You seem pretty smart. Can you tell me what possibly a competitor could do by knowing that you have finished your tape out? How would that help them do anything? Or that you have populated your board and are testing? What would that information do for a competitor? Would it help them get their design done faster? Would it help them test their design? Would it help them move up in the line at the foundry?
"competitors": Everytime I read that I think "LIARS". "BULLSHITTERS"
No, to be honest I have absolutely no idea how announcing the completion of concrete milestones including dates should help any competitor, when you are on track for September delivery.
They must have a internal project plan with dates for all the major milestones (there are a lot of them), which finally ends with delivery to customers end of September, which is not that far away.
From my point of view, being more transparent here could only be beneficial for KnC with respect to their reputation and a kind of "shock and awe" for any competitor.
Some of them would maybe stop development completely, because they will realize that they are too late in game and that nobody will buy their products when KnC already has 28nm chips on the market for several months. But this would only be valid, if you have an realistic plan and if you are 100% on track.
These.
Not saying anything is only useful when you don't publicly announce you'll ship in September. If you're not sure of your ship date, STFU as your competition WILL try to beat you on that ship date.
After you've announced said date, it's probably a *better* idea to make as much noise as you can to lock in your buyers and prospects (and not risk staying with unsold chips for your October pre-orders, for ex.), so they don't spend their money elsewhere.
A ton of ppl is jumping boat left right and center from all "old" ASICs for the new ones because they have more (baseless) faith in the newcomers (everybody is doing a ton of effort to sell you sth, it's after that that the sellers usually disappear...).
Admittedly, it's a pain to announce anything when you really have nothing, but they (any seller, really) should come up with an update schedule and throw tidbits (hey, a new fan design, pick your color, whatever...). Just announce a few dates when you'll publish an update and stick to the plan. Not difficult and it shows you care (even if you don't mean it) about your customers, even AFTER they sent you their hard earned money. (that would put you a cut above the rest...)
