ASICMINER: Entering the Future of ASIC Mining by Inventing It

[samson]

This would allows those who want to trade shares to do so - without friedcat having to participate in it.  Any risk to their BTC deposited there would be nothing to do with ASICMINER, and if BTC.CO suddenly vanished then friedcat could just look in his mailbox for the last emailed list of shareholders and use that for ownership of those shares (or he could set up a cron job to query the API every 5 minutes and always have a list no more than 5 minutes out of date).

So yeah - there's a risk.  But there's also a reward.  Let those of use who believe that risk/reward ratio is favourable take the risk - and enjoy the reward.

+1 for BTCT.CO for the above reasons.

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[lophie]

So 3-4 tickers a day eh GLBSE? Should we go after Nefario with torches and pitchforks yet?

[MPOE-PR]

So 3-4 tickers a day eh GLBSE? Should we go after Nefario with torches and pitchforks yet?

Nono, flowers please.

[DutchBrat]

It seems BFL now expects to have the chips in hand from the foundry the week of Dec 11th (towards the end)

https://forums.butterflylabs.com/bfl-forum-miscellaneous/437-asic-update-26-november-2012-a.html

Delays all around !

[Jutarul]

It seems BFL now expects to have the chips in hand from the foundry the week of Dec 11th (towards the end)

https://forums.butterflylabs.com/bfl-forum-miscellaneous/437-asic-update-26-november-2012-a.html

Delays all around !

Did they ever report which foundry they were using?

[SebastianJu]

Nov 25 / 12:00pm
More lists coming out tomorrow
by James McCarthy

I'll be sending out updated lists by tomorrow afternoon.

Ther will also be some new lists sent out for some issuers.

Got a lot of email over the weekend, if I've not replied please bear with me, I'm a bit snowed under.

He already gave out a couple of lists worth some days. Taking out the last weekend he isnt way too behind his plans. I hope its this way... at least he is still in contact.

[DutchBrat]

Nov 25 / 12:00pm
More lists coming out tomorrow
by James McCarthy

I'll be sending out updated lists by tomorrow afternoon.

Ther will also be some new lists sent out for some issuers.

Got a lot of email over the weekend, if I've not replied please bear with me, I'm a bit snowed under.

He already gave out a couple of lists worth some days. Taking out the last weekend he isnt way too behind his plans. I hope its this way... at least he is still in contact.

He said he was going to send the lists starting with the biggest in descending order.

Yet some smaller offerings than ASICMINER have already gotten te list.....

Life would be a lot easier if Nefario did as he said...

[bitcoinbear]

Nov 25 / 12:00pm
More lists coming out tomorrow
by James McCarthy

I'll be sending out updated lists by tomorrow afternoon.

Ther will also be some new lists sent out for some issuers.

Got a lot of email over the weekend, if I've not replied please bear with me, I'm a bit snowed under.

He already gave out a couple of lists worth some days. Taking out the last weekend he isnt way too behind his plans. I hope its this way... at least he is still in contact.

He said he was going to send the lists starting with the biggest in descending order.

Yet some smaller offerings than ASICMINER have already gotten te list.....

Life would be a lot easier if Nefario did as he said...

This depends on how the size is measured. Is it the total amount invested in the company, or the total amount traded, or the number of shareholders, or the number of shares? Each of these measurements would make a different order.

[Jutarul]

Nov 25 / 12:00pm
More lists coming out tomorrow
by James McCarthy

I'll be sending out updated lists by tomorrow afternoon.

Ther will also be some new lists sent out for some issuers.

Got a lot of email over the weekend, if I've not replied please bear with me, I'm a bit snowed under.

He already gave out a couple of lists worth some days. Taking out the last weekend he isnt way too behind his plans. I hope its this way... at least he is still in contact.

He said he was going to send the lists starting with the biggest in descending order.

Yet some smaller offerings than ASICMINER have already gotten te list.....

Life would be a lot easier if Nefario did as he said...

This depends on how the size is measured. Is it the total amount invested in the company, or the total amount traded, or the number of shareholders, or the number of shares? Each of these measurements would make a different order.

My guess is that it's the number of shareholders. And based on that ASICMINER should be at the lower end.

[Jutarul]

Good news for the ASICMINER project. Another one of the main competitors experiences significant delays.
https://www.btcfpga.com/forum/index.php?topic=125.0

That - and given the reputation of BFL for underestimating the delay times - gives ASICMINER the whole month of december to get the operation started and still be the first with ASICs on the network.

@friedcat: you mentioned that the foundry provides a detailed status update on the processing of the chips. At which stage are the chips right now?

