The card is PCI add card, comprised with the core chip, a high density high capability FPGA, and the image collect chip, image outputchip, PCI bridge chip and the DDR RAM.
Part of the problem is that the chip is just too intelligent - rather than a standard digital pulse it produces an analogue output that flummoxes the standard software used to test chips.
Texas Instruments said that two of its Japanese chip-making plants had been damaged; one of them, in Milo, was responsible for about 10% of the company's output.