First silicon
Beginner
The first chips that come back from the factory, before anyone knows if they work.
Novice
The first chips made from a new design, used to switch the design on for the first time, find problems and measure its real limits before volume production.
Expert
Usually a small engineering lot. Its arrival starts the clock on the decision to ship, fix in metal or respin, so the test boards, lab plan and debug tools have to be ready before it lands.