To: chaz who wrote (10288 ) 11/14/1999 10:58:00 AM From: StockHawk Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 54805
>>SNDK move to fab had puzzled me. Tying that move to the Q's manufacture of phones is a help, but a bit of a non sequitur...the phone is the end user device, SNDK is doing the gut device to be used in other end user devices.<< Chaz, You wrote that in response to this from my prior post: There has been some discussion about a recent decision by SNDK to build a fab plant with Toshiba. Some see this as a poor strategic decision - the move from intellectual property sales to manufacturing. However, I think it may be similar to the strategy employed by QCOM. QCOM management has said that they went into handset manufacturing to help support the adoption and growth of CDMA. SNDK wants to manufacture CompactFlash for similar reasons, and because the supply has not kept up with demand. Also, I suspect, they saw this as a way to turn a potential competitor (Toshiba) into a partner. I made the QCOM reference after reading Investor's Business Daily interview with QCOM CEO Jacobs, who said: Jacobs: We got into the infrastructure and the handset side for strategic reasons. We had to make sure equipment and phones were available. That allowed CDMS to spread and grow. But we did hope to make them profitable businesses. Ericsson wasn't in CDMA before, so the deal was a plus for them and for us. ----------- So to make the comparison better I should have said infrastructure and handset divisions, not just handset. To expand on why this might be important to SNDK think about their potential customers. Say company X is coming out with a new high-end digital camera (or MP3 player or PDA etc) and they want to utilize flash memory in the design. They wish to set up production and produce a million of them. So what is important in selecting a flash memory type and selecting a supplier: Company X (like any producer) wants 1. the best technology 2. the best price 3. the most reliable source of supply With a technology like flash #3 becomes the most important because it is well know that supply has not kept up with demand. Shortages occur and companies like SNDK have sold all they can have manufactured months in advance. (They said the 4th quarter was fully booked before it started.) Company X cannot afford to have assembly lines, and workers, sit idle because they can't get deliveries from their suppliers. So if SNDK can't guarantee supply, they don't just lose a sale today - they likely lose the sale for the life of that product and may well lose Company X for years to come. In the battle to create a standard, each lost customer is huge. Anything they can do to ensure greater supply, more consistent supply, more guaranteed supply is going to help. Doing a fab deal with Toshiba fills this need. all just mho. StockHawk