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

To: Maurice S. Green who wrote (183)	9/25/1998 3:34:00 PM
From: HerbVic	Respond to of 301

Hey, we're never too old to learn. It's knowing what to do with the newly found knowledge that's difficult. And in the market, knowing something is no help if the rest of the investors can't see it. Yes, there should be only a few implanters. Seven by my estimate. Motorola paid for a lot of the research. IBM and Motorola were allied in technology development. There may have been some IBM money put into IBIS as well, but Ibis is an independent company. THIS FROM THE (undated) CORPORATE OVERVIEW: To assure the Company's ability to meet increasing industry demand for SIMOX wafers, Ibis has designed and constructed two next generation Ibis 1000 series implanters which are expected to be the workhorses for future production of SIMOX material. The two Ibis 1000 implanters supplement the Company's two current-generation SIMOX implanters (for a total of 4 implanters on-line), with planned capacity expansion available as demand escalates. The Company's core strategy is to be the world's leading supplier of ultra high-quality SIMOX material. It does not actively market its Ibis 1000 series implanters. --EXCERPT-- Ibis' customers that have purchased sampling quantities of SIMOX wafers within the past 24 months for evaluation in commercial applications include Digital Equipment Corporation, Fujitsu, IBM, Intel, Motorola, NEC, Nippon Denso, NTT, Philips, Samsung, Semtech, Sharp, Siemens AG and Toshiba. Ibis currently has three customers that are in pilot or full-scale production using SIMOX wafers for what the Company believes are commercial applications. Among them is Honeywell Inc. Solid State Electronics Center. --END-- THIS TAKEN FROM THE AUGUST 6, 1998 PRESS RELEASE: As a result of our sustained and expanded marketing efforts both domestically and internationally, we are increasing the number of strategically placed Ibis 1000 oxygen implanters with the sale of two additional implanters to IBM and one implanter to Mitsubishi Materials Silicon Corporation, as previously announced. --END-- The latest news dates September 14, 1998. It asserts that a newer process is developed which doubles through-put with "good yields." Nothing is said about any new implanters yet. TO SUMMARIZE: There were 2 original implanters. There were 2 Ibis 1000 series. That brings the total to 4, online. One of the Ibis 1000 implanters was sold to IBM (re: March 23, 1998 - Electronic News, SOI Heads For The Fab.) IBM ordered 2 more and Mitsubishi Materials ordered one. So, currently there should be a total of 7 implanters, assuming that the IBM and Mitsubishi orders have been filled. I don't think that there is another one at Motorola, as one of the Ibis 1000 implanters was financed by Motorola and the two companies are working together on the technology. They may be currently building more implanters as these new, more efficient processes are developed. IBM's deal with Ibis does bear royalty agreements. It is not clear how the payments are defined, or how much revenue will be generated. The royalty should be on wafer production, but I understand that some investors believe it to be on implanter production. IBM will add the SOI technology to the copper technology during 1999. The current crop of copper processors are not using SOI. It does not look as though IBM is interested in buying Ibis as yet. Motorola and IBM are still cooperating in developing new technologies, and such a move might not sit well with Motorola. It appears as though there are going to be a number of companies bringing SOI wafers to market in 1999. IBM plans to sell wafers as well as use the technology in their own products. Ditto that for Motorola, I'm sure. Sharp has been evaluating various SOI technologies and has stated publicly that the SIMOX method from Ibis is the best. They have also asserted plans for full production of SOI wafers. All of the other companies listed above are in various stages of evaluation. The broader industry slump is the single greatest drag on SOI adoption. But since IBM has picked up the ball, momentum for a "Statue of Liberty play" on SOI technology is building. This should be a great stock to hold in 1999. HerbVic

To: Maurice S. Green who wrote (183)	9/28/1998 2:02:00 PM
From: HerbVic	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 301

Maurice, I noticed using Quote.com's Live!Charts that there is some large block buying going through on IBIS. 15,000 shares at $12 in three blocks around 1:30 est. 5,300 shares at the same 5 minutes later. All at the ask. I also noticed that nearly every time just prior to these large block trades the MM tempts selling by dropping the bid and selling a small block. At least it appears that way. There was some news from DataQuest today concerning projected increased demand for chips in 1999. That may be driving some of the buying. I wonder if it will last long enough to get us back up to 13? HerbVic