Would you be selling chips to developers looking to design their own devices?
We do not plan on selling our chips to consumers
(...lengtht stuff cut...)
I did not ask as a end customer. I asked as a potential hardware designer, developer and equipment manufacturer (OEM).
And yes, I did read the lengthy piece in the very beginning.
Including this:
Miners are no longer simple devices as they used to be.
They actually never have been. It's been trough developers and OEMs who convert the complicated design into an easy to use one.
and this:
These days, electrical and physical design and construction may take months.Modern miner is a piece of art and a result of hard work of engineering teams.
I know. I've done it before. And I paid the entire bill. And I know it's a lot of hard work. And I know it's a piece of art. And I might still be interested in doing it again.
and this too:
(...)mining equipment today requires a lot of technical support and oversight.
And I can assure you that there are people quite capable of designing a very complicated equipment and providing the technical support and oversight.
So - even if people who have more than proven that they know how to handle chips and designs - would it be possible for such specialists to be permitted access to your chips? And presuming they're okay with taking all the risks - would you let any other (than your) designs see the light?
We don't doubt your experience as a hardware designer. We're more concerned about ROI for anyone (especially unexperienced new miners) entering the mining market now, and the negative effect that a failure to achieve ROI might have on our reputation, as the products would still be using our chip. Considering they are often marketed with unrealistic ROI to customers, it is a legitimate concern.
This is one of the reasons why we currently don't have a plan to cell our chips to other companies/designers. Should our position change, we will announce it here and make data sheet, specifications and possibly also a reference design available for 3rd party designers and OEM manufacturers.