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Technology Stocks : Wolf speed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: harvest-1934 who wrote (766)	3/27/1998 11:21:00 AM
From: Toby	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10714

Harvester says "the market for auto use which they are the only one for blue is larger than Nichia use for outdoor signs." Then how come Nichia did $100M in GaN LED business last year, and Cree MUCH less? I think the word "potential" is missing in the above sentence. Cree may have a vertical device, but it doesn't produce as much light, which I don't think is questioned on this thread. Cree's vertical device (6 Cd withstanding) is probably smaller than the Nichia chip, but Nichia is using 2" sapphire wafers, and Cree is only piloting at 2", so production costs are a wash. Nichia has the high end. Cree has a profitable low end market. Competition is coming in droves this year. The competition will target Cree's market, because no one can make as good an LED as Nichia, and therefore can't sell in the high end. The question for Cree investors to consider is if Cree will maintain profitability in a market with more than two large vendors. I would guess six companies will be shipping in volume by mid 1999.