Member Info for Lindon

.... However, Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's handset business has significantly changed the software giant's supply chain for its new-generation tablet and has switched to the OGS technology from G1F. Microsoft made the switch because the OGS touch technology has achieved significant improvements in yield rate and better ruggedness at the panel edges. And the technology only requires processing on a glass and does not need to laminate sensors with optical clear adhesive (OCA), which gives the technology a significant advantage over G1F in terms of cost effectiveness. G1F is also losing its advantages in the supply chain of Korea-based vendors as ITO firm makers such as Nitto Denko have been aggressively expanding their capacities. China-based O-film has successfully entered Samsung tablet's supply chain with its metal mesh technology and Samsung has started to adopt single-layer multi-point thin-film touch technology for its entry-level smartphones. With the OGS technology growing mature, LG has started placing orders for OGS panels made by Taiwan-based TPK to complement the insufficiency in OGS touch panel capacities and yield rates of its affiliate LG Innotek. After G1F touch technology gradually losing its competiveness, Youngfast, one of major G1F touch panel suppliers, has started strengthening its mass production for traditional GFF touch panels and also tried to use its new glass-type touch panel capacities to mass produce OGS touch panels. Youngfast has also cooperated with Japan-based Fujifilm to start metal mesh touch panel production. Korea-based makers, which are also facing the same situation, are expected to adopt a similar strategy as Youngfast's. The G1F technology is likely to disappear from the market soon, Digitimes Research estimates.

... and there's more; Jason Yang, DIGITIMES Research, Taipei [Wednesday 11 June 2014] A G1F touchscreen is composed of a glass-type touch sensor and a thin-firm-type touch sensor with one controlling the touch panel's X axis and the other the Y axis. G1F-based touch panels have been adopted by Samsung Electronics and Microsoft in their high-end tablets and mid-range smartphones, while LG Electronics is also said to have considered equipping its high-end smartphones with G1F touch panels. However, the G1F touch technology's worse-than-expected cost-effectiveness has now led these vendors to other touch technologies. Microsoft's new-generation tablet is set to adopt an OGS touch panel, while Samsung is replacing G1F with an improved thin-film-type touch technology. LG has shifted its focus to the development of the OGS technology. The above factors are threatening the G1F's position in the touch panel industry. G1F was able to gain popularity previously because it was considered to be able to overcome the problems facing rival technologies at the time: the glass-glass (GG) touch technology had weight and thickness issues; GFF technology was seriously impacted by ITO film shortages; and the emerging OGS technology had weak ruggedness and poor production yield rates. Because of the advantages, Microsoft chose the G1F for its Surface tablet and orders were given to Taiwan-based Youngfast Optoelectronics. Youngfast later established its own glass-type touch sensor production lines and became the sole supplier of the second-generation Surface's touch panels. However, Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's handset business has significantly changed the software giant's supply chain for its new-generation tablet and has switched to the OGS technology from G1F.

This is a great example of stack production. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDj0uAJ720c

.... However, the glass-type touch panelcamp still has its supporters in brand name vendors. Amazon has adopted the GG touchscreen technology for its entry-level products. China-based smartphone vendors Lenovo and Huawei have also adopted glass-type single-layer multi-point sensors to pair with the GG and GFF technologies for their entry-level/mid-range smartphones. In March 2014, Apple announced it will stop producing the iPad 2, to be replaced by its 9.7-inch 2048-by-1536 GG-touch-panel-based iPad 4 for the 9.7-inch entry-level tablet segment. The company also continues to supply the iPhone 4/4s to fulfill emerging market demand. The production volume of the iPhone 4s is expected to reach 4-6 million units each quarter in the second half of 2014, helping the GG touchscreen technology to stay in the market. Digitimes Research estimates that Taiwan-based TPK and General Interface Solution (GIS) shipped over seven million touch panels for iPhone 4/4s in the first quarter of 2014, far higher than the original expectation. But it can still be foreseen that except for lowest-end white-box tablets, which will continue to adopt the GG touchscreen technology, other entry-level/mid-range smartphones' adoption rate of GG technology will gradually drop and be replaced by the OGS, which is expected to see increasing yield rates and decreasing production costs. Currently, two third of China's entry-level/mid-range smartphones have adopted GG solutions from China-based glass-type touch panel makers and the rate may drop to only one third by 2015.

