The reason Cointerra are dropping their price like a stone is they have yet to raise enough capital to fund NRE and they are expected to tape out imminently. You have to pay for your NRE upfront to receive your tape out results.
Nonsense. Their first preorder batch netted them some $14M:
http://thegenesisblock.com/cointerra-and-hashfast-sell-17m-of-bitcoin-miners-open-second-batch-sales/
28nm mask sets dont grow on trees, but thats enough to fund at least half a dozen 28nm bitcoin miner designs and masksets.
Yeah, do you honestly believe that?!
It's called saving face. Marketing, they have to appear to be in demand or it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Where are Cointerra's customers? judging by the forum, it's not here, and no one larger will jump aboard without evidence the chip is capable. If they were willing to demonstrate they were willing to assume accountability for their promises, and offer secure payment, like Paypal, as they promised, people may give them more attention. In the interim Cointerra are having their hand forced to start the price war and lure speculation, not investment. They are competing against Hashfast who a willing to lie to raise funds, you cannot compete with lies. Especially lies that remove all recourse, accountability and warranty.
Who's KnC's largest individual customer? Cloudhashing, hardly a significant player. Once KnC demonstrate they really can overdeliver, then there will be a lot more interest from those on the fence, and equity waiting for professional engineers with a working concept.