ASIC
In brief
A chip designed specifically for a single task, rather than a general-purpose chip. Faster and more energy-efficient at what it’s designed to do, but incapable of doing anything else.
▶ Precise definition
Application-Specific Integrated Circuit: an integrated circuit designed for a specific function (networking, signal processing, AI acceleration, mining). It offers superior performance and energy efficiency compared to a general-purpose processor when performing that task, at the expense of flexibility and high design costs.
See also