Jason Yang, DIGITIMES Research, Taipei [Tuesday 10 June 2014] The traditional glass-glass (GG) touchscreen technology was once thought to be heading towards elimination from the IT industry as Apple, a major supporter of the technology, turned to other touchscreen technology for its new mobile devices. Compared to film-type touch panels, GG-based touch panels are heavier, thicker and have lower production yield rates. But Apple continues to sell the iPhone 4/4s equipped with GG-based touch panels in emerging markets and its GG touch panel-based iPad 4 is to replace the iPad 2 as its main device for the entry-level 9.7-inch tablet segment. Players such as Amazon and China-based smartphone and tablet vendors are also using GG-based touch panels for their entry-level products. With these products still around, Digitimes Research expects the GG touch technology to stay in the market for at least another year, until the OGS technology is able to improve the panel's ruggedness and production yield rates. The comparison between the ITO film-type and glass-type touchscreen technologies has always been a hot topic within the touchscreen industry. The glass-type touch panel is optically better, while the ITO film-type sees lower production costs, making it suitable for mass production and easier to expand production capacity. With the smartphone and tablet industries gradually expanding, the ITO firm-type touch panel has gradually become the mainstream of the entry-level/mid-range smartphone and mid-range tablet markets. As for high-end products, most vendors have turned to adopt OGS or embedded (in-cell or on-cell) touch panels, which are able to avoid the weight and thickness issues facing GG-based touch panels. Such a trend is threatening to eliminate the GG touchscreen technology from the IT industry.

Carclo (CAR) has lost two-thirds of its market value over the past year. So investors will be relieved that the Yorkshire-based business was able to report double-digit revenue growth for its March year-end, allied to a 23 per cent hike in operating profits to £6m. The manufacturer of injection-moulded plastic components not only beat analysts’ forecasts, but also managed to increase like-for-like cash flow by an impressive 14 per cent to £8.1m. Most of the plaudits can be directed at LED Technologies, where sales were up by over a fifth to £28.2m. And group earnings would have looked healthier but for £520,000 in exceptional charges, primarily related to litigation costs on a claim, now settled, against Uni-Pixel Inc. The share price collapse followed warnings of lower-than-expected sales at Carclo's high-tech division, Conductive Inkjet Technology (CIT), as its touch-screen business XSense faces increased competition and pricing pressures. In the event, CIT revenues expanded from £0.7m to £3.3m in 2013, in line with much reduced estimates. Carclo remains confident that the ongoing partnership with Atmel Corp will aid the development of the XSense business, but management gave no indication of current market trends. Liberum expects fully diluted EPS of 5.7p in fiscal 2015, rising to 9p the following year. IC VIEW: At 22 times forward earnings, Carclo's shares aren't expensive when set against lofty historic multiples. But they still price in a decent outcome for XSense, and there is little clarity on this point. Hold. Last IC view: Hold, 341p, 19 November 2013

Gocarclo... impossible to make a judgement on Pro 3 because a OGS has never been done in that size of screen before, also TS stacks are usually referred to as including the LED panel. Traditionaly the 'stack' is taken to include 4 layers although its called GFF.... glass + film + film.... Its also plus the LED panel cos its a given that you GOTTA have a dislplay!!! Microsoft have referred to the Pro 3 has having two 'opticle' layers & 0.75mm thick. The thinnest LED panel on the market is 1.2 mm thick. SO... Microsoft are using a wee bit of poetic licence... Its actually a 3 layer stack if we include the LED as normal. That means its a GF (Glass + film) ... either On- Cell where the 'cell' means the cover glass... OR In-Cell... where 'cell' means the LED panel glass... THAT is ALSO known as 'embedded' Its not possible to say what the grid is made of... but doubt its copper because Carclo have just said that they are working towards something like one of these solutions right now. " "CIT evolved its metal mesh technology with focus on manufacturing efficiency, line width and substrate agnosticism" "These key developments are either in evaluation trials with our partner or in the final stages of scaled up testing in Cambridge" Historically its not ITO due to hight sheet resistance AND haze AND poor SNR on this size screen. Historically.... silver just has the haze problem. XSense WAS thought to be the solution to these problems for this size of screen... but it seems its been left behind the curve. Copper has an issue too! Glare! Its why they have use a blackening agent... But they can only blacken the top surface once the copper grid is in place... Obviously! The problem to be overcome is how to blacken the underside of the grid which would become visible to a user in a OGS assembly. I dont see how they can but THAT problem could be why they have attempted to reduce the grid line width yet again! The more invisible the grid is the less glare will be noticable. I dunno... just my take on things... we'll just have to wait & see how things go between now & the autumn. They need to compete on the technology front... & they need to shorten & penetrate the existing supply chain so they can compete on selling price. If the new range of HP devices don't have XSense... those two issues have become paramount or XSense is a busted flush IMO.

