25,000+ first batch units on a mostly automated assembly line.
25,000? 
Is that a guesstimate or based on anything official?
I can't cite my source but I can say it's reliable to say that their order queue for first batch is near their maximum capacity for production. They had an order blog up at some point (not sure if they still do), but there were some huge orders on there, saw some single orders for more than 100 units.
My KNC order prediction was very much on point, as has our difficulty estimate related to orders coming online, the past few times.
Like I said about 500 pages back, when KNC comes online (as they have) difficulty is going to skyrocket, and keep doing so, and when Cointerra (and Hashfest if they ever do) comes online, it's going to cause eyes to pop.
Their 2nd batch is already sold out too i think, and they're almost full on their 3rd. They're using a mostly-automated production line, several of them.
They're the "KNC of America" as I've said before, except they've taken an even more hands-off approach. Chip design they handled, overall product design they handled, they outsourced everything else: Power, Cooling, Assembly, Shipment, etc.
Kinda explains why knc sold their stock of rma boards - they know they are going to be useless in a month or two, why keep them on hand? Who is going to rma a board when it'll then be the mining equivalent of a 5870 gpu in a few months?
They will sell any miners left after the pre-orders are out the door. If no one wants them at that price, they'll sell them at reduced price to shift them. They've already added a clause saying that they will continue to sell through Dec, Jan etc if other companies add lots of to the hash power to the network (which is what is happening). They aren't going to hold on to equipment that will be redundant and no one wants in 4 months time.
I wouldn't be surprised if they retire and get out of the game after that. They are obviously gamblers, but they aren't stupid. It looks like their gamble will pay off, but probably not for their customers who gave them the free loan of millions (pre-orders).
I wouldn't be surprised if they retire and get out of the game after that. They are obviously gamblers, but they aren't stupid. It looks like their gamble will pay off, but probably not for their customers who gave them the free loan of millions (pre-orders).
I'd still be right about the last part if BTC had stayed at $120. But now it's quadrupled, everyone feels they are going to break even by doing fiat calculations. But if you paid 70BTC for a jup, if you got your order after the difficulty change on 16th October, you'll never see anywhere near 70BTC back mining with it. So anybody who thinks in btc see's they lost buying from knc.
So I wonder if the fire-sale of boards was an indication they are planning to clean up and clear out? They might have one more go with a multi TH/s miner, but would they risk losing everything if they f it all up?
1. Stating they sold their stock of RMA boards is an unsubstantiated guess on your part designed to spread FUD. Dunno what your agenda is, or what you hope to achieve with those sorts of mud slinging speculative remarks.
2. KNC miners are for sale in $ and have always been for sale in $ if you converted your BTC into $ to buy by using bitpay then thats your problem, however the return should be calculated in $
3. The only argument against buying miners is to have bought BTC instead at the time you might have bought your miner, but thats easy to say with hindsight. The point is that buying a miner makes you more likely to profit from BTC price hikes because you are more likely to be in for the duration, most coin traders would have sold all their coins at the first 10% price hike.