The Tofino chips were amazingly programmable, and before that, the Fulcrum chips were amazingly fast. Intel got ahold of both of them, and the magic was gone.
The latest Tofino 3 is... quite something to look at. Might actually take the cake for largest MCM and largest BGA package at over 10k pins. The POWER5 MCM is a similar size but has much fewer contacts.
Damn what will happen to Oxide Computers, they relay on that. Are Tofinos still going to be produced?
Edit: Seems they will support existing costumers and products. Still sad to see, lots of potential there.
As you note, Tofino 2 is still being supported: the team has been very candid and transparent with us (which we very much appreciate!) and Intel has been both formal and explicit about their ongoing support for Tofino 2. We agree with you that there is lots of potential here -- and we are not backing away from the vision of the software-driven switch (and we are pleased that Intel remains engaged with P4).
They can't cancel a major product line like that without at least 5 years of notice.