Google recently opened up a full 130nm ASIC design platform, including core cells, tools, etc... Google it, can't remember the name right now. They've even committed to manufacturing silicon for free for a few select open source / open hardware projects. I guess that's going to turn into some kind of low-cost shuttle in the near future. That's probably the biggest movement towards democratizing ASIC design the way that JLCPCB and others have democratized PCB manufacturing (and assembly, as you mention, although with a quite restricted selection of available parts). Kicad democratized PCB design and it's being successfully used for many projects these days.