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Technology Stocks : Ascend Communications (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gary Korn who wrote (35101)	2/17/1998 9:28:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

INTERVIEW-CDT puts technology in new light Reuters Story - February 16, 1998 12:08 %NL %APL %IN %DRU %US %ELI %ENT %GB %CHE INTC PHGS HOEC.BO V%REUTER P%RTR By Neil Winton, Science and Technology Correspondent LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Cambridge Display Technology Ltd (CDT) reckons its "plastic that glows" will solve a problem which drives high-technology devotees to distraction. Computerphiles can send E-mail from their mobile phones, receive pager messages on their wrist-watches or surf the Internet on pocket-sized personal organisers. But they can't read the screen, or feel they are slowly going blind trying to. CDT said its Light Emitting Polymers (LEPs) will put an end to all that. LEP projects high-resolution pictures on to flat, flexible, plastic screens. CDT reckons this means televisions will eventually be thin, picture-frame sized sets that can be rolled up and stored when not in use. On Monday, CDT announced it will collaborate with Japanese electronics maker Seiko-Epson Corp to produce televisions and computer screens based on CDT's technology. In an interview, CDT Chief Executive Officer Danny Chapchal said the technology will have a myriad of uses as computers become ubiquitous. "It's a multibillion dollar market. You are talking about anything as simple as mobile phone displays all the way up to televisions and all the things along that route - the display on your hi-fi, on your microwave, on the dashboard of your car, and computer screens." The Cambridge-based privately held company, in which U.S. semiconductor giant Intel Corp has a two percent stake, declined to reveal financial details of the venture with Seiko Epson. But it did unveil a mini, working TV made from LEP. The 50mm square by 2mm thick device can show full television pictures. CDT describes LEP as "plastic that glows." It said Dutch electronics maker Philips Electronics NV will produce a telephone later this year which uses LEP. Other license holders include Hoechst , UNIAX and Innovative Display Technology. CDT plans to license manufacturers to make products it has designed and charge royalties on sales. "It's like (sound-system leader) Dolby. They licensed everybody to use their technology, then collected all the royalties. For the next few years we can see many, many millions of pounds in upfront license fees," Chapchal said. Royalties will follow. "If we just look at the bottom end of our projections, we are talking about (royalties of) tens of millions of pounds a year." Some analysts share Chapchal's enthusiasm. Nigel Saker, consultant at information consultancy OTR, said LEP is a promising technology. "It's a flexible, flat screen that you can bend to your requirements. It can be used for laptops, little displays in video recorders, set-top boxes, phones that display E mail. I'd put some money in it myself." CDT may float early next century. "Sometime within the next two or three years we will either go for an IPO (initial public offering) or we will go for some kind of a trade sale - a company will come in and take us over. It is true to say that we have had nibbles from other companies, but we don't think it is the right time now," Chapchal said. Other investors in CDT include Cambridge University with about 25 percent. A group of investors led by former British cabinet minister Lord Young of Graffham own a slightly bigger stake. The rock group Genesis, entrepreneur Herman Hauser and technology guru Esther Dyson, president of Edventure Holdings of New York, also hold stakes.