| 1 | 1 | When the company reports speeds "comparable to DRAM" or "near to DRAM", does the company mean faster than DRAM - say less than 10 nanosecond reads, within typical 10 to 50 nanosecond read speeds, or slower than DRAM - say 50 to 100 nanoseconds or more? | Intention: to tease out some performance metrics.
As a Shareholder I want to start to understand the true value of what the team has here. The value is largely hidden in the performance metrics. |
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| 2 | 2 | It is not clear that agreements with imec would restrict this kind of information being communicated to Shareholders and the market.
Nor the agreements with Western Digital.
If either of the agreements with imec or Western Digital strictly prohibit release of this specific performance metric detail and information can you confirm that now for the record?
Regardless, how does the board respond to the following statement from a long term Shareholder which is relayed with goodfaith and without prejudice - "There is Shareholder concern at the apparent equivocation and use of ambigous language to conceal the reality of the situation and the avoidance of committment by the board by not releasing specific metrics". | Intention: confirm the release of performance metrics and data is prohibited under contractual arangements.
Intention: Note the Shareholder concern at lack of performance metrics. |
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| 3 | 3 | David Goeckler started as Western Digital CEO earlier this year, one of his first public statements on CNBC in an interview with Jim Cramer was to reduce the debt burden at Western Digital.
The question is, how does the 4DS board see Goecklers intentions affecting 4DS's goals? Particularly with respect to a corporate transaction. Or does this focus on debt reduction in anyway affect 4DS strategy and does the board have a plan in place to deal with and work with Goecklers agenda? | Intention: to gain insight into the Boards understanding of how impactful the debt reduction agenda at WD is.
As a Shareholder I want to know if the board thinks Goeckler's goals change the situation for 4DS. If they do, what are you doing about it? |
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| 4 | 4 | Does the board see a situation where Western Digital fails to enter into corporate transaction talks during 2021?
And does the board have appropriate relationships in place with other potential interested parties? | Intention: to gauge how likely the Board thinks a corporate transaction is, with WD or another party.
As a Shareholder I want some assurance that there is a contingency plan in place if Western Digital fails to acquire 4DS. |
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| 5 | 5 | Does the board see a Western Digital de-merger or sale of a business unit, such as selling the SSD or HDD business unit, on the near term horizon? Does this or would this negatively affect 4DS strategy? | Intention: to gain insight into the Boards contingency planning in the event of a major Western Digital de-merger or business unit sale.
As a Shareholder I want to know how closely the board is monitoring conditions at Western Digital and the market more broadly in the wake of a series of major M&A deals. (eg: Nvidia buying ARM, the Intel SK Hynix deal etc.) |
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| 6 | 6 | Can the board relay it's thoughts and sentiments on the rising US-China technology tensions.
What are the opportunities or threats to 4DS?
Does the recent Chips Act change anything for 4DS? | Intention: to gain insight into how the Board is responding to US-China tensions, and ensuing Government responses such as the Chips Act.
As a Shareholder I would like to be guided by the Board on what the US-China "technology war" means for the company. |
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| 7 | 7 | How will the board maximise shareholder return by only engaging with Western Digital? | Intention: to tease out if the Board is thinking of encouraging a bidding situation to maximise returns.
If there is no bid competition for 4DS IP and technology, then as a Shareholder, I struggle to see how the board will maximise the return to shareholders - enlighten us. |
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| 8 | 8 | How confident are you of a corporate transaction in 2021?
And do you expect that transaction to be an outright acquisition? Or a licensing deal? | Intention: to gain an unofficial sentiment from the Board. |
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| 9 | 9 | A shareholder earlier this year had an off the record phone conversation with a senior Western Digital Data Center products manager.
The Western Digital manager mentioned that Western Digital already has storage class memory solutions developed and tested. Specifically another ReRAM solution and a Phase Change Memory solution.
The Shareholder assumes the ReRAM that WD already have developed is the product that San Disk were working on at the time of the San Disk acquisition.
Regardless, the point is, Western Digital already have multiple Storage Class Memory solutions that the company is simply sitting on.
The indication was that the market was simply not ready for Storage Class Memory, and hence this was why WD had not launched their Storage Class Memory product/s.
The question is; does the Board agree that the world is currently not ready for Storage Class Memory? And if so, when will the market for Storage Class Memory establish itself? And does this impact appetite for an acquisition of 4DS by Western Digital, or any other party? | Intention: to gauge whether the broader market readiness for Storage Class Memory has the potential to push back an acquisition of 4DS. |
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| 10 | 10 | At last years AGM the board was quite direct in saying that the imec extension was for 12 months only, and that only 2 or so iterations were required to achieve a Mb test chip.
We now have multiple additional non-platform wafer lots, and a 3 step approach to developing a Mb test chip (integration, integration with transistors, integration with transistors and control logic).
Covid aside, what has changed? What is the reason for the adjustment in the roadmap to test chip? | Intention: to get a better understanding of what led to the change in roadmap from 2019 AGM |
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| 11 | 11 | Has HGST / Western Digital been more directly involved this year compared to previous years?
What does this mean? | Intention: to get a direct answer to what message is the board communicating by inferring a more extensive/leading involvement of WD/ HGST in announcements since April. |
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| 12 | 12 | The sales bonus pool is welcome bonding cost. What is the logic behind the 3 tiers of the sales bonus pool? What achieves the lowest bracket between $120M - $350M versus what achieves the highest bracket at $550M+?
What sales incentive bracket does the board realistically think they will achieve? | Intention: to uncover what a sale in each of the 3 tiers looks like.
Intention: to gain an unofficial rough ball park indication of which tier the the Board expects. |
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