******: Weebit Nano (WBT) financial updates - 01/02/2024 (watch video - https://******.com.au/media/is-weebit-nano-being-unfairly-targeted-by-shortsellers?videoId=34231)

Is Weebit Nano being unfairly targeted by short-sellers?

Company news - 1 Feb 2024

Coby Hanoch shares insights about Weebit Nano's (WBT) growth as a company. Coby says that after a period of pre-revenue R&D, Weebit Nano now enjoys customer confidence and revenue growth, transitioning to a commercial company. Notably, Weebit Nano has secured an agreement with top ten foundry DB Hi Tech of Korea, whose clients include renowned companies like Intel, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba. The technology transfer now facilitates the manufacture of Weebit Nano's technology for these companies, signaling a significant win for the memory tech developer.

Coby confirms his bullish outlook for the year ahead, with his goal for Weebit Nano to become the undisputed leader of the ram space by the end of the year. He says that remarkable progress has been made, with the company now engaged with the majority of the top ten foundries and top ten IBM's. The burgeoning semiconductor market, expected to cross a trillion US dollars soon, could provide substantial opportunities for Weebit Nano's growth.

Countering analysts' claims of Weebit Nano being targeted by short-sellers and labelled as a 'meme stock', Coby asserts the company's strength in the semiconductor market. He attributes the shortselling to a lack of understanding of the market and sees a clear path towards growth as Weebit Nano continues to impress big players in the industry and secure more deal

Below is an unedited transcript of the interview:

Memory tech developer Weebit Nano has released its quarterly report and its management remains positive on the future. Let's get more on those results from Weebit Nano CEO Coby Hanoch, who joins me now. Coby, you didn't see much revenue in that latest reporting period. Just talk us through the numbers.

0:23

Well, actually, this was the very first quarter which we ever got any revenue in. So I think for us this was uh, uh, a small celebration. We, uh, we're now having, uh, customers that are actually believing in the technology. We've moved from being a pre-revenue R&D company to a commercial company. We actually signed an agreement with one of the top ten foundries in the world with, uh, DB hi tech from Korea and, uh, DB high tech might not be a name that you recognize, but I'm sure you'll recognize some of the names of their customers, including Intel, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and many others. Um, so that was a very big win for us. We started, uh, transferring the technology to them so that they can, uh, manufacture it for their customers, uh, in semiconductors. And I think this is something that our shareholders

1:23

know. I've been talking about it for a long time. Uh, you know, the ramp up is slow. Uh, everything takes time. Just manufacturing, doing a round of manufacturing takes half a year. So, uh, you know, things, uh, don't ramp up, uh, from one day to the other, uh, to huge numbers. But, uh, the fact that we got these, uh, first revenue numbers, uh, and I think, um, they were very nice, uh, as, as a first, uh, as a first payment, actually, we got from two customers. We got payments. So it was really nice. Um, and, uh, now we're, uh,

2:01

we're ramping up, doing what's called qualification. Uh, we will be doing it. Uh, don't go. Uh, and so, um, and we are making very good progress and other things that we reported to the market is we are now engaged with the majority of the top ten foundries and top ten IBM's. Uh, we are in evaluations with several of them were even in negotiations with, uh, some of them. So, uh, we're actually very bullish, uh, about this year. Uh, my goal is, uh, by the end of this year to be recognized as, as the undisputed leader of the ram space. And, uh, you know, from what I'm seeing, we're going to have to work very hard for it. Uh, but I see a clear path, uh, getting there. All right, well, you made a very good point of qualifying that any revenue is better than no revenue. So revenue of 455,

2:59

$457,000. Excuse me for the period. What about in terms of where you're operating? Cash flow is.

3:07

So we, uh, when you're developing such a technology, uh, you you have a lot of things going on in parallel, and you need a manufacturing facility, a fab, which I guess right now we're seeing on the screen, uh, these fabs are extremely expensive. Uh, we partnered with Leti, which is a research institute in France that has a very advanced, uh, facility. And, uh, we actually pay them based on milestones. So in some of the previous quarters, people were asking me, you're not spending any money on R&D, what's going on? And it just happened that in the last quarter, many of these, uh, milestones were reached. And

3:55

so we we had a bigger payment. I think that they looked at our expense, look at them on a yearly basis, but on a quarterly basis, we some quarters we hardly. Yeah. Uh, we hardly have any R&D expenses. And then other quarters we pay levy a lot of money for multiple milestones. Uh, when we talk, though, about your figures, I mean, there was quite a lot of selling coming through in your share price yesterday. And some analysts are saying that short sellers are targeting the company, labeling it a meme stock. How do you respond to that?

