Expect this kind of thing to continue.<p>Peak performance comes from dedicated hardware. Almost always has. Maybe always, but someone here may have a better answer.<p>Dedicated hardware has a couple very solid advantages:<p>Once designed and performing, it will continue performing very efficiently.<p>It's possible to get real time, high performance and very reasonable power budgets all at the same time.<p>Integration with software can be clean, robust and efficient.<p>For software as a service, assuming the chips never leave the family, it's great insulation against IP theft and competition, who must generally hire or replicate the work done to gain advantage for themselves.<p>Downsides:<p>Revisions are brutal, unless the design and protocols are very forward looking. Older revision hardware can be bolstered with software, until it all reaches a point where software alone may perform better.<p>For a long time, barriers to entry were insane.<p>The FPGA has grown to a point where very powerful designs can be prototyped and performant at modest clock speeds.<p>Barriers are dropping and the need for differentiation ever increasing these days.