Swedish ASIC miner company kncminer.com

[The Avenger]

'tape out' completed  
this was totally unexpected, now I'm excited  

Joeventura and his insider information has been wrong with his predictions that there wasn't going to be a physical miner, and I was actually starting to beleive him.

So how long does it take to slice and package wafers?  Anyone?

ok ok you can come back Orama...  this is good news and we can all be friends again  

Not long. The time consuming parts still ahead are validation and building the mask set. Time to package, if I remember correctly, is around 49 days from tape out.

KNC never announced when they taped out Jupiter, they just said "we did it ages ago" at some point during summer. Where did you get 49 days from? Seems a very precise number if you can barely remember

Edit: Dug it up, in case people think I'm being a classic FUDster 

Hi Guys

We would like to say that. Yes....we did tape-out of the ASIC some time ago. The exact details of the ASIC schedule, volumes, vendor etc. is kept internal since it's very sensitive information towards competitors. The product development tasks are on-track."

We are still on schedule to begin shipping in September.

Thanks
KnCMiner Team

[Grix]

As much as I appreciate the tape out news, this means that even for us closed batch 1 folk there's absolutely no chance of a Q1 or even April delivery, right?

[The Avenger]

As much as I appreciate the tape out news, this means that even for us closed batch 1 folk there's absolutely no chance of a Q1 or even April delivery, right?

Absolutely no chance of Q1 or April.

Edit: In case people think I'm being a classic... you got it by now, here are others people's numbers if you don't believe the ones I provided:

-snip-
Their internal timeline is to have chips in hand 64 days after tapeout, which corresponds to 31st October.  They then need to attach them to boards, assemble the rigs and ship them out.

Now whether chips in hand @ 28nm is possible 64 days after tape out is another question
-snip-

That is correct and fabrication takes usually 60 days, 45 days is possible for small high cost "rocket runs".  Wafer cutting, testing, and packaging is easily another 10 days.  So count on 55-70 days for chips.

[matthewh3]

As much as I appreciate the tape out news, this means that even for us closed batch 1 folk there's absolutely no chance of a Q1 or even April delivery, right?

Absolutely no chance of Q1 or April.

From tape out to mass production can be done within seven weeks if all goes well.  So that means it is possible for the first units to start shipping in April.  As they taped out in February come on your flogging a dead horse horse now spamming FUD.  For all you know they tapped out on February 1st  

[The Avenger]

From tape out to mass production can be done within seven weeks if all goes well.  So that means it is possible for the first units to start shipping in April.  As they taped out in February come on your flogging a dead horse horse now spamming FUD.  For all you know they tapped out on February 1st  

So why did they announce a datacentre "Plan B" on 5th February if they had already taped out?

They knew they were so close to taping out and built a datacentre as a backup plan.

They had until June to deliver and yet announced a datacentre backup plan in more or less January - 5 months before they would need it.

What's that about?

[matthewh3]

From tape out to mass production can be done within seven weeks if all goes well.  So that means it is possible for the first units to start shipping in April.  As they taped out in February come on your flogging a dead horse horse now spamming FUD.  For all you know they tapped out on February 1st  

So why did they announce a datacentre "Plan B" on 5th February if they had already taped out?

They knew they were so close to taping out and built a datacentre as a backup plan.

They had until June to deliver and announced a datacentre backup plan in more or less January - 5 months before they would need it.

What's that about?

Oh, you really believe they're only building the datacenter for plan B    really you're flogging a dead horse now.  Who pay's you to write this crap or do you just get satisfaction spreading FUD and trolling.

[The Avenger]

From tape out to mass production can be done within seven weeks if all goes well.  So that means it is possible for the first units to start shipping in April.  As they taped out in February come on your flogging a dead horse horse now spamming FUD.  For all you know they tapped out on February 1st  

So why did they announce a datacentre "Plan B" on 5th February if they had already taped out?

They knew they were so close to taping out and built a datacentre as a backup plan.

They had until June to deliver and announced a datacentre backup plan in more or less January - 5 months before they would need it.

What's that about?

Oh, you really believe they're only building the datacenter for plan B    really you're flogging a dead horse now.  Who pay's you to right this crap or do you just get satisfaction spreading FUD and trolling.

You are missing the point. Probably deliberately. I'll leave you and your fetish for dead horses to it. If you want to discuss it, write (not right) a proper reply.

[lemonte]

I think people would have been a lot more upset if they had just announced they were building a data centre with no updates about how this fits in with their customers and the Neptune.

The hosted stuff would happen regardless of what stage the Neptune development was at, it just worked out well that it could be used for Neptune customers if things didn't go to plan.

There is other information prior to the Plan B information about getting everything ready to submit, if you look at that and then look at yesterday's announcement it should give you a better indication of when Tape out happened.

Yes thanks for the update.  Looking forward to progress and news that the 20nm design has taped out.

Again that's after we're happy and Alchip are happy with the final design before submission. 20nm is not 28nm, there's more risk and we fully intend to mitigate such where possible. We're moving as fast as we can, we're where I said we were aiming to be before Christmas, but we're respecting this tech. It's very much untrodden ground and as before we want this to work first time.

