Marie,
Here are a few more questions to ponder this weekend, if you care to help educate me. I am trying to come to grips with the dwarf III-V compound semi market compared to the huge si semi market. Is it true that these III-V compounds are essential for photonic-based applications? If so, why? Is it conceivable that George Gilder may be correct when he opines that photonics will be to telecom what electronics is to computers? With the inherent advantages of moving waves of light to moving electrons, the ubiquity of fiber and the increasing use of diode lasers for everything from surgery to DVD, info storage, retrieval and display, measurement, remote imaging, sensing, and measurement, and precision assembly and inspection, is it not possible that the market for III-V compound semiconductors might someday become even larger than the si semiconductor market, which seems to have developed almost accidentally with the growth of radar, radio, tv, and the computer, which could barely have been imagined 70 years ago. Doesn't the information and networking and miniturization age virtually ensure a bright future for the compound semi market? If this is so, doesn't this make it highly likely that the si CVD industry will eventually migrate over and get into the MOCVD industry, either by acquisition or through in-house R&D? How can they afford to overlook such an attractive market that is so related to their core competency?
SC |
