I get the impression that employees of KNC buy miners to mine themselves, but KNC isn't a mining company like Asicminer.
The difference between owners/employees of KnC buying miners at cost and mining personally or KnC mining as a company isn't really relevant to us as customers. We have no idea how many units they'll use personally and we don't know how much of a hashrate they are targeting. To me the most relevant differences I see between AM mining and KnC mining is that AM is publicly traded and we know what AM's goals for network hashrate are.
Can't expect them to be able to say that yet.
Suddenly, there looks like there is a going to be a healthy decentralized component to the network, what with bitfury's retail, Avalon's chips->DIY, and now, increasingly likely, BFL's chips->DIY, KnC's retail, and at an increasing snail's pace, BFL hardware. Personally, I'm really pleased, and just a little surprised.
The arc of those rollouts, whether moratoriums on shipping might happen or be honored, etc, are not known yet, and nobody can say anything accurately until then.