Embedded Programming with Modern C++ Cookbook

Application-specific integrated circuits

Application-specific integrated circuits, or ASICs, are integrated circuits customized by their manufactures for a particular use. The customization is an expensive process but allows them to meet the requirements that are often infeasible for solutions based on general-purpose hardware. For example, modern high-efficiency Bitcoin miners are usually built on top of specialized ASIC chips. 

To define the functionality of ASICs, hardware designers use one of the hardware description languages, such as Verilog or VHDL.