That number was probably shaped by minimum production-run requirements, alongside the need for software development units, along with other factors, like the use in Trident II and other quests we may not know about.
At least not from a practical perspective.
From an economic perspective, stopping after a single small run is just wasteful. The upfront design costs are so high, and the per wafer costs are so slow that you might as well make a lot extra. Maybe you can find a use for them, or sell them to someone else.
I read they had their own fab, so the minimum production run aspect would appear moot.
Back then an interface between terrestrial computer systems and a Zeta Reticulan spacecraft required a small supercomputer on our side.