Coby said they are flat out dealing with fab questions, as each fab is different, and they are also dealing with the "first" customers in various industries eg medical, industrial, so the work is more time consuming and will be streamlined in future. He said "the tornado is on the horizon". Basically once there are a couple more good fab signings the rest of the industry will get FOMO and start jumping on board in a frenzy. It is clear that Coby is looking forward to this coming of age moment when the power dynamic shifts. In terms of the slide listing the top 10 foundries and IDMs, Coby said they are talking to the "vast majority" (not SMIC as they are at the top of the blacklist). I asked whether, in the course of all these evaluations, the fabs/IDMs had identified any issue or problems with WBT's technology. Coby and Dadi quickly said "all of them", but more in the sense that every fab/IDM needs the tech tuned a certain way (eg no leakage for medical). Dadi said there had been no "showstopper" problems, which gave me confidence that the world's best are running a fine tooth comb over the tech and haven't come up with any serious problems. Coby said he had a phone conversation with one of the top 3 automotive companies and they are very interested in RERAM and said the only reason they weren't already using it was that it wasn't qualified at 150 degrees, which WBT is well on its way to being. Coby said WBT have 13 PHDs constantly working on tech R&D and improvement. Dadi said that if a company stops doing this, even a world leader who rests on their laurels, it is the beginning of the end for that company. So again, we have company leaders who know what to do and what not to do. Coby said we are the world's leading independent developer of RERAM, and said he believed we had a big moat (in response to confirming a question statement). He said there were 4 RERAM companies: WBT, Adesto, Crossbar and 4DS. Adesto and Crossbar are over, with WBT employing some of their ex-staff. 4DS is about 6 years behind WBT (evidence being megabit array announcement). He said two Foundries have their own RERAM (TSMC and Nuvoton(?)). But they just want to sell wafers, and don't have the team or the interest for providing customer-centric modifications. They will sell WBT tech if it comes with big customer orders. Which seems to rule them out from being serious competitors in the long run. There were some unfortunate questions from the audience, showing a serious lack of understanding of semiconductors or reality. Coby and Dadi dealt with them well. Summary being there is heaps going on, but semiconductors take time, so patience grasshoppers. My biased take is that WBT is a no brainer and soon will be bigger than sliced bread, and Coby and Dadi are well aware of this, but they are not allowed to say so, and they are sensible and law-abiding company directors. My suggestion that they do a SPP in the short term to issue free options to loyal existing shareholders was met with laughter from the audience and a random comment "only in Australia". Dadi did not appear to be amused. For the record I was serious.
Expand
(20min delay)