[amelius]

I honestly don't believe that e.g. Apple couldn't relatively easily base their designs on a different underlying technology.

They do it all the time when they change nodes.

[wbl]

Drop another billion is sort of the name of the game here.

[ksec]

This. And the extra time and Human Resources required for redoing the design along with testing.

It is not that it cant be done. It is not reasonable or cost effective to do it without some clear incentive.