While emulation is fast becoming the most popular verification tool because design sizes and complexity are defeating software simulation, there’s a wide disparity in the kinds of commercially available emulators.
The differences between emulators based on standard field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and those based on custom chips, whether based on custom processors or custom FPGAs, are vast. Moving forward, the standard FPGA-based emulator will ultimately prevail. If nothing else, for economical reasons.
