On the other hand, silicon has never been so cheap.
The hardest things would've been the DDR4 and PCIE interface. But as they're using standard interfaces, and last generation. I'm sure they got a good discount on all that IP and it didn't cost them hardly any man hours to integrate. And Tesla might've even already had the licenses and IP setup as they make other ASICs.
I didn't do a budget or anything, but at even 10Ks of units, I could see how this could save money. Or at least not loose money. Assuming a comparable IB network card is ~$1000, which I also didn't price.
And there could be other potential cost offsetting features, like power savings.
The hardest things would've been the DDR4 and PCIE interface. But as they're using standard interfaces, and last generation. I'm sure they got a good discount on all that IP and it didn't cost them hardly any man hours to integrate. And Tesla might've even already had the licenses and IP setup as they make other ASICs.
I didn't do a budget or anything, but at even 10Ks of units, I could see how this could save money. Or at least not loose money. Assuming a comparable IB network card is ~$1000, which I also didn't price.
And there could be other potential cost offsetting features, like power savings.