Andrew,
Would you comment on this Electronic News aticle? It seems to me to be somewhat negative for UTEK and since UTEK has underperformed of late, a possible explanation. I'm mostly interested in the last sentence. Thanks,
<NEW NICHE FOR NIKON -- Word has it over half of Nikon's recent quarter's stepper orders were for deep ultra-violet units. Customers were all over the map, with companies like NEC, Toshiba, and Dominion leading the predominantly Japanese customer list. This is an indication of how hot DUV is becoming. The technology, focusing on deep submicron products, is really taking off, with ASM Lithography reportedly experiencing results similar to Nikon. Nikon's historical camera focus now appears to be solidly ensconced in semiconductor manufacturing equipment as its core competency. In 1996, cameras made up 21% of Nikon's sales, with semi equipment looming large at 61%; representing a radical shift from 1980's figures of 2.2% from equipment and 66% from cameras. Nikon management said it did not plan to eschew the camera business, hammered lately by the appreciation of the yen and skyrocketing advertising and investment costs of new camera launches. Photolithographic steppers, though, are seeing only rising demand. Laser steppers are projected to hit 200 units in the next fiscal years, up from 40 this fiscal year, and only 10 last fiscal year, according to Nikon. Overall stepper sales are a flat 595 units best-case, with a possible 20% drop in a worst-case scenario. Nikon: 415-508-4674.>
Cary Chubin |
