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To: Katherine Derbyshire who wrote (178)	5/31/2000 11:45:00 AM
From: MARK BARGER	Respond to of 276

Hey, nice thread. I appreciate your comments on Cree. The LED market is indeed crowded and extremely competitive. Cree's SiC substrate design for blue, green, white allows them to be the low cost supplier and still maintain very nice margins (57%gross, 24% net - how 'bout them apples?) The real excitement generated by Cree is their pending entry into the RF/microwave device market. They are presently qualifying SiC devices with several hopeful customers. The earnings projections do not include any revenues/earnings from these products. Cree stated at their last quarterly conf. call that they would begin booking revenues from these products in this calendar year. Cree has always beaten their own projections handily, and many of us are looking to see these products introduced commercially any day now. The real money to be made in the next 3-5 year will be on these products. They will have completed a 250,000 sq. ft. production area expansion by the end of this calendar year also, which will increase their capabilities by a factor of 4. The big question IMHO is can Cree execute? Up to now they have to perfection. Their recent acquisition of Nitres puts them at the leading edge of SiC tech. The proof is in the pudding, but the microwave products are where the real action is if Cree can exectute. MB

To: Katherine Derbyshire who wrote (178)	5/31/2000 1:51:00 PM
From: KevRupert	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 276

Katherine, I love the "semiconductoronline" website! I have to, respectfully, disagree with your comments on Cree. I am, obviously, biased in that I'm long the stock. The Japanese researcher has left Japan for a company in California - not for blue LED research - this occurred a few months ago. If you take a look at their website, annual report, 10k, 10q - the company is expanding into many growth areas. When you say "Their niche simply isn't that big, and eventually it will constrain their growth", are you referring (a) to the product lines currently in production, (b) are you accounting for the new facilities being built & the corresponding increased production, and (c) the anticipated new product lines? I've carefully read the financial documents, and I just don't see any slowdown in the near future. Unless you have information that I may not be aware of! If so, please share it, or provide a link. Thanks for any feedback. advalorem