4:36

Well, anyone who knows anything about semiconductors and what's happening in this market would laugh at that, uh, claim. Uh, you know, we bet is a very, very strong company today. We are engaged, as I said, uh, actively with, uh, the big players in this market. Actually, if you look at the Ram market, you know, Ram is at the money. That's very, very difficult to develop. Um, there are only four solutions right now, really, in the world that are at a commercial phase. Um, the other three are in the hands of, uh, foundries of companies that manufacture, uh, technology. You know, those foundries will not give their technology to any other manufacturing facilities, foundries or idms or whatever. So we've been as really an effectively is the only, um, neutral if you want to call it that way or uh, independent

5:36

supplier of this technology which is causing now many, many customers, many foundries, many idms and product companies, uh, to turn to we bid, uh, for this, uh, technology. So we are in a very good place. Uh, we're really engaged. Getting these deals is is a very long negotiation with with DB high tech. It took more than a year and a half of negotiation to close the deal. We're now in negotiations and in evaluations with others. Uh, and moving forward in the industry, I think we're recognized as having a very strong, uh, technology. Uh, you know, Ram we jumped right into it. But let me step one step back. Uh, semiconductors, first of all, for those who don't know, and I know many in, in Australia don't really know this market. This is going to be very soon. More than a trillion US dollar market.

6:36

It is very fast growing. Everything that you do today, you know, has semiconductors in in them, the cars, the computers, the, you know, washing machine and whatever you want to talk about has semiconductors in them. Memory is the largest market, is the largest segment in this market. And and just the non-volatile memory market is expected to be more than 120 billion USD in the near future. Uh, this is a big market. It's a very difficult market. Ramp up times are long. Uh, I I've said that for for a long, long time. I've set the expectation we won't be ramping up to huge revenues very quickly. But when we sign agreements with ADB Hitech, you know that behind that, you have all of these big companies that are going to be there. So we're very bullish. We're we believe we're in a good place. Yeah. And uh looking forward. All right. Well

7:36

then Kobe to my other point, if um, sellers have been targeting your stock, do you think it's unfairly priced at the moment?

7:46

Well, uh, you can see that we're one of the most shorted talks on the market today. I think it's it really reflects the fact that these guys just don't understand semiconductors and don't really know what's going on. I'm confident that as soon as we get to additional deals with some of the other major players in the market, uh, you know, the situation will clear. So, yeah, I, I don't understand why they are shorting. I mean, I can understand that. They just don't understand the market. They don't know it. I'm glad that our shareholders and I'm getting a lot of feedback from loyal, you know, long term shareholders who understand it much better. And and they seem to understand the potential here. So we're going to be delivering and I hope to surprise these shredders. Um, I believe we will. All right. Kobe. And, uh, when we last spoke, we had just seen the start of of tension where you are. It's got very bad, uh, for the global humanitarian

8:46

crisis. Just tell us how everything is going where you are.

8:52

Well, uh, you know, we we live in a in a crazy situation right now. You know, of course, when you see what's going on in Gaza, everyone feels bad for the citizens of Gaza. I think the the world has forgotten that there are kidnapped people who don't even get to see the Red cross. They don't get to get any of their medication or anything. And so it's crazy. It's a very difficult situation here. Um, you know, we're uh,

9:21

uh, we're very, very surprised to see some of the reactions in the world, uh, you know, after this, uh, outrageous, uh, massacre that was going on here, uh, on October 7th. But if you talk about Israel, you know, Israel is a strong country. It manages to overcome these situations. And and that's what we're doing. And in terms of, uh, the high tech industry and the industry in general, we have a tradition of not allowing these situations to interfere with the work, uh, despite everything that's going on. And it is insane. And people drafted to the Army and, and a lot of other things, uh, we're continuing on track with it has not missed any of its milestones and will not miss any of its milestones, uh, because of the situation. And I think that's the key thing we're moving forward. Uh, I just came back from a business trip to the US, which was very successful. So, um,

10:21

it's crazy, but, uh, yeah. What can we do?