Chart, page-2384

It could therefore be assumed that at least these customers are very well advanced and much closer to making a decision than the other early access customers who have not yet had the chip and board to making a decision on a commercial deal.

The standard process is to make a FGPA prototype. The validation is simply set of physical tests to see that the prototype works before committing to silicon.The mass production process often takes 1-2 years and costs around USD20 million for a 28nm processor. So I can't see how any EAP has tested the final chip.