To: Investor2 who wrote (9566 ) 11/11/1997 11:46:00 PM From: Andrew Vance Respond to
*AV*--Here are my thoughts:On the whole I agree but with these concerns: 1) UTEK is trying to sell Pad and Ployimide machines into the Fare East for both process simplification and for cost efficiencies. Also, they have not completely abandoned hope for mix and match with the reduction steppers. Therefore, I can see some hopes getting dashed here for some revenues they might have been trying to attract. On the flip side, the problem in the Far East could actually be a blessing since technology marches on and these guys have to be as cost effective as possible. What if they need to upgrade or expand within existing facilities to save $$$$ in the Far East. Hey, its possible. Right on target!!!! No matter what, technology marches on. If you have the next great piece of equipment that does as you state, EVERYONE is forced to keep up with thje technology or lose a part of their competitive edge. P-GILD is a growing business for UTEK if it delivers all that it is supposed to do. I beleive it will I am in full agreement with you on this. However, I temper this with market acceptance by the mask makers who have been a slave and also loyal to ETEC. Its hard to crack that barrier sometimes. Quality will prevail but politics sometimes is factored in. BTW- I keep think that UTEK will somehow modify this system for direct write wafer applications for prototyping purposes within ASIC facilities and possibly for limited production applications. Think about it, a system that is roughly half the price of a DUV stepper (slight exaggeration). If a throughput of greater than 50% of a DUV stepper could be achieved, the UTEK system would be an odds on favorite because it eliminates the costly reticle process. I couldn't agree with you more. I just do not like all the bad press and price activity in the DD arena as of late. RDRT, APM, SEG, QNTM, and WDC have all been eviscerated. I am waiting for some follow through to UTEK because of this. UTEK will own the MR and GMR business, IMO. An added benefit to this is the prospect that QNTM may want to pull a SEG on the market. That is, QNTM may want to make its own MR/GMR heads internally at the expense of buying these items from the likes of a RDRT or APM. Hmmm!!!, if that happens, QNTM will undoubtedly be a NEW customer for UTEK. Always nice to have new customers. I also read an article relative to IBM and new higher density disk drives that they are building. Funny thing here is that IBM is also a customer of UTEK's for the MR/GMR head lithography tools. If we can just get beyond the market "correction" and get back on track again, this is going to be a very highly visible and profitable sector for UTEK given that the new generation of equipment from UTEK for this sector addresses a desirable field size upgrade that enhances throughput and eliminates the issues associated with "stitching". All I can say is, FROM YOUR MOUTH TO MARKET REALITY!!!
