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To: fred whitridge who wrote (3509)	4/6/1999 5:18:00 PM
From: Tom Hoff	Respond to of 8393

Maybe Enron will take another investment shot at USSC now. BP Amoco Invests $45 Million in Solarex Stake to Create World's BiggestSolar Company LONDON, April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- BP Amoco (NYSE: BPA) today stepped up investment in its growing solar energy business with an announcement that it is to buy the 50 per cent stake it did not already own in Solarex, one of the world's leading solar companies in the US, for $45 million. The buyout of what was previously a 50:50 joint venture between Amoco and Enron will create the largest solar company in the world. The integrated company will be called BP Solarex and will build on the current business activities of Solarex and BP Solar. It will have annual revenues of more than $150 million, representing a 20 per cent share of the global market. It will have manufacturing operations in four countries -- the USA, Spain, Australia and India, producing around 30 megawatts of solar products each year. BP Solarex will have prime positions in leading-edge solar technology, most notably the new generation of thin films, as well as offering the world's broadest product range in crystalline silicon. BP Amoco chief executive Sir John Browne said: "BP Amoco already has a strong track record in solar, with leadership technology in key areas. This acquisition is another significant step towards our target of building a $1 billion solar business over the next decade. "Our investment is part of BP Amoco's wider aim of making solar an increasingly larger contributor to the energy mix of the 21st century, in line with our determination to offer our customers progressively cleaner fuels with a diminishing impact on the natural environment," Browne said. BP Amoco recently unveiled plans to make cleaner, greener fuels available in more than 40 of the world's major cities most troubled by pollution and smog. It has also targeted a 10 per cent reduction from a 1990 baseline in greenhouse gas emissions from BP Amoco's own operations by the year 2010. The integrated BP Solarex company will be headquartered in Frederick, Maryland, USA. It will be headed by Harry Shimp, who was recently appointed president and chief executive of Solarex, and its chairman will be Steve Gates, executive vice president and chief of staff of BP Amoco. The acquisition from Enron, which is subject to a number of regulatory and other approvals, is expected to be completed by the end of April. SOURCE BP Amoco CO: BP Amoco; Solarex; Enron; BP Solarex; BP Solar ST: Maryland, Virginia, California, England, Australia, Spain IN: OIL SU: ECO JVN RCN 04/06/99 11:59 EDT prnewswire.com

To: fred whitridge who wrote (3509)	4/6/1999 11:04:00 PM
From: Ray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8393

Fred, thanks for the references to IBM's TMJ and Spintronic devices. I do not have much confidence in the clarity and accuracy of news articles, but as nearly as I can tell from the NY Times and Red Herring sources, IBM may have a very difficult time bettering ECD's OUM. The articles indicated, if I read them right, that IBM was 5 to 10 years away from commercial devices, that the present response speeds were about 10 ns compared to OUM's 1 ns, and the IBM devices seemed to need several layers compared to our two (?). Also, the IBM memory cells are about the size of the capacitors in present memory devices, and I think ECD's cells are significantly smaller. All I have said above must be taken as speculative until confirmed. Also, we need to remember that the best devices do not always win - IBM's money and marketing clout are formidable. Ray