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To: FLSTF97 who wrote (12527)	12/10/1999 8:33:00 AM
From: Mike Buckley	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

FLSTF, a sign of good management is taking every opportunity (within the strategic constraints) to maximize profitability. In the long run, yes. In the short run there are times when that's not the primary goal. I think you'd very much enjoy Tornado, probably Chasm also. --Mike Buckley

To: FLSTF97 who wrote (12527)	12/10/1999 10:47:00 AM
From: unclewest	Respond to of 54805

BTW do you know the selling price ranges for the sapphire LEDs and group III nitrides LEDS vs. the SIC leds? Also as part of my DD I've been trying to find the serious competition. I don't have my notes with me, but I'm aware of the company in Florida producing the sapphire LEDS (I think a spin off from Uniroyal) and the Japanese firm making the Nitride LEDS. Have you found others especially others in the SIC segment? my partner wanted to answer that...he does not post here...here is his response... "the answer in it's short form: sapphire LED's from Nichia, Toyoda Gesai, HP etc sell for about $.65...the SiC LED's from Cree about $.35 (altho Neal let some contracts a year ago at $.25+-)...there is an inherent cost savings factor from the way the packaging is done and how many per wafer. Uniroyal is a joke...they are making SiC IMHO not sapphire...may have some wafers under prod. in Jan...companies getting into SiC is like banks or stores saying they have a dot.com operation to take advantage of the hype surrounding the industry... As to serious competitors, John Palmour said to me and Peter at the AGM that at the SiC conference in Oct. that they saw wafers that looked like Cree's in 1994 and Cree was 5 years ahead of everyone... In essence, Cree has no competition..." i will post my own thoughts in a moment. unclewest

To: FLSTF97 who wrote (12527)	12/10/1999 10:56:00 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

but imo a sign of good management is taking every opportunity (within the strategic constraints) to maximize profitability.It wasn't clear to me that they did so in this specific case, but I'm not privy to all the information they had to consider in making this decision. I raise this question only in the sense that maybe this is an example of holes in the management team that will need to be plugged for the tornado to mainstreet transition. cree's announced price reduction was, i believe for 2" wafers only. these are being sold mostly now (or soon) to institutions for research..this price reduction is making it easier for students to be able to do research on future uses for SiC. cree is actively growing 3" and finishing the conversion to 3" crystals now. they just demonstrated a 4"...and say 8-10 should be possible. because of demand it makes sense for now to keep the 2" crystal growers busy too. i do not believe led prices have been reduced. in fact the opposite may be true. now this is from an over 55 memory, so please go easy on me here. 2 conference calls ago..i recollect the pricing question being answered with a statement about $0.25 each. the same question came up this conference call..the response was $0.35 each. the questioner asked something like "doesn't that represent an increase in margins?" the ceo glossed over it quickly..saying something about margins increasing as he had already reported...i recall having several thoughts as i listened. cree has reduced the cost of the old line of wafers to stimulate more research to discover more uses for SiC. they apparently have increased the sale price of finished products using SiC. ceo may have glossed over his response because new customers are paying more than old customers and he did not want to make a definitive statement. i have a great memory......but......it doesn't last long. unclewest i disagree with my partner and agree with you that uniroyal is using sapphire...that is how it was reported in the palm beach post several weeks ago. i'll remind my partner of that later.