I think the tech needs a much larger company to do the next...

I think the tech needs a much larger company to do the next stage of the development, as 4DS have previously mentioned many times over the years would be required once they had successfully got a working Megabit array at IMEC.

I agree with Khoutam that they will be talking to IMEC about their 'Smart Brokerage'.

https://www.imec-int.com/en/articles/combining-large-corporations-market-reach-with-start-ups-innovation-power

I'm sure they will have a more general discussion around whether or not the Tech is good enough to get acquisition interest right now and yes of course it's possible that IMEC tell them not until it's developed further.

But even if IMEC do say that, if I was Dave I'd be still pursuing the Smart Brokerage angle and asking IMEC to have the conversations with all or the majority of the potential acquirers.

If Dave really wanted to liven things up he could work out how to make contact with the Chinese (SMIC etc). If he or IMEC told all the non-Chinese potential acquirers that the Chinese were interested that would quickly force the hand of the US firms (and others).