There is that. And they do always have some demos running during IDF. But when have you seen a press conference where they waved wafers around when they hit a milestone like functional SRAMs on a process they are developing? Much less at several points as they increase the size of the SRAMs. Or when they tape out a design. Or get first silicon. Or...
I don't get your point, below are some demos from IBM, large companies demo, it's common.