It's been worked on throughout Christmas. They have a working FPGA copy. That's quite significant progress as is. 20nm is absolute breakneck cutting edge tech and they don't want to screw the design up. They started just before Christmas and they are already at this stage. Would I call it preliminary design? yes I would. I would call everything before RTL submission that. Would you rather I lie? You claim I'm being vague and I'm actually being very specific. I've told you precisely where we are at without giving away anything of significant competitive sensitivity. I could be vague and just say it's all on track and you'd be none the wiser. Where do you expect them to be at this stage after working solidly through Christmas?! Designs aren't just pulled out of hats and components need to be sourced in volume with short lead times and guess what a lot of those guys take Christmas off. Rest assured what needs to be done is being done and the Q1/Q2 delivery estimation is there to give us the breathing space to do it professionally and to a level of competency that we believe is achievable.

[elasticband]

Plan B was just some media cover to give reason for the purchase of the data center, when really they knew the data center would be offered as hosting to their 20nm customers as they were near completion of tape out, or maybe taped out already

[faetos]

Plan B was just some media cover to give reason for the purchase of the data center, when really they knew the data center would be offered as hosting to their 20nm customers as they were near completion of tape out, or maybe taped out already

Or, they built the datacenter for sole purpose of using for themselves and then realized that people might be able to do math and figure that the amount of hashing in that DC far exceeded their "promise of only hashing at 5% of what they sold." That might look a bit selfish so they said that it was a backup plan in case their 20nm didn't pan out. Oh my, the speculation is so rich in this thread which makes it so interesting at times.

[elasticband]

i would speculate the pictures we have seen of 28nm boards hashing in the datacenter are actually the hosted boards, which KnC host for people like me and their 5% portion of what 28nm tech they have sold


I guess the downtime i had for several hours a month back was them moving the boards

[joeventura]

'tape out' completed 
this was totally unexpected, now I'm excited 

Joeventura and his insider information has been wrong with his predictions that there wasn't going to be a physical miner, and I was actually starting to beleive him.

So how long does it take to slice and package wafers?  Anyone?

ok ok you can come back Orama...  this is good news and we can all be friends again 

I dont know where you read that I predicted there would never be a physical miner, my prediction was that they would make everyone KNCCloud customers because the neptunes would not arrive in time and they would ultimately be delivered to KNCcloud instead of the customers.

And anyone who owns a calendar can see that the prediction I made is actually very likely.

[RoadStress]

From tape out to mass production can be done within seven weeks if all goes well.  So that means it is possible for the first units to start shipping in April.  As they taped out in February come on your flogging a dead horse horse now spamming FUD.  For all you know they tapped out on February 1st  

So why did they announce a datacentre "Plan B" on 5th February if they had already taped out?

They knew they were so close to taping out and built a datacentre as a backup plan.

They had until June to deliver and announced a datacentre backup plan in more or less January - 5 months before they would need it.

What's that about?

Oh, you really believe they're only building the datacenter for plan B    really you're flogging a dead horse now.  Who pay's you to write this crap or do you just get satisfaction spreading FUD and trolling.

I've come to the conclusion that KnC pays Avanger. Since so few are saying bad things they said it's ok to pay Avanger to balance the karma

[Biffa]

'tape out' completed  
this was totally unexpected, now I'm excited  

Joeventura and his insider information has been wrong with his predictions that there wasn't going to be a physical miner, and I was actually starting to beleive him.

So how long does it take to slice and package wafers?  Anyone?

ok ok you can come back Orama...  this is good news and we can all be friends again  

I dont know where you read that I predicted there would never be a physical miner, my prediction was that they would make everyone KNCCloud customers because the neptunes would not arrive in time and they would ultimately be delivered to KNCcloud instead of the customers.

And anyone who owns a calendar can see that the prediction I made is actually very likely.

But you don't have to switch to cloud if your Neptune is late. KnC already said that: "Over the next few months we are bringing online enough hashing power to make sure that any delay in the Neptune timeline will be compensated with a completely free hosted hashing packages to all fully paid customers."

Compensated, so if I was a neptune owner I'd keep my order, and take the compensation until the order is ready to ship.

There is an "in addition" to the compensation package, which is to switch totally to a cloud product if you so wish, but you don't have to take it up, you can just cloud mine until your hardware arrives.

Another take on the TapeOut info released is that like in the past, they taped out some weeks ago and wanted to be sure that it went well and passed all tests before announcing it, saving them the problem of announcing the tapeout and then finding problems that required a respin.

[elasticband]

I do like you Joe, very nice and helpful guy! I do remember some FUD spreading like posts from you also.

What should infuriate you all is that while we were begging for a few upgrade modules around Nov/Dec of 2013 this plan was already underway and they were rolling off 28nm off their assembly line as fast as can be AND they were taking your money for Neptunes with one hand and reducing your chance of ROI on those same Neptunes with the other hand.

At this moment you are being robbed just a little more every hour.

