Re: Will SoC completely replace generalized microcontrollers?

Telenochek wrote: 
I expect a continuing trend for
more and better peripherals to be included on-chip.



So in your opinion instead of having highly customizable chip and
systems, the trend is to offer a wider variety of chips for developers
to choose from?


Yes, that is happening already. ARM uC's start at $1.47,
and what you get for <$1 is always improving.
You now have ARM devices with 12 bit ADC/DAC and ones with
USB and Ethernet - and all these are true single chip devices.

Look at the lineups from Freescale, Microchip, Philips, Atmel....

FPGA solutions still have a serious memory blind-spot : ie they
are not actually SoC, but system on multiple chips....
Until the code memory issue is solved, they are a niche
solution. ( relative to microcontrollers )

The Atmel FpSLIC is a classic example of the problems in so called SoC.
Another example of a company that only offered "highly customizable" devices, is Triscend -> never hit critical mass....

Microcontrollers ship in huge volumes, orders of magnitude greater than
FPGAs, or any SoC solutions.

FPGA's are also a little like PCs in their price models : You get more
for your $$,every year, but the absolute cheapest price is not dropping - Indeed, on some CPLDs, the lowest price node is actually increasing...


-jg





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