i think Yifu - Bitsyncom cant deliver the chips, because they have no chips 
+1
This is the payment address for chip orders: https://blockchain.info/address/1FGAftzSTztFSB8LMwsrdCKTyqGY6zr3sU
It currently has a balance of 75,779.8 BTC with no withdrawals.
So doesn't it look like they haven't paid TSMC for chip production?
Yifu doesnt have to pay much for the chipproduction. They earned enough money from the miners before so they dont need to use the money from that address.
VICE: This is an obvious question, but why arent you mining your own chips?
Yifu: Like I said, the current reality is vastly different from what we originally had planned. We always figured we would be late to the party. Butterfly Labs and bASIC (another ASIC developer that ultimately failed to launch) were supposed to launch in succession. But due to various complications and delays, it didnt work out that way.
If they had delivered on their promises, they would have shipped months before our first batch. We wanted to start selling chips so people could make their own units, providing a hedge from a single entity becoming too powerful, and then move onto a new project. That was our main goal. We wanted to prevent this potential monopoly. As it turned out, we became the monopoly we tried to prevent.
VICE: You arent doing any mining at all?
Yifu: Nope. Fun fact: none of the Avalon team have their own mining units (outside of test units).
http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/engineering-the-bitcoin-gold-rush-an-interview-with-yifu-guo-creator-of-the-first-asic-based-miner#ixzz2bJSc9dJX
Yifu saying they estimated how much money they are loosing while travelling and not using the miner during the conference - from 1:20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD237oF7cCo
I guess that clashes with his statement that they don't mine!!!
Also, Yifu talking about pre-orders and meeting the deadlines from - from 4:10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtVx26LlNXA