actually, companies can buy the amount of TPU time that AlphaFold used. Note that the price breaks from "here is a listed price" to "contact sales" at the largest size (TPU v3-2048). I assume that during initial training and experimentation that DM kept 1 or two TPU v3-2048 busy 24/7 for 6 months to a year. That's entirely within the budget of well-heeled companies