Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Ausdauer who wrote (13542)	8/3/2000 9:20:56 AM
From: Ausdauer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

Huey, Sorry in advance for one error... Eric implied that SSTI used SuperFlash and a foundry partner to manufacture NOR (not NAND) high density flash. Ausdauer

To: Ausdauer who wrote (13542)	8/5/2000 8:50:26 AM
From: Allegoria	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 60323

Ausdauer, I have previously made the claim that YOU have repeatedly misrepresented SSTI and SNDK and the business dealings in which they are engaged. I have cited specific instances of these misrepresentations. Now I would like to delve further into YOUR motivation for making those misrepresentations. Specifically, having reviewed many of the posts on this thread, I noticed that you refused to respond to a direct, straightforward question asked of you by Larry Dudash: Ref: Message 14090298 So I will ask again in very precise terms: 1. Are you an employee of SanDisk or any of its affiliates? 2. Do you have any affiliation and / or are you receiving any compensation of any kind from SanDisk or any of its affiliates? 3. Are you in any type of contractual agreement with SanDisk or any of its affiliates? Please answer ALL THREE QUESTIONS. I feel you owe it to all the thread participants in order to clear the air. Thanks in advance, Eric Ziegler

To: Ausdauer who wrote (13542)	8/7/2000 10:49:40 AM
From: hueyone	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 60323

Good morning Aus, I have not responded to your last post to me, which asked a couple of questions, simply because of time constraints. In the meantime I see all hell has broken loose. I am sorry to see the war of words ramped up to such a degree between you and Eric. I know by inference I am included in all this mess. I have Pmed Eric stating it is my policy to not ramp up personal attacks to the extent that has recently occurred here. I also let Eric know that I did not want him to use my name again in a highly personal attack on someone. But I believe Eric is an outstanding researcher, and that both he and I as new flash investors, are/were making a good effort to understand what is going on in the flash industry. Communication on these boards can be difficult. I think we made some progress on SST's ADC product. At least we agreed that SST would be designing and providing the low density controller using SST's patented SuperFlash technology and that for now Apacer, SST's partner, will be purchasing the high density Nand portion of the ADC module from Toshiba, Samsung, etcetera. I still am not clear, however, whether any of this NAND flash will ultimately come from the FlashVision fab in Manassus, Virginia. I see you recently quoted from a 1999 SNDK annual report that lists SST in the list of companies SNDK receives royalties or license fees from as a result of cross licensing arrangements. So the question of whether SNDK receives any license fees or royalties from SST has been answered, although we have no idea to what kind of money this amounts to, nor whether SST receives in license or royalty fees from SNDK as part of the cross license arrangement. I think the question we are skirting around is to what extent SST uses either SNDK's IP or directly buys Nand from SNDK, for their high density NAND flash needs. This NAND question relates to your CompactFlash card question to me. The reason I said "slipped it in" in referring to CompactFlash cards in your summary of our discussion, is because our discussion had been limited to SST ADC. If you have previously ascertained the origins of SST's high density flash for CompactFlash cards with other posters and I missed it, I apologize for using an overly aggressive expression in referring to your post. I was gone for most of the month of July, and have subsequently read through thousands of posts, 1500 posts so far on the Gorilla thread alone, when I returned home. But in reading your post again, it looks like you have suggested a possibility for the source of SST's high density flash: I suspect (but cannot prove) that SSTI sells a controller for CF cards to an assembler (like Kingston) who packages the SSTI controller with off-the-shelf ultra-high density flash (possibly NAND) from an SSTI competitor. (Kingston could be the rough equivalent of Apacer in this instance. I accept this as a possibility. Again, if you have previous posts establishing that SST uses outside sources rather than inside sources for all of its high density NAND for CF, then please refer me to these posts. If SST does use all outside sources, I hope SNDK is the biggest beneficiary rather than Kingston. But knowing this would not diminish the attractiveness of SST as an investment to me. In addition, your question to me on CompactFlash specifically referred to "ultra" high density flash rather than just plain high density flash. One of the reasons I am invested in SNDK is because I understand SNDK is at the leading edge in developing the highest high density flash. If "ultra" high density NAND flash refers to the highest densities of high density flash, then it would be more likely that SST was fulfilling its "ultra" high density needs either directly or indirectly from SNDK. I believe M systems was the other company I read about that resided in the leading edge high density segment. Perhaps you can explain the difference between "ultra" high density flash and high density flash to me. With regard to SST doing a poor job leveraging its IP and being short term focused, I disagree and wish to make a post regarding this subject at a later date. For now let me say that both expanding margins and bottom line growth in EPS, which in SST's case is nothing short of spectacular and is superior to that of SNDK's, are pretty good indicators of how well this company is capitalizing on its SuperFlash IP. I am going to be extremely busy with my work and will continue this discussion periodically time permitting. Best, Huey Long both SNDK and SSTI

To: Ausdauer who wrote (13542)	8/12/2000 1:33:05 PM
From: hueyone	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 60323

Hello Aus, re:2) What is the real source of ultra-high density storage flash in SSTI's CompactFlash product? This February article seems to indicate that at least one source of high density flash for SST was Hitachi: robgalbraith.com Both Lexar and Sandisk sell cards under their own brand name, while Hitachi in some regions, including North America, sells both its controller (and memory) components to vendors for assembly and/or repackaging. These vendors include Microtech International, Simple Technology, Kingston, SST (Silicon Storage Technology) and Delkin Devices. Some will simply relabel Hitachi cards; others will actual assemble the components and tune the card’s performance slightly. I suspect SST was, and perhaps still is, combining SST's proprietary controller with high density flash purchased from Hitachi for its compact flash products. The SST controller would likely be designed with SST's patented SuperFlash technology. Such an arrangement would not be inconsistent with the arrangement you speculated about in your post below. But you also referred to other research regarding SST's CompactFlash that you are not inclined to repost: I have already posted the information that I have received about SSTI CompactFlash and am not inclined to redo my research. If you change your mind about re-posting your prior research I am listening. Best, Huey