At what price does an ASIC batch start at ?
(rough estimate please)
You can get a design into a shared wafer for as little as $25,000. In some countries there are academic fabs that make chips for student projects, etc.. and these can be had for much less, but you need the hookups. You also pay a lot less for older processes.
FWIW I haven't been able to get a quote under $70,000 out of MOSIS, which handles the majority of academic chip fabbing.
Usually "the hookups" equals "fab has been hiring our lab's graduate students for a decade now and wants to keep the supply steady". In which case there's actually more remuneration going on above and beyond dollars changing hands.