Already ahead of you, should have around 8 TH myself come October.
My point is that as long as you have a Chip that can be ordered at cost from a Foundry, you will be ahead of anyone that orders a machine from another company.
The current price reflects the risk involved in getting this chip, if they succeed the price will most definitely go up. If they fail, it will most definitely go way down. Not sure how else you can look at it.
going back to my original point that all depends on whether what is claimed on paper can actually be delivered in a timely manner... only fools count their eggs before they hatch.
Ofcourse I agree that the people who fab their own chips and mine will have a competitive advantage if the chips they produce are comparable in performance to those already on the market. ASICMiner has already proven this.
but right now AMC has little more than a long wish list.
currently the stock is trading on positive sentiment alone.
and sure, sentiment is enough to trade on the swings and make a little money.. but sentiment alone is not enough to generate any sustained longterm growth for shareholders.
I have been investing in chip stocks for more than 10 years and let me tell you from experience.... even companies with 100s of millions of dollars in financial backing fail on their delivery targets...
if you want a good example of what I am talking about then go and read up on a company called Transmeta.
They were a stealth company working on a superior more efficient low power x86 chip.. which could beat intel to a pulp in small form factor environments.
the Crusoe (and later Astro) was a beautiful little chip.. a true work of art.. so so nice.. you need only look at the OQO to see how many years ahead of intel Transmeta were and with 100% x86 compatability....
so why did Transmeta fail so miserably?
firstly they over promised and under delivered.
secondly they underestimated how much operating capital they would need so they ended up having to cut R&D and beg for scraps to keep the company going.
thirdly they over estimated the market demand AND revenues they would get.
and thirdly they took on an already established monopoly who, as soon as they saw the threat, adapted with their own products to squeeze TMTA out of the market.
sound like a familiar story? well it should because this story has played out time and time again with various small time chip companies.
the point I'm trying to make in case you missed it again.. is that when well funded companies staffed with the brightest engineers cannot even carve out a tiny niche in a highly competitive and well regulated industry as the PC industry.. what makes you think that a completely random stranger with a pipe dream operating in a completely virtual and unregulated environment is going to be able design and build better chips and systems than already established players who have far more resources and skills at their disposal...
there has been a huge amount of talk over the last few days about how shareholders are going to restructure the company and carve up the profits.. but virtually no talk about the actual product..
if I read things correctly so far people have effectively paid something like 25 million dollars for 6 Avalon machines and the hope that somehow in the next 5 weeks they are going to be producing their own machines...
my advice to cautious investors would be.... wait and see the actual product then do your sums and see if its worthwhile to make the investment.
buying off the spec sheet from some random guy on the internet is as dangerous as buying a house off the plans from a nigerian..
just my 2c as usual... i cut and ran as soon as I couldn't verify the references and photos on the website..
and sure I could have made some money trading on the swings and positive sentiment.. but I find it just a little bit too unethical for me to profit from the misery of others.
but good luck anyways.. sounds like you are onto a winner if your mining gear turns up on October regardless of what happens with this virtual company.