Can S1 form factor even work with 40nm or 28nm chip? I imagine that it could, perhaps with two fans (push-pull)?
I would be thrilled to have the S1 equivalent form factor, hashing at 400-500GH/s.
It would be a huge blockbuster if it will be as reliable as S1 has been (at least in most cases).
The thing is, a simple die shrink wouldn't help efficiency THAT much I don't think, they would nee to do a bit of redesign as well in order to get better efficiency, though a die shrink would help. They would need to go from 55nm to 20nm to stay competitive or give miners a huge incentive to buy within the next 6 months.
That said, I firmly believe that the S1 form factor is extremely important if BTC is going to succeed. The problem with having all these GIANT units is that they will only be held by small amounts of folks. I can convince friends and family and other people interested in mining to pick up an Antminer S1 at these current prices very easily, so in that sense, its awesome. However, the problem with these more efficient big boys is that they cost thousands of dollars.
If Bitmaintech could release a 20nm Antminer S10, or something like that, that was basically a 500 GH.S 20/28nm version with some efficiency and UI upgrades, and sell it for say, 2 btc, I think a lot of people would hop on board, and they could churn these out for at least 6-8 months.