The term 'ASIC' stands for 'application-specific integrated circuit'. An ASIC is basically an integrated circuit designed specifically for a special purpose or application. Strictly speaking, this also implies that an ASIC is built only for one and only one customer. An example of an ASIC is an IC designed for a specific line of cellular phones of a company, whereby no other products can use it except the cell phones belonging to that product line. The opposite of an ASIC is a standard product or general purpose IC, such as a logic gate or a general purpose microcontroller, both of which can be used in any electronic application by anybody.