"I still cannot see one reason why they couldn't say that it's "mission accomplished" or something that would not compromise any licencing deal. Why would they need permission to make such an announcement unless they have buyout offer on the table???

Surely, they could say something that mimimal without giving too many details."

...especially since they've already stated publicly that they've been able to achieve 200nm in a recent update. There is no good reason they couldn't do the same with 100nm and leave the juicy details for a future release whenever the contract/lawyers/etc details have been worked out.