I hadn't heard of that. Looking it up, it's a type of gate array which I believe inspired both S-ASIC's and devices like FPGA's. Here's an intro to each for those following along:
That put having chips made into the realm of possibilities for even a small business. Other costs might prevent that but I could see more stuff opening up. I also envisioned hard blocks done on those nodes for common components so the S-ASIC was used for custom logic (eg differentiators).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gate_array
http://eda.ee.ucla.edu/EE201A-04Spring/ASICslides.ppt
I also found a link with the pricing of one. It was $45,000 for 45 prototypes on 45nm through eASIC.
https://www.design-reuse.com/news/25107/easic-45nm-asic-valu...
That put having chips made into the realm of possibilities for even a small business. Other costs might prevent that but I could see more stuff opening up. I also envisioned hard blocks done on those nodes for common components so the S-ASIC was used for custom logic (eg differentiators).