I only see two setbacks, both of which are understandable IMO.
- The first batch of chips didn't work. Delayed from October to late-November.
- Fab shop has delayed on BFL twice, pushing the date to early-December, and now mid-January.
Except that Josh's claim that there was a floored batch of chips was refuted by Nasser.
We've been very busy recently, unfortunately I couldn't catch up with the forums. There is a correction to be made: Chips are not and were not flawed. We decided to add certain clock buffers to improve noise-resistance and possibly increase frequency even further.
Obviously any delays caused by that decision cannot be blamed on the fab.
The fab burning down would be an "unexpected setback". Delays caused by decisions made by the customer are not "unexpected".
The delays may be "understandable" - because no manufacturing process ever runs perfectly - but they can't legitimately be called "unexpected" because a properly planned project takes into account the possibility of pretty much everything going wrong and never sets it target dates basedon best case scenarios.