A Case for Custom Silicon in Enabling Low-Cost Information Technology for Developing Regions

Information and communications technology has the potential for deep social impact in developing regions but today's typical ICT devices - laptops, mobile phones, and similar devices - are often still too expensive for many scenarios. In this paper, we argue that custom integrated circuits can enable a new tier of low-cost information access devices with a price point that will make them widely accessible. And, with control over the silicon, these systems can economically address many other challenges. To evaluate our claim, we focus on a deceptively simple problem - low-cost information access for illiterate populations through audio recordings - and show how custom silicon allows us to reduce cost, lower power, leverage conventional infrastructure in unconventional ways, and optimize the interface for usability. In particular, we show how a rural audio computer can be designed around just three chips, use an inexpensive capacitive touch interface, employ inductive communications for peer-to-peer data transfer, and employ content download over GSM voice and FM broadcast as two wide area options. The resulting design point - enabled by aggressive silicon integration - affords a device that can be built for $7.77, a third of the cost achievable using commercial off-the-shelf components.