Intel has been producing low-end, low-power Cyclone FPGAs for a while -- the Cyclone 10 is their newest entry in this product line, which is what this device comes with. To my knowledge this is the first one directly paired with a microcontroller. They normally come with heavier-duty Linux-capable ARM devices, if anything. Microsemi are the only other vendor I know who offer uC/FPGA combos like this.
Anyway, they probably didn't get some kind of direct subsidy on this, but they surely got volume discounts like any other major buyer -- it's a completely, totally different class of devices than what you'll see strapped on a Xeon, low cost, and they've been selling these kinda chips for a while now, overall (Cyclone 10 LP is fairly recent, tho)
Anyway, they probably didn't get some kind of direct subsidy on this, but they surely got volume discounts like any other major buyer -- it's a completely, totally different class of devices than what you'll see strapped on a Xeon, low cost, and they've been selling these kinda chips for a while now, overall (Cyclone 10 LP is fairly recent, tho)