Or just internalize all their own equipment with the money they've made with the first and second gen ASICS.
That seems logical to me, they get them at a fraction of the price that we do, so break even is much easier and their working life will be longer. Even that will end though eventually.
What I'm wondering is how things will work when they crank it up a level to 14nm or so...who will be funding those? Pre-order again, or will we even see them at all on sale if they don't need the funding? After all, if we can buy a fast rig and make a profit, they can do better keeping it to mine for themselves. Save all that hassle with unhappy punters too.
This is all very short term stuff, the last bitcoin won't be mined for a very long time yet...in 5 years from now things will be very different from today without a doubt...the exchange rate may make slower rigs worth running even then if it explodes and supply can't keep up with demand.
I'd love to know what large private developments are going on that we don't know about too. Got to be some completely in-house dev and mining going on at some point.