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Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates
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To: Apollo who wrote (10260)11/26/1999 11:42:00 PM
From: StockHawk   of 54805
 
>> is Sandisk a prince in a fast growing Flash memory arena?, or does it have exclusive rights to a particular design that is widely adopted? <<

Stan,

Of the several questions you posed about SNDK that I have still not fully answered, the one above may be the most interesting. I have been discussing this and other aspects of SNDK with Ausdauer, who is very knowledgeable about SNDK and this is the result:

The major divisions as you outline them are...

1. That which is open and not subject to royalties:

CompactFlash assembly


2. That which is proprietary and is subject to royalties:

raw chipset manufacturing

3. That which may become proprietary and subject to royalties if SNDK is successful in litigation:

CompactFlash

Note that the pending Lexar patent infringement litigation is central to this royalty stream.

4. That which is technically demanding and likely to be produced by only a few, select manufacturers regardless of proprietary or non-proprietary status:

MMC and SecureDigital Memory Cards

Note: SNDK has been rather secretive regarding royalties so it is difficult to accurately assess the extent of their patent position. They have more than 120 patents in the flash memory area.

Also, while it is always hazardous to predict the outcome of litigation, and while both sides have been claiming victories in the battle, it appears to me that SNDK has the upper hand in the Lexar suit. The resolution of that case could be a watershead event for SNDK.

StockHawk

PS. Stan, how are the tabulations going?

PS 2. Hey tekboy, we miss you.
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