One of the most frustrating moments in an ASIC project is asking for quotes and receiving answers that feel unusable.
Wide cost ranges. Long timelines. Follow-up questions that seem endless. From the outside, it can feel like vendors are being evasive. From the vendor side, the problem is usually simpler: the RFQ did not contain enough structured information to support a meaningful quote.
This article explains what ASIC vendors actually need to quote a project accurately, what you can safely leave open early on, and how to avoid the most common RFQ mistakes.
ASIC RFQs fail when teams assume they need to present a complete, polished specification before engaging vendors.
That assumption delays conversations and often results in over-engineered internal documents that still miss the information vendors care most about.
The goal of an early RFQ is not precision. It is alignment.
Vendors need enough clarity to assess feasibility, risk, scope, and resource requirements. Without that, the only safe answer is a wide estimate.
While every vendor has their own format, most ASIC quotes hinge on the same core inputs.
Vendors need to understand the primary driver. Cost, power, performance, integration, or longevity all lead to different architectures and risk profiles.
A clear driver allows vendors to propose trade-offs. A vague driver forces worst-case assumptions.
Exact forecasts are not required, but a credible range is.
Vendors use volume and lifetime to reason about node choice, NRE amortization, test strategy, and long-term support. A single optimistic number without context is less useful than a conservative range.
Helpful framing includes:
Vendors do not need final RTL, but they do need honesty about maturity.
Key questions include:
Low maturity does not block an RFQ. It changes the nature of the quote from fixed pricing to feasibility-based estimation.
Every ASIC project has constraints. Vendors need to know which ones are hard and which ones are flexible.
Common constraints include:
When everything is labeled “critical,” vendors assume maximum risk.
Vendors need to understand not just when you want silicon, but how firm that date is and what decisions depend on it.
A realistic RFQ includes:
This helps vendors allocate resources appropriately.
Many teams over-prepare in the wrong areas.
Early RFQs do not require:
Those details evolve. What matters early is direction, not perfection.
When RFQs lack clarity, vendors protect themselves.
They widen cost ranges, extend schedules, and add contingencies. This is not inefficiency; it is risk management.
Clear RFQs do not guarantee low cost. They guarantee meaningful answers.
The most productive RFQs are framed as conversations, not transactions.
Instead of asking “How much will this cost?”, ask:
This mindset leads to better quotes and better partnerships.
Before contacting vendors, it helps to sanity-check whether ASIC itself is the right move at this stage.
If ASIC does not make sense yet, RFQs waste time on both sides. If ASIC does make sense, a short readiness check helps you focus on the right information.
Before preparing or sending an RFQ, run the 2-minute ASIC or Not? Decision Wizard to confirm whether ASIC is the right direction now and what information you should prioritize.
👉 /asic-or-not
