And who do you think is responsible for cointerra's tape-out delays!?  In both cases its the back-end contractors (open silicon in cointerra's case and uniquify in hashfast's case).   Both hashfast and cointerra designed their rtl themselves and then handed it over to their back-end partners for layout, physical design, tapeout, substrate design, liaising with the fabs, expediting orders etc.  in both of their cases, the delays were unexpected and beyond their control and though neither of them will say it because they won't trash the people they work with...