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

To: slacker711 who wrote (27795)	3/30/2005 9:50:06 AM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 60323

Slacker and Pam: "I think we are set up for a tight NAND market until the end of the year." This will be especially true if SanDisk takes the lead and either lowers NAND prices or keeps them from going up. SanDisk appears to be following a policy similar to that used by Intel for expanding the demand for microprocessors in the 1990's. Intel kept pushing down the price of older chips, making it difficult for its competitors to generate sufficient cash to pour into new research. Meanwhile, Intel brought higher performing chips to market (at premium prices), always staying at least a few months ahead of its competitors. It should be noted that as a manufacturer gets more experience producing certain chips and wafers, its production efficiency goes up. Thus, even if NAND prices dropped, we could still expect profit margins to hold up for Toshiba/SanDisk. Meanwhile, the highly elastic demand for NAND will continue to increase if chip prices remain stable or fall. Fallout from the Lexar litigation should be negligible for SanDisk. Why? If there were some liability for SanDisk, the company would have to report that in an official filing and news release. So why do SNDK shares fail to reflect optimism for 2005? Tech stocks in general, and semiconductor stocks in particular are currently not popular with institutional investors. Art

To: slacker711 who wrote (27795)	3/30/2005 10:22:49 AM
From: Sam	Respond to of 60323

SanDisk Files Patent Infringement Claim Against Micron Technology In Federal District Court [EDIT: Here is an old claim. I don't recall what happened to it--it may still be rattling around the court system. SECOND EDIT: The suit was settled--see second artile below.] SUNNYVALE, CA, Oct. 15, 2001 – SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) announced today that it has filed a complaint in federal court against Micron Technology, Inc., Boise, ID, for infringement of a fundamental solid state flash memory system patent held by SanDisk. The action was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The patent, “Flash EEPROM System” (U.S. patent 6,149,316), was issued on November 21, 2000. SanDisk, a pioneering technology company in the flash memory market, holds more than 150 related patents. Charles Van Orden, general counsel for SanDisk, said, “We believe Micron is using SanDisk’s patented technology in an attempt to unfairly capitalize upon the innovations and advancements developed by SanDisk. SanDisk intends to vigorously investigate and prosecute unlicensed companies that improperly use SanDisk’s patented technology.” .... dpreview.com SanDisk and Micron settle infringement case EBN (12/23/2002 11:19 PM EST) SanDisk Corp. and Micron Technology, Inc. said today that they have settled and dismissed all pending litigation between the companies on mutually agreeable terms. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Last year, SanDisk, Sunnyvale, Calif., filed a complaint in federal court against Micron, Boise, Idaho, for alleged infringement of a fundamental solid state flash memory system patent held by SanDisk. The patent, "Flash EEPROM System" (U.S. patent 6,149,316), was issued on Nov. 21, 2000. my-esm.com