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

To: Jason Rooks who wrote (20402)	6/5/2001 10:09:29 PM
From: orkrious	Respond to of 60323

Jason, great notes. Many thanks! Jay

To: Jason Rooks who wrote (20402)	6/5/2001 10:50:10 PM
From: Ausdauer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

Jason, Excellent notes and thanks for taking the morning off to attend. I wish I could have joined you there. I am happy to learn that SmartMedia will be a profit center and hope that SmartMedia as a percentage of total revenues is mentioned accordingly during the quarterly earnings reports. I am glad SanDisk is able to drive down costs and hope that the competitive market place will help "separate the men from the boys" as we go forward. As cost becomes the distinguishing feature of various products we can expect that we are entering into a commodity market. As competitors fail or leave the market we may observe that sales of SNDK branded cards (the commodity) will replace royalty revenues. I had hoped we were heading in the opposite direction, but it appears we are not. If Dr. Harari feels package assemblers are significantly disadvantaged we will see whether or not their numbers trail off over the next few years. Perhaps this will only happen when margins become razor thin. I hope that we are able to stay well ahead of the falling ASP's and I fully expect a couple more brutal quarters before things turn around. Aus

To: Jason Rooks who wrote (20402)	6/7/2001 8:20:30 AM
From: Ausdauer	Respond to of 60323

Jason, You said... "This will be the most advanced Fab of its kind in the world for the next 5-7 years. It will start production at 0.16 micron, then 0.13 micron, and then .10 micron, each step having a doubling effect in efficiency..." That line caught my eye and Eli's enthusiasm is echoed in the press release from yesterday announcing shipments from Dominion are beginning. The amalgamation of SanDisk's and Toshiba's expertise must be incredible and I am hopeful we will hear of great technological advances in the next few years as a result. In the near term the start up costs of the fab will undoubtedly weigh down earnings and impact profit margins until production yields are maximized, shipments pick up, end-user demand increases, and production efficiencies catch up with sharply declining ASP's. Thanks also on the Nikon information. I think it would be a mistake to build a card to the specs of a single manufacturer. Perhaps it is just by chance that the Lexar cards dovetail best with the Nikon firmware. For all practical purposes I still have doubts that the average user will notice much difference in performance between any of the known name brand flash cards currently on the market. Aus