Couldn't Active Mining been VMC's first customer, thus receiving the first "shipped" units?
How many chips does low-volume production produce?
Is it even theoretical possible for this to be ActM?
Yes, because Intellihash.
Intellihash makes everything 20% Cooler each time you use it, like so:
(FastHash)^IntelliHash = 120% hashrate.
((FastHash)^IntelliHash)^IntelliHash = MoarHash
As soon as Ken tweaks the tunnel diodes so that they edge-trigger and don't overflow the clock buffer (in about two weeks), the money will roll right in.
*The prototype ran fine, but Ken decided to update the web API on the ASICs to HTML5, so that's why the chips are a little late.