin 1.0 mm BGA from Xilinx with a 6 kLUT Spartan 7 that would was te a bit less board space. Heck, that part has 52 pins on the outer ring al one, so it might be practical to ignore the inner I/Os eliminating a bunch of vias. Still, the power, ground, configuration and some other I/Os must b e accessed no matter where in the package they are.

why really? PCBs even for finer pitch are no longer expensive and when you have someone else do automated assembly that's not an issue either

ail.com:

much publicly available info on their financials. Based on their Crunchbase profile, news releases, and history of social media posts, it looks like t hey were founded in 2013 with first lines of FPGAs released in 2015. Looks like most of their management team has worked at Lattice in the past, which is interesting given how much their logos look alike.

which seems to indicate a healthy trajectory. Not sure what qualifies a com pany as a "real FPGA company", but they're still quite a ways off from the big guys in terms of technology and product portfolio.

labeled them a Communist Chinese Military Company (CCMC). For the moment t hat only means people in the US are not allowed to trade their securities. But many listed as CCMCs are on "the Military End User List or the Entity L ist" which restricts sales and shipments of goods. I'm not certain what thi s means, but I think it puts me back to square one looking for an FPGA to u se on my board.

pricey 196 pin 1.0 mm BGA from Xilinx with a 6 kLUT Spartan 7 that would w aste a bit less board space. Heck, that part has 52 pins on the outer ring alone, so it might be practical to ignore the inner I/Os eliminating a bunc h of vias. Still, the power, ground, configuration and some other I/Os must be accessed no matter where in the package they are.

u have someone else do automated assembly

That's not what I've found. In another forum someone was trying to say JLC PCB could make BGA boards on their low price line without problem. When I looked I found their specs to be unclear so I asked. The response was that if my board didn't meet their (unclear) requirements, they would enlarge t he various parameters. Someone even posted an image of a board that had be en "enlarged". The vias were hex shaped. Not sure what the layout called for, but I didn't find anyone showing a