BTW, for your entertainment from the BFL forum, post 51:
https://forums.butterflylabs.com/bfl-forum-miscellaneous/437-asic-update-26-november-2012-a-6.html

This is exactly why I had to cancel one of my orders. If BFL were an employee calling in late to work, it would be like this.

Work starts at 9:00. Travel time is 30 minutes assuming no traffic. There is some level of traffic 90% of the time. BFL plans to leave at 8:25.

"Announcement - I hope to be at work at 9:00 tomorrow ... assuming nothing goes wrong. I even have a buffer in case there is traffic."

Time is 8:45 and BFL just leaves the house for work.

"Announcement - Everything still hunky dory. Not late to work yet and I'm driving really fast."

Time is 8:55 and BFL hits traffic. BFL reroutes.

"Announcement - I might not be into work at time, but I hope I'll make it."

Time is 9:15 and BFL is now sitting in worse traffic on the new route.

"Announcement - Looks like I'm going to be late for work... probably.   Don't worry though, someone else will probably be late as well so no worries. Oh, by the way, when I come in, you'll get the best darned employee you've ever seen. I'm the reliable Ferrari of employees!"

Time is 9:30 and boss is calling BFL's cell, upset that he's late. BFL doesn't directly answer his questions and seems evasive. Boss asks what time BFL left the house - no answer. Boss asks how often there is traffic - no answer. Boss asks what kind of coffee BFL had that morning - Folgers, 3 sugars, no milk.

"Announcement - I hope to be in at 10:00. I never 'promised' 9:00. I just hoped to be in at 9:00, just like I 'hope' to be in at 10:00. Why so upset?"

Time is 9:59 and the entire factory is furiously waiting on BFL to come because he has one of 3 keys to the lock that shuts everyone else out altogether. He's costing them money because had he simply been more honest about his situation from the get go, when he left his house in the first place, the boss would have called in Thomas or Evelan, because they also have keys, but today was their day off.

"Announcement - Making this announcement with 1 minutes to spare! That's right... Time to spare on this one. No new details other than the fact that I've put premium gas in my car and I'll probably, maybe, hopefully, be in around, nearby, or close to mid, late, probably end of the 10 o'clock hour. My contract says you can't fire me until 11:00 anyway ... so really ... I'm still not even late."

And... scene.

Josh and everyone else at Butterfly Labs ... are you starting to see things from our perspective yet?

[niko]

Good news for the ASICMINER project. Another one of the main competitors experiences significant delays.
https://www.btcfpga.com/forum/index.php?topic=125.0

That - and given the reputation of BFL for underestimating the delay times - gives ASICMINER the whole month of december to get the operation started and still be the first with ASICs on the network.

@friedcat: you mentioned that the foundry provides a detailed status update on the processing of the chips. At which stage are the chips right now?

Unless we suffer from similar issues, which is not unlikely. I am sure our engineering team did their best, but so did the competitors - and yet mistakes happen. Building ASICs is a complex project for small entities.

[SebastianJu]

I would like to hear the newest estimated times for shipping from foundry too.

[friedcat]

Update

Nov 25 / 12:00pm
More lists coming out tomorrow
by James McCarthy

I'll be sending out updated lists by tomorrow afternoon.

Ther will also be some new lists sent out for some issuers.

Got a lot of email over the weekend, if I've not replied please bear with me, I'm a bit snowed under.

He already gave out a couple of lists worth some days. Taking out the last weekend he isnt way too behind his plans. I hope its this way... at least he is still in contact.

Nefario is not in contact as usual, but one of his friends is. We got the information of "I think he has released most of the major stock classes funds" today, but haven't received anything in our mailbox. We have checked again with our account name provided and are waiting for responses.

@friedcat: you mentioned that the foundry provides a detailed status update on the processing of the chips. At which stage are the chips right now?

They are at the stage of wafer-process, which is the last one before slicing and packaging, and is the most time-consuming. They have finished 13 layers out of the total 29, and there are 16 layers to go. The speed was originally very low (1-2 layers a week), and had become quicker in recent weeks.

Good news for the ASICMINER project. Another one of the main competitors experiences significant delays.
https://www.btcfpga.com/forum/index.php?topic=125.0

That - and given the reputation of BFL for underestimating the delay times - gives ASICMINER the whole month of december to get the operation started and still be the first with ASICs on the network.

@friedcat: you mentioned that the foundry provides a detailed status update on the processing of the chips. At which stage are the chips right now?

Unless we suffer from similar issues, which is not unlikely. I am sure our engineering team did their best, but so did the competitors - and yet mistakes happen. Building ASICs is a complex project for small entities.

