Larry,
That is the reason that the JV with Toshiba is so important. IP and vision have always been Sandisk's strongest suit. Manufacturing--well, they are still on a learning curve, and when they signed the JV with Toshiba, they basically said as much.
In the CC, Dr. H said that 4 companies can do what they do (manufacture high density flash). Three of them pay royalties to the fourth, Sandisk. One of them, Samsung, fought long and hard in court to avoid paying those royalties. Sandisk isn't interested, I think, in squeezing blood from a turnip. They are interested in becoming the major independent producer of flash. They are interested in having their products be the flash standard in portant electronic devices. That is a big deal today. In a couple of years, that will be a very, very big deal.
Sam |
