Where are gowin FPGAs available for an actually reasonable price?

[jeremy]

Hi all,

The AUD$15 Tang nano 9k FPGA board contains an AUD$45 FPGA at mouser prices (GW1NR-LV9). Does anyone know where you can purchase these FPGAs for a more reasonable price? I realise that the FPGA companies usually subsidise the chips on the dev kits, but this is a bit much…

[Bassman59]

Hi all,

The AUD$15 Tang nano 9k FPGA board contains an AUD$45 FPGA at mouser prices (GW1NR-LV9). Does anyone know where you can purchase these FPGAs for a more reasonable price? I realise that the FPGA companies usually subsidise the chips on the dev kits, but this is a bit much…

I'm sure that once the semiconductor shortage shitshow ends, the prices for everything will come down to earth.

[mon2]

Yes. Posted the contact details a few times. Contact Edge Electronics in the USA and have the parts drop shipped to you. Much better pricing and service than Mouser. Was recently screwed by Mouser on a guaranteed delivery date of a confirmed purchase order for the FTDI FT232HQ devices. Mouser cannot be trusted.

[jeremy]

Thank you, those prices look much more reasonable. I have contacted them, hoping that shipping is not too expensive.

[josuah]

Sipeed based their official store off Aliexpress: https://wiki.sipeed.com/en/store.html

Here the Tang Nano 9k is ~ USD 18 + Shipping, ~ AUD 25.

Still higher than 15 though.

[jeremy]

FWIW I got a quote from these guys. The 9K part was (stock levels aside) roughly 3x more expensive on a per-LE basis than the mouser price for the ECP5-12F 

[mon2]

Contact Edge Electronics in the USA.

Rob
75 Orville Drive
Bohemia, NY 11716
Phone 800-647-3343
R.ily[at]EdgeElectronics.com
Direct line 631-750-2315

[jeremy]

Yes, those are the guys that gave me the quote.

[mon2]

Interesting. I know that we received off the charts pricing and service for some of the components we have sourced.

Keep digging..sharing a direct factory contact in the USA. Likely there is someone closer to you but start with Scott. Great guy to discuss your requirements.

Do stress the feedback of what you are observing. Without too much effort, you should be able to source such parts directly out of Shenzhen, etc. as well but recommend that you contact Scott first to chat.

PS: Can you share the full p/n of the component you wish to deploy?

For us, we asked the factory - what is a 'runner part' for you and we will spin our design around it. One of the parts they mentioned is the WLCSP packaged device - has the hardened embedded Cortex CPU. The catch-22 with such a footprint is that then you will need to use HDI process to build the bare PCB = $$$ and NOT able to use JLCPCB. We are tired of paying $500-$2000 for a small batch of PCBs. The factory then suggested a QFN48 device which will cost a bit more upfront due to packaging but then you can use JLCPCB and solder without SMT line (but we have this inhouse). We have a mix of bare PCBs ready to test their devices on our custom designs. The tech support in the US is strong; prices are excellent; toolchain is fast & free.

Scott <removed last name for privacy> <scott[atat]gowinsemi.com>