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To: jbkelle who wrote (4155)	10/28/2000 12:46:36 AM
From: slacker711	Respond to of 10713

Article on Cree....gives an estimate of $1000 for the Nichia blue laser. newsobserver.com At Cree, blue light means go Blue-laser advances made By DAVID RANII, Staff Writer DURHAM -- After an investment of eight years and about $25 million, Cree has advanced its blue-laser technology to the point that it can now ship samples of its work-in-progress devices to manufacturers for incorporation in new product designs. Developing a blue laser is a holy grail of the electronics industry because its light beam, smaller in diameter than conventional red lasers, will enable computer disks to store three to four times as much information. Lasers are used to read information on CD-ROMs, DVDs and audio CDs. Although Cree still has technological hurdles to overcome before it has a finished product, the company expects to begin shipping small quantities of a commercially viable blue laser in the fiscal year that begins in July 2001. Holman Harvey, an analyst with Stephens Inc., said technological advances announced by Cree on Wednesday provided "further encouragement that they are making progress and they are on schedule." But on a day when the Nasdaq composite index dropped 5.6 percent, Wall Street showed little interest in Cree's news, and the stock dropped $4.13 to $81.88. Cree has done nothing but solidify its reputation for being a highly volatile stock in the past year. It hit a 52-week low of $36.06 in October 1999 and posted a high of $198.19 in March. Cree said Wednesday that its latest blue laser produced a continuous light beam for more than 100 hours. Although that's far from the 10,000 hours required for commercial use, the company is making progress in big bursts. It advanced from one hour to more than 100 hours of continuous light in just three weeks, according to Neal Hunter, chief executive officer of the 780-employee company. "These things happen rapidly," Hunter said. "We understand the fundamental barrier to getting to that next level. ... We are barreling down the road right now." Cree also has to pump up the power output of its device from between 1 and 3 milliwatts to the 30 to 40 milliwatts necessary for both read-only and read-and-write applications. But the company said it also has demonstrated the ability to generate as much as 100 milliwatts from a single device, much more than needed. Even with its latest advances, Hunter conceded that based on reported results, Cree remains No. 2 behind Nichia Chemical Industries of Japan in the race to develop a blue laser. But he is confident the company will be first out of the gate with a commercial product. Last year, Nichia began shipping sample quantities of a blue laser with a 10,000-hour life span. But Nichia's sample devices carry a hefty price tag: $1,000 each, according to Hunter. To be a commercial product, they need to cost a fraction of that -- $5 to $10. The blue-laser market is expected to be big enough for more than one player. One industry estimate is that the market will grow to $2 billion annually by 2008. Heavyweights such as 3M, Hewlett-Packard, Sony and Toshiba also are working on blue-laser technology, but Hunter said their development efforts aren't as intensive as those of Cree and Nichia. Staff writer David Ranii can be reached at 829-4877 or dranii@nando.com