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Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: orkrious who wrote (7372)	10/7/1999 9:08:00 AM
From: limtex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

JD Aus and thread - Toshiba and SanDisk Agree to Jointly Develop and Jointly Manufacture Gigabit Scale Flash Memories Oh yes yes yes. Now two of my favourite companies are really doing big things together. I love Toshiba. in the notebooks and laptops they are by far the overall best in terms of reliability, ingenuity, price, durability and international service all over the World and marketing and everything else. I had my first Toshiba, a tiny transistor radio for my barmtizvah in the early 60s. It still works and its still small!!! Everything they make is quality, style and leading edge. SNDK well ....need I say any more. To have Toshiba and SNDK in a full scale co-operation is great. Well done Eli and the team. Best regards, L

To: orkrious who wrote (7372)	10/7/1999 9:17:00 AM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

Could this agreement between Toshiba and SanDisk have been possible without the form Sony executive recently hired by SNDK? Toshiba is a formidable company in basic components. Sony = toast Art

To: orkrious who wrote (7372)	10/10/1999 10:47:00 PM
From: Ausdauer	Respond to of 60323

Jay, Your post 7372 was a crucial one. I read it about 35 minutes before the c.c. I was able to log off, dress, jump into my car, drive to work, not get a speeding ticket, rush into my office, log onto the call and take notes. I was hoping others had done the same because, frankly, I am getting tired of hearing myself talk on this doggone thread. These are the notes I took... The press release describes a "Memorandum of Understanding" or a contemplated agreement between SanDisk and Toshiba. It is not finalized and could fall through. It is hoped that the details will get worked out and a final agreement signed by January of 2000. PLEASE READ THE PRESS RELEASE AND THE RECENT QUARTERLY REPORT OUTLINING THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS INVESTMENT. Specific risks may include, but are not limited to: 1) the potential lack of competitiveness created by the cooperative effort (complacency?), 2) failure of the products to be cost effective or reliable, and 3) increased near-term start-up costs due to increased R&D/product/control/market development costs in advance of product manufacturing and release. The joint venture is quite positive for SanDisk as it incorporates the possibility of capturing and holding a significant portion of the market share and* allows capacity to increase substantially over the current allowances and limitations of the fabless model. This is because the flash memory market will grow from about $600 million to the range of $10 billion in the next 5 to 6 years. SanDisk's current fab arrangements in Taiwan alone could not meet this demand. SanDisk hopes to control production capacity by continuing with the current NOR/256 Mbit/D2 technology at UMC and adding the application of Toshiba's NAND architecture and advanced lithography skills via this joint venture. The joint venture was described by Eli in 3 separate compartments: PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT The joint venture between Toshiba and SanDisk will produce 512 Mbit and 1 gigabit flash chips initially, with plans for 2 or 4 gigabit products in the future. This be accomplished by fusing Toshiba's NAND architecture and 0.16, 0.13 and 0.10 micron processing techniques with SanDisk's patented flash technologies including D2/MLC and advances in controller functionality. The target of these advance wafers will not only be the SecureDigital card, rather it will be employed across the spectrum of the SanDisk product line. PRODUCTION The production of the advanced flash wafers will be split 50/50. Currently Toshiba has 0.16 micron capability in the Yokkaichi fab, however much of the production is already spoken for. I believe any incremental increase in production or perhaps production gained from the phasing out of old production contracts may account for the intial production of the joint venture. This should happen as early as 2000. Production will likely be constrained ("relatively little" output for the joint venture) initially because current production at the Yokkaichi fab has been geared to current demand. SanDisk would pay a given price for wafers coming out of the Yokkaichi fab, because it has no capital investment there. The second area of production will be in the upcoming Dominion fab in Virginia. A clean room will be leased in the second module (Currently only 2 modules exist. The first module is run mostly by Toshiba (128Mbit DRAM) and partly by IBM.) SanDisk and Toshiba will make significant capital investments for the lithography equipment and other processing tools. The magnitude of this investment is $150 million each during the first 18 months (beginning January 2000) and upto $400 million each to bring the second module to full production of 20,000 eight inch wafers per month. Thereafter, the Toshiba/SanDisk entity can jointly invest in further fabs as required to meet total market demand. In particular, the Dominion site has room for further expansion. As stated earlier, in 2000 and 2001 there will be an increase in R&D spending. By 2001 we should start seeing a more significant portion of SanDisk's flash memory being of the NAND variety. MARKETING Each company will market its own products and determine how the allocated lots of wafer will be utilized. This is what I recall to be true. I may not have all the facts down pat. I was writing as fast as I could. Ausdauer

To: orkrious who wrote (7372)	10/11/1999 10:01:00 AM
From: Ausdauer	Respond to of 60323

Jay and Thread, re: Memorandum of Understanding As I posted last night, this contemplated agreement will create a production line that will be manufacturing highly advanced flash memory wafers. The initial purchases for the process equipment at the Dominion plant (0.16 and 0.13 micron process with 20,000 eight inch wafers max. capacity) will total $150 million during the 18 months following the New Year. Given the recent INVOX acquisition, an intention to boost NOR/D2/256Mbit capacity in Taiwan, and the necessary capital and R&D outlays for the joint venture with Toshiba, a significant proportion of SanDisk's available cash and intended funding is already spoken for. It is for this reason that I wish others to be clear about the status of the secondary offering. I hope the stock is able to rally after the upcoming quarterly report. I see CF and MMC sales as a vital source of ongoing cash flow, in addition to the royalty revenues. SanDisk is fortunate that the CF/MMC consumer markets are developing just as they are planning a step up in spending to increase/guarantee production capabilities for 2001 and beyond. SanDisk has outgrown its previous plan of being a fabless company. I think that is an extremely bullish signal. Ausdauer ($60)