The only thing I have to go on is the fact that the semiconductor rumor mill absolutely called this one. Years ago, when intel was publicly announcing that 10n

The only thing I have to go on is the fact that the semiconductor rumor mill absolutely called this one. Years ago, when intel was publicly announcing that 10nm would ship in a few months, the rumor mill said that not only would it not ship in a few months, it would not ship at all for the foreseeable future, up to the point of missing the entire 10nm node. That's exactly what happened. The scenario you described would be 100% consistent with those observations. I still look forward to the inside scoop because, in accordance with your suspicions, I suspect there's a juicy case study in there about self-deluded "beatings will continue until morale improves" style management felling an industry titan, or at least stumbling it badly.