I will just chime in here to point out that the Pascal ASIC has yet to been actually seen by anyone and doesn’t claim to be able to be used with Equihash (vaporware IMHO).
Secondly, I think there is a huge difference between mining centralization via mining pools (like what has happened with Flypool being very popular for GPU miners) and an actual company like Bitmain inventing an ASIC for Zcash. https://steemit.com/technology/@cloh76/bitmain-to-release-ethereum-asic-miner-the-antminer-f3
The first (pool centralization) is a natural occurrence when GPU miners gravitate towards the pool that is finding the most blocks. It’s not ideal but also not a coordinated effort from a single party.
The second is a company (likely to be Chinese chip manufacturer) actively investing millions of dollars who I feel would eventually want to influence the protocol so that it favors thier profits.
What happens if a single company controls 60,70,80% of the network because they have the best ASIC? Will Zcash still have the flexibility to change the protocol as needed to protect the privacy of users? What happens if a huge speed and privacy improvement is possible but requires a change that would adversely affect the biggest “shareholder”? Could they pressure Zcash Developers? Sue Zcash Company for lost revenue?
I understand @zooko s point about the fact that true decentralization of mining efforts is somewhat difficult but in the long run I think it benefits Zcash to remain ASIC resistant. From what I have seen it’s not too difficult (or a huge expenditure of development resources) to adjust Equihash parameters to remain ASIC resistant and that is a small price to pay to keep unwanted parties from having any influence on Zcash.