@ PsiLan
Thanks for the update.
----> Here is the disturbing part <----
BFL_Josh:
https://forums.butterflylabs.com/showthread.php/104-Shipping-in-2-3-weeks?p=1461&viewfull=1#post1461 on
10-09-2012.
So for an update on shipping times... As you might imagine, we get this question a lot. It seems like it would be a simple question to answer, but it's not. Let me describe the process so people can better understand why.
If you look at the current FPGA board in a Single or MiniRig, you'll see lots of capacitors, resistors, etc... about 350 little tiny parts attached to the board. Contrary to some of the conspiracy theories out there, all our boards are completely custom made, they aren't purchased from another manufacturer, etc... they are designed by us and made for us and us alone. As such, we are required to volume source every single part that goes on the board.
The ASICs are similar in so far as they also have nearly 350 components on each board. With the FPGAs, we sourced parts in the hundreds or low thousands at a time. For some of the ASIC parts, we are sourcing hundreds of thousands at a time which requires direct ordering & lead time dependancy from the respective manufacturers. However, for this first batch, we're mostly able to depend on available distribution stock from places like Mouser and DigiKey. Shortly after we get the first batch of everything in, we'll have our larger mega stockpiles arrive from other vendors and/or direct from the distributors, it's just the first batch that's going to be rough.
So, we've got he myriad distributors shipping thousands of little pieces to us, the PCB manufacturer sending us the bare PCBs, the HSF manufacturer sending the HSFs to us, the PSU manufacturer sending the PSU's to us, the case manufacturer sending the cases to us and most importantly, the fab sending the ASIC chips to us. All of these must arrive on time and as expected for everything to go off without a hitch. So far, so good.
This was announced by BFL_Josh (Inaba) on
10-09-2012The highlighted parts in blue are what the status was at that time.
They were still in the process of receiving raw materials for the first batch. This is the stuff that has to (assuredly) be put into the hands of their outsourced fab house that will assemble the actual units. (only for the first batch of boards)
The update above that PsiLan posted on the current progress with ASIC fabrication was
still pending even though they paid for expedited service somewhere in our around 10-09-2012!
(roughly 15 days ago from the date of this post)
Posted by BFL_Josh on
10-25-2012.
We are not going to be shipping the first week of November, I can definitely say that. We are waiting on the bulk chips from the foundry, that is really the major delay right now. As soon as that dam breaks loose, we pretty much have everything else either ready to go or in the pipeline to be completed shortly.
Q: when
They are not done yet. We are paying for what's called a "bullet run" though, which is essentially an expedited process to get the chips done sooner.
> From BFL forums
https://forums.butterflylabs.com/showthread.php/104-Shipping-in-2-3-weeks/page8 They haven't received the chips from the foundry yet....meaning one of several possibilities:
1) They haven't yet put the PCB boards together at the fab house they are using. This is assuming that the fab house is in charge of integrating/assembling the entire board and not just the PCB without the ASIC chips. If this is the case, then forget about November.
2) They
have assembled the PCB boards at the outsourced fab house despite not having the ASICs on hand, but lack the chips which will be done in house or sent to the outsourced Fab house once again. (Does this imply it will be done in-house with the new equipment they have on hand...can anyone see further delays as they learn how to use the equipment?)
BFL_Josh:
https://forums.butterflylabs.com/showthread.php/104-Shipping-in-2-3-weeks?p=1461&viewfull=1#post1461 ib
10-09-2012.
Ok, so we have the cats herded, the specs staked out, now we have to actually build these things. As many of you know, we've purchased SMT machines to allow us to manufacture our own boards - and I have mentioned this before, but many have not heard it - we will not be using the SMT equipment to process our first batch of boards; we will be using the same house that did the pick and place for our previous generation products, which means we're still at the mercy of someone else for our first batch shipments. There has been some delays at that stage, but we have the padding, so it's not been a critical issue. There has also been some delays at the foundry, but again, we have padding, so it's not been a critical issue. We are also paying for an expedited run at the foundry (which does not come cheap) to keep our timeline up. All these things have to work out perfectly and our timeline is still looking good. However, if something does not work out perfectly, our timeline is going to slip, plain and simple. We've used up most of our padding at this point and we are still ironing out a few little wrinkles here and there. This has been a long explanation for a simple answer: I would like to tell you we are still on time or pretty close to it, because we are. However, I would also like to tell you that we are going to slip a couple weeks or so if anything goes wrong, and given the complexity of the issues facing us, I would say it's almost inevitable something will crop up between now and the beginning of November that we are not expecting; What that is, I don't know yet, but I would rather error on the side of caution, say the timeline is going to slip a little bit and then surprise everyone with an early delivery than promise an early delivery and not meet that promise. So that's what I'm doing and there's your answer. When I have more information, I'll let people know as soon as I can.
So does this mean scenario 1 or scenario 2?
Either way, like he said, weeks of extra delay. That means the shipping won't start anytime soon if they send the ASIC chips to the fab house. It may also mean they haven't yet started assembling the boards in quantity.
It all depends on who is doing what in the pipeline of assembly. It could be that BFL has hired their fab house [only] for basic board assembly and they (BFL) put the chips in themselves. Or the fab house could be doing everything which implies the boards are still just parts in a bin.
Which it is, is anyones guess...
