IP Cores

An Intellectual Property (IP) Core is a proprietary description of a circuit which can be licensed and implemented in a programmable logic device (PLD), field programmable gate array (FPGA), or application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).  IP cores vary in complexity from basic logic functions to highly complex processors.  Purchasing an IP core is very different from purchasing a hardware component.  The delivery method is usually in the form of an encrypted file, which can be used to implement the circuit on a specific hardware platform (often called a target).