I don't see how this is relevant though. A GPU also provides graphics rendering performance equivalent to some boatload of CPU-hours, but who cares? GPUs exist and are used for the tasks they are good at. TPU hardware isn't theoretical; it does exist and it is being mass-produced.

Yes, it needs a boatload of very simple compute (8 bit operations), the kind that CPUs are not even close to ideal at providing economically.