ASICMINER: Entering the Future of ASIC Mining by Inventing It

[bitcoin.newsfeed]

Don't know if there'll be much in the way of expenses, my understanding is FC retained funds for this, but happy to stand corrected.

You know, there must be expenses for the next batch. Which will be massive. I hope and believe™

[necro_nemesis]

Also question is , why we should sell 1Ghs for 0.99$, when competition is selling 1Ghs for $5 ? (I am not sure about that $5, but the point is that its much more expensive).

Price prediction at that time was looking at a lot of moving parts. Everyone has experienced some form of delay which should result in re-evaluating the situation unless your intent is to flood the market and remove any further competition's incentive to conduct R&D. If the ASIC turns out to be most cost effective to manufacture and operate this could be a valid strategy and would allow AM to dominate the market through taking a lesser profit up front and saturating the market.

[minerpumpkin]

Don't know if there'll be much in the way of expenses, my understanding is FC retained funds for this, but happy to stand corrected.

You know, there must be expenses for the next batch. Which will be massive. I hope and believe™

I'd be happy with friedcat using the proceeds from the first batch to fatten the second batch if he deems this appropriate. We need some major batches right now at the beginning, not in 6 months.

[necro_nemesis]

It wouldn't be so bad if we got more than boiler room updates on how the ASIC was progressing. Fundamental to the equation but information regarding the business strategy with the recent rockminer development is thin at best.

[bitcoin.newsfeed]

It wouldn't be so bad if we got more than boiler room updates on how the ASIC was progressing. Fundamental to the equation but information regarding the business strategy with the recent rockminer development is thin at best.

yes, I suggest new round of shareholders questions for Friedcat 1-2 weeks after the 1st batch madness (what do you think friendly pumpkin? are you going to take initiative? )

and about that 0.49$-0.99$/Ghs pricing strategy ... ASICminer should really re-evaluate this after testing gen3. The selling price should be 10-20% under the competition, but not 500% ! Also we'll have product in hand, no pre-orders BS. Its insane pricing, its like tunneling a company in prime time LIVE. Shareholders are watching. I don't want to see, that ASICminer is selling chips 500% under current market price to Chinese mining mafia friends  

[whalezy]

It wouldn't be so bad if we got more than boiler room updates on how the ASIC was progressing. Fundamental to the equation but information regarding the business strategy with the recent rockminer development is thin at best.

yes, I suggest new round of shareholders questions for Friedcat 1-2 weeks after the 1st batch madness (what do you think friendly pumpkin? are you going to take initiative? )

and about that 0.49$-0.99$/Ghs pricing strategy ... ASICminer should really re-evaluate this after testing gen3. The selling price should be 10-20% under the competition, but not 500% ! Also we'll have product in hand, no pre-orders BS. Its insane pricing, its like tunneling a company in prime time LIVE. Shareholders are watching. I don't want to see, that ASICminer is selling chips 500% under current market price to Chinese mining mafia friends  

I agree, FC need to explain his price strategy.

[Bonam]

You can't compare cost of chips / GH to cost of finished miners / GH. There is a lot more that goes into a finished miner than just the chips themselves. Remember if someone is selling products to consumers that includes the chips, PCBs, boxes with a thermal solution, is paying their employees and for space, production, overhead, etc. How much more does a computer cost than just it's CPU? Same thing here basically.

[neilol]

You can't compare cost of chips / GH to cost of finished miners / GH. There is a lot more that goes into a finished miner than just the chips themselves. Remember if someone is selling products to consumers that includes the chips, PCBs, boxes with a thermal solution, is paying their employees and for space, production, overhead, etc. How much more does a computer cost than just it's CPU? Same thing here basically.

And theoretically our costs are lower because we aren't dealing with the major supply chain and logistics that go into assembling, selling and shipping to the consumer as volumes continue to increase. It's all about  margin, which should be healthy selling chips, which coincidentally is where ASICMINER has the cost advantages.

[bitcoin.newsfeed]

Bonam, I know, I was talking about chips

like Coincraft A1
http://bitmine.ch/?product=coincraft-ai-asic

[Bonam]

Bonam, I know, I was talking about chips

like Coincraft A1
http://bitmine.ch/?product=coincraft-ai-asic

I see. Well, looks like they are doing $2.8 USD/GH for large quantities. Considering that it'll be like another month at best before friedcat delivers chips, and difficulty doubles every month, we'd expect the price / GH to be about half of what it is now, when he starts selling them. So by then competitors should be selling for like $1.4 / GH, and we're talking a 28% discount relative (at $0.99 / GH) to that, which sounds pretty reasonable.

[necro_nemesis]

Bonam, I know, I was talking about chips

like Coincraft A1
http://bitmine.ch/?product=coincraft-ai-asic

I see. Well, looks like they are doing $2.8 USD/GH for large quantities. Considering that it'll be like another month at best before friedcat delivers chips, and difficulty doubles every month, we'd expect the price / GH to be about half of what it is now, when he starts selling them. So by then competitors should be selling for like $1.4 / GH, and we're talking a 28% discount relative (at $0.99 / GH) to that, which sounds pretty reasonable.

