How Does the Fabrication Lead Time for ASICs Create a Supply-Side Risk for Miners?

ASIC fabrication involves a long lead time, often taking months or even over a year from order to delivery. This creates a significant supply-side risk: the miner commits capital based on current profitability, but by the time the hardware arrives, the network difficulty may have risen substantially or the cryptocurrency price may have dropped.

This delay can wipe out the projected profit margin, turning an expected gain into a loss.