Free planning tool
IP Cost & Licensing Estimator
Licence fees are only the visible part of IP cost. This model adds per-die royalties, annual support and the integration effort your team will spend, then compares the total against building the function in-house — with the break-even volume spelled out.
One-time licence fee per block; royalties optional.
Total IP cost of ownership
$831,000
$1.385 per unit over 600,000 units · 23.1% of ASP
Upfront licence
$450,000
Royalties
$30,000
Support
$243,000
Integration
$108,000
Royalty % of ASP
0.83%
Program volume
600,000
Internal build alt.
$648,000
Break-even volume
-3,060,000
units over program
Buy vs. build
Internal build would be cheaper by $183,000 — if your team can actually deliver it on schedule.
Illustrative only. Licence fees, royalty tiers and support terms vary widely by vendor, core complexity and node — use as a sanity check, then confirm against a scoped TOMPW quote.
Disclaimer: This tool and its outputs are for reference and preliminary evaluation only, not design, manufacturing, qualification or commercial approval; verify all results with the responsible supplier or engineer.
What feeds the model
- Total IP cost = upfront licence + royalties (rate × program volume) + annual support + integration effort cost.
- Buy vs. build compares that total with the loaded cost of the engineering months an internal build would take.
- Break-even volume is where the two paths cost the same — above it, a paid-up or capped deal usually beats a per-die royalty; below it, royalties preserve cash.
Negotiating a real IP bundle? Talk to our team — we help teams scope the IP list before the licence terms are signed.
FOUNDRY NETWORK
Foundries TOMPW coordinates
SERVICES & SCHEDULE
Related execution paths
These are industry reference ranges, not a quotation and not an offer.
- Every band on this page is deliberately wide. It is published so you can sanity-check whether a programme is realistic before you write to anyone — not so you can budget against it.
- Actual pricing moves with the season and with capacity. Foundry and OSAT utilisation changes month to month, and a window that is cheap in a soft quarter can be materially more expensive in a tight one.
- Mask, substrate, leadframe, gold, copper and tester-time costs all move independently of the node you chose.