The Klondike has 16 ASICs but I have split them into 2 banks of 8 each. This allows pushing the data in twice as fast, and also means if one ASIC is damaged then only 8 cannot function, instead of 16.
I hope there is a mistake in what you have said, because it scares me a lot. We don't know what the yields are on Avalon chips, and I would seriously prefer a solution where only the damaged ASIC is the one that does not function. Losing a bank of 8 is significant, imho.
Also, what happens if a bank is not full, e.g. 6 chips instead of 8? I imagine there are plenty of people who don't who's total number of chips don't divide nicely by 8, and if we are shipped untested chips then yields could make that worse.