Ok maybe you misunderstand... I am coming from a business point of view.
Understood, I'm just saying that it's still a risky business move since it takes a long time to design and fab a working ASIC and BTC is very volatile.
So these ASICs are actual custom chips that have to be created from schematics? In this digital age of computers and technology, you are saying that now other chip in the world can do similar operations as the chips Avalon and BFL have supposedly created from scratch?
I don't know much about hardware design, but I believe ASICs are designed using a hardware description language (HDL) such as Verilog or VHDL (this is like the "source code" of the chip). That design is then tested and simulated and finally taken to a chip fabrication plant who actually stamps the design out into silicon chips. The HDL code can't be reverse-engineered from an existing chip, so you need to design your own unless someone is willing to sell (or give) you a working design. I'd assume there aren't any existing chips that will perform the same function as the Avalon, BFL, and ASICMINER chips otherwise it would be somewhat trivial for someone to buy the chips and design their own miner around them.
It just seems there would be a much easier way to come up with a product besides creating the actual physical chip from scratch.
So the chip is the stumbling block then?
Yes- the ASIC chip is fundamental difference between ASIC mining hardware and every other type of mining hardware. These are custom chips designed specifically for bitcoin mining and aren't available anywhere else. The rest of the stuff (circuit boards, controllers, etc.) are just common parts available to everyone. (or parts that can be designed and manufactured relatively easily for a low cost, e.g. printed circuit boards)