We are talking adding a full Petahash and there will be another 2 or 3 right behind it.

Your Neptunes are ALREADY paperweights.

Sam went to the Josh school of customer f*cking and he got a PhD!

It doesn't matter, but I am a customer of KNC and I come here for INFORMATION about the company and all I have seen of late is (not just you so don't take it personal) a bunch of people whining and speculating and postulating about stuff that is old news, about the train that has left the station. And frankly like I have said earlier, This company will never see another dime of mine, but they have never seen a dime from you and the arm chair/no skin in the game comments from many here is just getting old.

Again not a personal attack but pages and pages and pages of bullsh*t is just so tedious.

Here is the reality:

People who have ordered Neptunes, you are all now KNCCLOUD.COM customers. Period. End of story.
You can stop postulating about delivery dates. There is going to be no delivery so you can stop talking about it.

Regarding refunds:
If 1 year of 3TH hashing power delivered to you on (HAHAHA) June 1st (101 days from now, or about 10 difficulty increases) is going to make you back your purchase price then by all means don't get a refund (and remind me to tell you about a bridge I have to sell)

The facts of life:

Bitcoinorama is gone, he isn't coming back because his employers LIED to him (the lie of omission) and he won't come here and face the wrath, I wouldn't ether.

If you ask KNC if they have any intention to deliver the Neptune rather than start a cloud mining company called KNCCLOUD.COM (domain already registered) they are going to LIE to you or the customer service people will just give you some crappy polite response.

In the last week of May all customers will likely get an email saying "Sorry we didn't make it in time, PLan B is what we are going with"

then in July the Neptune will populate the biggest Cloud hashing company on the planet. KNCCLOUD.com

Such short memories you all have. I told you Plan B was coming a full week before it happened as I recall.

You can buy 3TH of Antminers today for that $12k and make up the extra cost of electricity plus a huge profit and start hashing in a week or two.

This of course is all just MY Opinion. I could be wrong. (but don't count on it)

 

[The Avenger]

I've come to the conclusion that KnC pays Avanger. Since so few are saying bad things they said it's ok to pay Avanger to balance the karma

Busted! All the BTC mined at the new datacentre is going directly to me so long as I keep the knc thread lively

As we speak I'm being massaged by 6 naked swedish supermodels, while sipping on a glass of vintage Don P and dictating this message to the lacky who does my typing for me these day. Bitcoinorma is in the next room polishing my shoes. I might let him have his iphone back if he polishes them so well I can see individual beams of light refract off them from every possible angle, like a diamond. He's spent about 30 days polishing so far, I reckon he might be finished before neptune ships...

[WastedLTC]

I got my BTC refund today for 3 Neptunes (43.569). exchange rate used was at $700 by the time I got it, rate was down to $660.  Took 8 days to complete the transaction and BTC went on some wild swings,  had no idea where it would be and they gave me no information on the exchange rate other than they will use BitStamp price at the time of transaction.  Considering that I spent under that amount to purchase 4 Neptunes, made out pretty well.    When it arrives every mBit it makes will be profit...  good to hear they taped out...  Wasn't really looking forward to re-wiring my house to install 4.

good times.

Well played.

so they are using the current exchange rate of BTC. Then converting to Fiat? Many people have said they will get the Fiat return of 10K.

What they told me was that customers do not have a choice between fiat and BTC,  KNC will choose.   I believe if you have a single Neptune return then KNC chooses to do fiat...  it may also have to do with where you are located, not sure.   I asked for fiat but they told me that I could not chose and BTC was my only option.

[lemonte]

I've come to the conclusion that KnC pays Avanger. Since so few are saying bad things they said it's ok to pay Avanger to balance the karma

Busted! All the BTC mined at the new datacentre is going directly to me so long as I keep the knc thread lively

As we speak I'm being massaged by 6 naked swedish supermodels, while sipping on a glass of vintage Don P and dictating this message to the lacky who does my typing for me these day. Bitcoinorma is in the next room polishing my shoes. I might let him have his iphone back if he polishes them so well I can see individual beams of light refract off them from every possible angle, like a diamond. He's spent about 30 days polishing so far, I reckon he might be finished before neptune ships...

Fairplay to you their Avenger, that actually had me laughing! People can say what they like about you, but no one will ever say you are unimaginative.

Great work here!

[vesperwillow]

So a month ago they were still in preliminary asic design working out efficiency issues. (Bitcoinorama)

But now they've already taped out.

[The Avenger]

i would speculate the pictures we have seen of 28nm boards hashing in the datacenter are actually the hosted boards, which KnC host for people like me and their 5% portion of what 28nm tech they have sold

I guess the downtime i had for several hours a month back was them moving the boards

FUD. Well, you are revealing how little you really know.

KNC moved into their helicopter hangar within a few days of the Plan B announcement - i.e. first few days of February.

So unless there was a massive downtime in hosted units the last 4 weeks (not several months), then you are spreading lies to suggest the datacentre is for hosted boards.

You are spending a lot of time trying to call people out as FUD spreaders - you are not going to get any of my swedish massage models, so give it up