Design is one thing. Manufacturing another. Advanced
technology nodes have huge mask costs and you can't
access them without enslaving yourself to one of the
"big iron" CAD vendors who are de facto "gatekeepers"
to foundry tape-in.
Since it seems pretty unclear what is wanted I'd try to
find a foundry*technology which appears grossly suitable
and hosts "multiproject shuttles" which share mask cost
(like you might pay $20K for a ride ending in 50 dice to you,
when the mask set is $200K plus handholding charges).
I have been whored out at $300/hr for a couple of years,
solid, on an ASIC (turned out to be mostly full custom
hand layout of >10Kgates) when my company wanted
really badly not to take the business but the customer
(who went by the name of "Customer X") insisted by
agreeing to the pricing (those dirty bastages).
And that was 15 years ago, now... if the company
management was still around it'd probably be $500/.
Times 40/wk*52/yr*2-3yr. Not that more than a sliver of
it made it down to my paycheck.
You don't want to be that customer. So act right, or
hire a trail guide if you're a tenderfoot.