Friedcat was try to hire a competent asic designer months ago and he said he did not expect to get one from China then(according to rockxie's slides). In his latest updates, he also mentioned without enough channels, it's very difficult to find good candidates. But at least he has locked some exceptional ones now. A little bit too late, apparently.
frankly, MUCH too late. He should have started this at the latest after taping out his first chip.
Now thats easy to say, Im sure he had other things on his mind, but its true nonetheless.
I can manage to guess some of the reasons:
1) Months ago, not too many people believe 22nm/28nm chips are the proper way to go due to the high NRE cost and limited product lines. Since all fabs are busying in supplying big guys such as Intel and AMD, it's almost impossible to make an order for small companies. (It is also mentioned in the letter of Howard (Labcoin)) Remember Friedcat began this project partly because there're many idle product lines in Shenzhen with almost obsolete 130nm technology.
2) Friedcat is a geek (ASIC designer, former Haskell fan), not a genius business man. I believe what he achieved was beyond his best imagination. Therefore, he was not so ambitious to begin 28nm project immediately after the tape out of gen1 chips. Remember that time he did not know how well the sales of 130nm products will be and how the competitors will do. Moreover, creating the boards suppler, USB product lines, and sales channels had already taken up most of his time.
3) I guess there was a failed out 65nm chip design. Friedcat is a honest man, but to be honest does not equal to disclosing everything.
