No fan of VMC, but if they're real, well then, why not just form a small miners coop, take the chips, and collectively negotiate assembly by VMC (or other bidders, if any) onto boards?
You are failing on me... You don't need VMC, you don't want to have anything to do with VMC, and you probably want to sue the hell out of VMC.
VMC adds exactly zero value to our case. It subtracts it.