Could an ASIC be developed for Folding@home?

[Bizmark13]

Does anyone know if it is possible to build ASIC circuits for applications like Folding@home? In case you don't know, Folding@home is a distributed network of computers that donate spare CPU cycles to solve problems in the fields of protein folding and protein structure determination. My guess is that because so many complex algorithms are involved, the complexity of designing and building an ASIC for this type of application would be far greater compared to a simple SHA-256 or scrypt ASIC to the point where such an ASIC, if developed, would closely resemble a general purpose computer. Does anyone know if such ASICs have been produced or if they are even possible to build? Are there ASICs for related applications like OCR recognition and weather/climate modeling?

[b!z]

Of course it is possible, but it is not financially feasible to build dedicated hardware for a non-profit project like that unless one receives enough funding to develop such hardware. Applications like OCR recognition, weather/climate modeling, and folding@home do not need to be performed on ASICs.