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Technology Stocks : Kopin Corp. (KOPN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Finley who wrote (1106)	2/3/2000 10:40:00 AM
From: kinkblot	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1820

I believe SOITEC would rather sell. Last July, they brought online the "world's largest silicon-on-insulator (SOI) material manufacturing facility" in Bernin, France: soitec.com This cost $50 million and gives them the world's largest SOI production facility. In fact, they are the leading manufacturer and supplier of SOI wafers. They have a long-term alliance with Shin-Etsu Handotai (SEH) of Tokyo which provides a second source and additional capacity. After investing heavily in the new plant, I'm sure they want to manufacture rather than license. Kopin's expertise is in epitaxy, not implantation, so this technology is not in their bailiwick. Even if licensing were an option, it would be pointless, since SOITEC can do it better and cheaper. Either way, it would be 'not invented here', but by purchasing, the yield for that step would be raised up near 100%. Guess? I think they're using a black box. <g> WT

To: John Finley who wrote (1106)	4/17/2000 7:52:00 PM
From: kinkblot	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1820

SOITEC Financial Presentation, First Half FY2000 This presentation was introduced to analysts and investors in December 1999 to accompany the first 6 months of the financial year ended March 31, 2000. soitec.com See page 8 - Announced Smart-Cut® applications: GEMPLUS Memory Capability x 50 and Consumption /10 for Smart Cards (Dec 98) KOPIN High resolution and brightness, low consumption for CyberScreens for Digital Camera and Cellular Phones (l'Ordinateur Individuel, August 99) [the picture of a cell phone with eyepiece is similar to one on Kopin's website] Nice guess! The mystery is (almost) solved: it's Smart-Cut®. That narrows it down to C) or D), i.e. license or purchase. Imo, it would not make sense for Kopin to do it in-house under license from SOITEC, because their expertise is in epitaxy, not implantation. The originators are glad to manufacture the lift-off wafers for a reasonable price, with high quality guaranteed; that is their business. Everyone wins. Proprietary technology, eh? Hey, do you happen to have the August 99 issue of L'Ordinateur Individuel (Le PC)? WT