"a huge uncertainty remains for the company's
future in the area of intellectual property for custom parts?"
Would you please explain in more detail what you mean here, and whether you see a larger problem for Xicor than for other fabless
companies?
I offhand think that Xicor will be better off than other fabless companies because their unique process technology (C7) will be used
for the forseeable future, and they are not giving up the intellectual property rights to that. In other words, the outside fab's process technology won't be used as I understand it.
If your reference is to an open question as to their ABILITY to develop custom parts, that has been a major concern of mine, considering their paltry resources versus their competitors.
Remember they tried to develop DSP, including paying $1 million for license fees, and failed. They tried a proprietary product strategy before and failed, I believe because of manufacturing problems and failure to focus enough on customer needs. Some of last year's product announcements seem to have been merely product extensions. The "op amp" product that was announced appears to have been pulled.
However, I do take the LU and IBM allusion on the CC as a positive sign. Nevertheless, I think sophisticated investors are probably more concerned about this issue than more visible ones about the company's survival. I certainly would suggest to Mr. Gray that he use product announcements and other forums to communicate as clearly as he can
any concrete improvements in Xicor's competitive position on this score. |