The prices were quoted when delivery was predicted for end of Mar. The only thing counteracting the delay is competition equally having issues making deadlines. Regardless IMHO it's time to clarify the sale to rockminer as it does open the question of preferential pricing and how that may affect sales to the broader market. One would hope that rockminer isn't the main benefactor of AM's ASIC contribution in this venture and that AM's interests and that of it's shareholders are protected.

[bitcoin.newsfeed]

Bonam, I know, I was talking about chips

like Coincraft A1
http://bitmine.ch/?product=coincraft-ai-asic

I see. Well, looks like they are doing $2.8 USD/GH for large quantities.

$2.8 USD/GH vs $0.49 USD/GH is discount more than 500% ... unacceptable for ready-to-ship product

EDIT : yes I know, that max discount could be 100%, but I don't know how to say it in english that price is five-fold lower, but you get it

[Bonam]

$2.8 USD/GH vs $0.49 USD/GH is discount more than 500% ... unacceptable for ready-to-ship product

There's no such thing as a 500% discount. The most a discount can be is 100%, if you're selling something for free. $0.49 is an 82.5% discount relative to $2.8. Friedcat mentioned $0.49 - $0.99. $0.99 is a 65% discount relative to $2.8.

[Bonam]

The prices were quoted when delivery was predicted for end of Mar. The only thing counteracting the delay is competition equally having issues making deadlines. Regardless IMHO it's time to clarify the sale to rockminer as it does open the question of preferential pricing and how that may affect sales to the broader market. One would hope that rockminer isn't the main benefactor of AM's ASIC contribution in this venture and that AM's interests and that of it's shareholders are protected.

One would certainly hope Asicminer's investors are protected. I'm sure rockxie as a board member and thus holder of 5000+ AM shares also wants his shares to pay good dividends, too.

I would certainly be up for more clarification/info on the sale, or on Asicminer's business in general, but obviously communication has been very limited for a long time now so I wouldn't expect much, which is why I was just throwing some numbers out to see if $0.49-$0.99 / GH seems like a reasonable price. Given current rates of difficulty growth, I think an ASIC reseller that buys chips and makes miners would already have a hard time making much profit if they are buying chips at $1/GH in April, so I don't think friedcat's prices are out of line.

Every 1 GH turned on today will only ever make like $3-4 total. A manufacturer has to buy chips, PCBs, boxes, pay employees, etc, and still make a bit of profit too. If they are buying chips at $1/GH, and have $2/GH of other costs, that leaves like $0-1/GH of profit, pretty reasonable if you ask me.

[VolanicEruptor]

$2.8 USD/GH vs $0.49 USD/GH is discount more than 500% ... unacceptable for ready-to-ship product

There's no such thing as a 500% discount. The most a discount can be is 100%, if you're selling something for free. $0.49 is an 82.5% discount relative to $2.8. Friedcat mentioned $0.49 - $0.99. $0.99 is a 65% discount relative to $2.8.

He meant 500% cheaper.  No biggie..

[minerpumpkin]

yes, I suggest new round of shareholders questions for Friedcat 1-2 weeks after the 1st batch madness (what do you think friendly pumpkin? are you going to take initiative? )

Yeah, sure! So go ahead everyone and tell me what you'd like to know, I'll collect those questions and forward them after we agreed on them!

[bitcoin.newsfeed]

yes, I suggest new round of shareholders questions for Friedcat 1-2 weeks after the 1st batch madness (what do you think friendly pumpkin? are you going to take initiative? )

Yeah, sure! So go ahead everyone and tell me what you'd like to know, I'll collect those questions and forward them after we agreed on them!

thanks, after 1st batch 

[minerpumpkin]

I'm somehow puzzled, that we're back to 0.6 right now...

[hlynur]

I'm somehow puzzled, that we're back to 0.6 right now...

perhaps because of this auction...
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=439392.0

[necro_nemesis]

I'm somehow puzzled, that we're back to 0.6 right now...

Concern for the testing going south from expectations?

For reference here is the outcome of last Q/A from the 10th of Decemeber. Some questions appear to still be relevant and would benefit from further expansion now that things are starting to solidify.

Answers to Recent Questions of Shareholders' Concern

- When can we expect an official public relations appointment and what channels will be used to announce information?
  Still no dedicated full-time PR employee yet, since existing people in the company can only do it part-time, and knowing internals about the company business and arrangements poses requirements on some kind of loyalty for new employees, therefore we are still looking for the right people. Before that my collegues and I will keep updating information. The channel will still be forums from the start.

- What is the size of the first Gen 3 deployment and when is it expected?
  It depends on if there are any external orders for the first Gen 3 deployment and the final performance when the chips are out. From 2P to 20P are possible.

- How will Gen 3 be divided between mining, franchising and hardware sales?
  It depends on the users of our chips. It is a safe bet that we will be moving more to pure chip distribution. But if the edge of low cost on whole devices and deploying still exists in 2014 on our side, we will do more mining/franchising/hardware sales ourselves.

- What process size does Gen 3 use?
  40nm. Anything below that and taking the same optimization way as ours will consume too much time before taping out.

- What will happen after all cubes are sold? Will there be anything coming between now and the first Gen 3 deployment?
  During pre-production and production of the Gen3, most of our time will be spent on negotiating large chip orders (from us) and locating large-scale mining farm operations.

- Have dividends been paid out to shareholders for the cube sales yet?
  Yes. But fiat payments are not exchanged for Bitcoins yet and kept as company funds.