This is to inform that friedcat met with the board yesterday and provided some updates.

General Update
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The engineering team is working on increasing overall power and cost efficiency, which includes all aspects of keeping the miners running sustainably. Some of the cost efficiency aspects cover questions of insourcing vs. outsourcing which are being looked at. In highly integrated locations like China, outsourcing seems to be beneficial. If that trend continues, AM may be best served by choosing a "lean" operation.

The recent policy changes in China are less of a concern, because the operation is very mobile and can re-establish itself elsewhere quickly. The tape-out deadline has moved into the mid of Feb. The new deadline for an extensive report to the board as been moved to the end of this month. Expect an updated release of the balance sheet to the public at the same time.

Friedcat also indicated to release an updated product report after tape-out, which contains more technical details. The initial batch will be "relatively" small, but the chip production capacity can be described as "competitive", which should bring AM back on the scene quickly. Any bottleneck will likely not be the silicon, which means that partnerships become more important.

Specific Updates
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a ) Share transfer processing: Some of the share transfer requests were not processed for an extended time. Apparently the process is automized, but some emails get filtered into the Spam folder, so friedcat wasn't aware of the issue. If share transfer requests for any reason do not get processed, please inform one of the known board members to escalate the issue. It was recommended to code a submission website to remove the diversity in request submission.

b ) Submitted Questions:
1) What is the order of magnitude of 3rd generation chips ASICMiner anticipates to sell (total / first batch / first 3 months)?
re 1) Order of magnitude: Depending on fab capacity. Total target is 10k to 40k wafers, relying on competitors, Bitcoin price, and other factors. A wafer is rated at 40 TH/s.

2) In the new chips announcement, friedcat stated that the chip prices will be based in USD. A rising BTC price would thus mean lower dividends - since less BTC to pay the dividends can be bought from the incoming payments. What happens when the BTC price - for example - doubles, will the price of the chips be adjusted accordingly?
re 2) The price might be adjusted, but if possible it's better to enlarge the order size without making significantly price adjustments.

3) A continuation of mining would be an excellent hedge against a rising price of BTC if done by a company with access to chips at almost zero cost - like ASICMiner. How probable is a continuation of mining done directly by ASICMiner (or franchisees) and how will this be decided?
re 3) Hedging against rising price of BTC is better implemented as buying Bitcoins as company assets and then pay them as dividends or reserve them.

4) What is the currently anticipated long-term strategy for ASICMiner after the 3rd generation?
re 4) Long-term strategy is to follow the step of Moore's Law, while squeeze all possible efficiency out of each stage of chip design and production.

5) What is the status and capacity of the immersion-cooling data center, and will it house some of the 3rd generation hardware used for mining?
re 5) Capacity is at least 1P. And yes it will be used.

Further Comment
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Please note that some information is subject to change, as this is a very agile business. Please be careful when speculating on company valuation. Also expect a saturation of the hardware market if BTC price starts declining or stagnating. This means that hardware companies will likely accumulate a large stock of unprocessed silicon, which provides opportunities for ventures which offer quick turnaround times between receiving silicon and putting devices online.