It's just a usb stick you trash whole USB not just the chip because it's not possible to swap only the chip like you write. You trash whole stick put the newer keep radiator/waterblock/power cables/fan/power supply/hub/usb cables so almost all can be keep for years but replace only what is replaceable the usb stick.
It's swap-able easily by keeping all other stuff.
Dude, a water loop with a few mini blocks for multiple sticks will cost you less than a single of these sticks. These aren't just USB sticks... It's swap-able easily by keeping all other stuff.
(compare mining stick price to usb stick price, maybe you don't know typical stickminer prices? 
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if you've got the skill to modify the USB stick for external power without wrecking anything, it can be done with the stick as-is. This idea has been presented I don't know how many times in the seven years I've been building high-performance stick miners and it gets dismissed every time. It will continue to be dismissed every time.
You can't have two different power source but you should know that so you need to destroy an usb cable or usb connector for remove power line but keep data lines and solder external power source only. It's just weird and harder to solder if not designed for do that. It's easier to design that directly on the PCB and it's may be not for nothing than a lot of people every year since seven years ask you exactly the same thing no ? 
This would be a reversible (even though not pretty) mod.
It seems the sticks are limited to 850MHz; I am on 500MHz right now and around 2.6A, so I suspect for running 850 you will really need more than 3A, more like 5A (25W) or something, so it would definitely be a cool PoC with actual benefit.
Kano is working on the driver for this guy, and we agreed to cap the speed to 800MHz (538GH theoretical) for safety and sanity's sake.
Why you let these devices be overclocked if it's for put on a 5V 500mA USB port ?
They're not made for 500mA. They need at least 2.4A, which some off-the-shelf hubs do provide, but 3A-capable mining hubs are preferred (look in this thread; there is sidehack's own hub and another one whose name I forgot - it's what was used in the recently found block by someone with 9 Compac F's).People need easy swap-able devices and usb miner because want to be able to control exact power consumption and design their own "pod" but keeping materials on the long run and not trash the whole pod each time.
I don't get your point. What do you want to be swappable? You talked about the cooling system (watercooling). I don't get why you can't just take off the $2 heatsink that they come with and add your own cooling solution. It's basically 'swap-able' already right now in that sense.