Yes. An IC project needs many factors to be successful. As the technology improves, the interconnection between the design and the manufacturing becomes subtler, causing many projects not able to succeed in their first try. We picked the very conservative and mature 130nm as our choice, reducing unexpected factors to the least.

I would like to hear the newest estimated times for shipping from foundry too.

While the foundry haven't not give out the estimated time, our foundry agent did. The person in charge gave us the oral promise of December, but not as an extra formal deadline in the contract.

A mail to the board has also been sent to reply and discuss the revising of the business plan. Board members please post your advices if you have some time. Thanks.

[DutchBrat]

Update

@friedcat: you mentioned that the foundry provides a detailed status update on the processing of the chips. At which stage are the chips right now?

They are at the stage of wafer-process, which is the last one before slicing and packaging, and is the most time-consuming. They have finished 13 layers out of the total 29, and there are 16 layers to go. The speed was originally very low (1-2 layers a week), and had become quicker in recent weeks.

While the foundry haven't not give out the estimated time, our foundry agent did. The person in charge gave us the oral promise of December, but not as an extra formal deadline in the contract.

A mail to the board has also been sent to reply and discuss the revising of the business plan. Board members please post your advices if you have some time. Thanks.

Hi Friedcat, thanks for the update

A few observations:

1. 1 - 2 layers a week = > 15 weeks for the wafer-process, seems like an awful lot !
2. At this rate, with 16 layers to go, how can your agent say December as delivery date? Last week of December would imply for them to double the speed of the wafer-process
    Seems like an overly optimistic estimate on the part of your agent....unfortunately
3. A revision of the business plan? First I have heard or read about that....care to divulge more information please!

Thanks

[MPOE-PR]

Nefario is not in contact as usual, but one of his friends is.

You know, anyone can claim, with or without basis, that they're "friends". Thus people do.

[Deprived]

By the way... when asicminer has ordered 29 layers, that means 29 asics at the end right? So you run 29 asics shortly after you received it. But how many asics does bfl get with their first batch?

Layers is something entirely different to quantity.  Think of each IC as being made up by printing 29 seperate layers of circuits on top of each other (yeah, I know that's a crude description of it) - so 29 seperate runs of a manufacturing process.  By the sounds of it the runs for ASICMINER are being done in between other jobs that the foundry rates as more important to them (likely because they're much bigger and/or regular customers).

If the 29 referred to completed ICs then there'd already be half finished and usable.

[MPOE-PR]

But it looks like bfl will beat asicminer with the time of having asics ready to work.
[...]
bfl get their asics on decembre the 11th.

Sometimes I wonder if you actually live on this planet. They should make a reality show based on your everyday life, I'd watch.

[SebastianJu]

But it looks like bfl will beat asicminer with the time of having asics ready to work.
[...]
bfl get their asics on decembre the 11th.

Sometimes I wonder if you actually live on this planet. They should make a reality show based on your everyday life, I'd watch.

So what exactly is wrong? The last thing about their asics i read was that they get them in the week of decembre the 11th: https://forums.butterflylabs.com/bfl-forum-miscellaneous/437-asic-update-26-november-2012-a.html

You have other infos?

By the way... when asicminer has ordered 29 layers, that means 29 asics at the end right? So you run 29 asics shortly after you received it. But how many asics does bfl get with their first batch?

Layers is something entirely different to quantity.  Think of each IC as being made up by printing 29 seperate layers of circuits on top of each other (yeah, I know that's a crude description of it) - so 29 seperate runs of a manufacturing process.  By the sounds of it the runs for ASICMINER are being done in between other jobs that the foundry rates as more important to them (likely because they're much bigger and/or regular customers).

If the 29 referred to completed ICs then there'd already be half finished and usable.

Thanks for explaination.

[niko]

I apologize if this has been answered; what steps will be taking place in China, and what will be done elsewhere after shipping and customs clearance? Specifically, I would like to know about packaging, assembly, and self-mining.

[Mausini]

They are at the stage of wafer-process, which is the last one before slicing and packaging, and is the most time-consuming. They have finished 13 layers out of the total 29, and there are 16 layers to go. The speed was originally very low (1-2 layers a week), and had become quicker in recent weeks.

Friedcat, any updates? What does "had become quicker" mean? I know, you can also just rely on info provided by the foundry, but is "had become quicker" really it?? Seems similar to Nefario's schedule of providing share holder lists

Anyway, so how I see it we have this very unpredictable foundry process which will hopefully be finalized in december. What happens after that? Can you give us an estimate of how long it will take after the foundry till you can start mining?