My take on it is they keep talking to potential partners and...

My take on it is they keep talking to potential partners and haven't found anyone willing to commit. The pool of potential partners must be rather small, so I assume eventually they start talking to the same people again and hope they change their mind. All the while the official word from ASM is "partnership announcement this quarter", which as we know from the evidence isn't happening. I have posted previously my doubts on the validity of the last excuse to miss the December quarter promise. You, and many others, are bang on the money to point out the obvious commercial viability of such an operation. If you cannot make material at the right price, nobody is going to buy it. Apple are not going to offset their child labour profits and pay us a premium for materials. It's a dead horse unless government subsidise it. I want to change my sentiment to sell, but maybe I'm superstitious!