While it is true that cheap and expensive FPGAs exist, an FPGA system to replace TPU would not use a $0.50 or even $100 FPGA it would use a Versal or Ultrascale+ FPGA that costs thousands, compared to the (rough guess) $100/die you might spend for largest chip on most advanced process. Furthermore, overhead of FPGA means every single one my support a few million logic gates (maybe 2-5x if you use hardened blocks), compare to billions of transistors on largest chips in most advanced node —> cost per chip to buy is much much higher.
To the second point, afaik, leading edge Versal FPGAs are in 7nm, not ancient also not cutting edge used for asic(n3).
While it is true that cheap and expensive FPGAs exist, an FPGA system to replace TPU would not use a $0.50 or even $100 FPGA it would use a Versal or Ultrascale+ FPGA that costs thousands, compared to the (rough guess) $100/die you might spend for largest chip on most advanced process. Furthermore, overhead of FPGA means every single one my support a few million logic gates (maybe 2-5x if you use hardened blocks), compare to billions of transistors on largest chips in most advanced node —> cost per chip to buy is much much higher.
To the second point, afaik, leading edge Versal FPGAs are in 7nm, not ancient also not cutting edge used for asic(n3).