gocarclo... IMO the sp at the current level is priced for the here & now... fair value for the reported results & what is being actually earned right now. In view of what has happened over the last 12 months 'potential' is a dirty word for this stock & consequently I believe most investors now have a ' forget the potential show me the money' attitude. 200, 300, 400, 500p has been seen purely due to 'potential'... very obviously & seriously wrong! Its now about 'show me the money' because those highly inflated sp prices were ALL about XSense & nothing else... XSense has gone nowhere & not many are interested in a high volume/ low margin plastic moulding business. Printed electronics, CDS & LED have little or no value at the present time & probably won't for at least a couple of years. Alongside a dire need to to penetrate the supply chain... I believe the following paragraph containing the bit about KEY DEVELOPMENTS is of paramount importance. "CIT has continued to evolve its metal mesh technology with a focus on manufacturing efficiency increases, line width reductions and substrate agnosticism. The key developments during the year in these areas are either in evaluation trials with our partner or in the final stages of scaled up testing within our Cambridge facility" I'm pretty sure that means they are trying to go for an On-Cell solution. In other words the film will be stuck to the underside of 0.4mm thin cover glass & that would then be stuck directly onto the LED display panel. IF they can do that AND penetrate the supply chain as they are supposed to be trying to do... then 'potential' will return to be flavour of the month & this stock will take off again. Until then 'the price is right'

HP debuts enterprise hybrid notebook-tablet and glut of PCs for SMBs HP’s new Elite 700 range is made up of a total of nine different notebooks and desktop PCs that will fit a number of different requirements. EliteBook 725 retaining a 12.5in screen, EliteBook 745 a 14in screen, and the EliteBook 755 has a 15.6in display, pricing starting at €749 [£608]. There will also be three Intel versions [EliteBook 720, 740, and 750] that will come out in September. Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/2014/06/05/hp-debuts-enterprise-hybrid-notebook-tablet-and-glut-pcs-smbs/#ixzz34G8iiHZB Plus: The HP Pro x2 612 ... with a 12.5 full HD display which gives businesses a fully functional hybrid that has the security required to make it reliable whereas the HP Elite 700 series brings notebooks and desktops that are designed to give small and medium-sized business optimal performance. ŚO.... it will be very telling to see if HP have kept with XSense. If they have... all well & good.... but if they have ditched it in favour of something else after incorporating it in the 3 devices previously released then it doesn't bode well for XSense.. If HP HAVE ditched it after being on board... then its difficult to see ANY other OEM win without the supply chain issues being sorted out first. SO much will depend on it!

gocarclo,,, I liked the bit about reducing the grid lines & also "substrate agnosticism" not sure what the hell that means exactly but I'm taking it to mean patterning the grid on glass rather than film, as a OGS. Although I'm not sure what the effect of that would be on the present production lines! Although its true & Carclo have admitted that its no longer about the tech... IF they can get price competative & join the TS market on a level playing field then (given Carclo is only a tiddler!) even gaining a reasonable portion of the TS would STILL have an enourmouse effect on the SP. Given the overall size of the TS market there is no reason IMO why the 400p plus levels should not be acheivable. As you know MY thoughts are that fair value is around 85p so my thinking is 123p is reflecting the premium for the current state of affairs... thats only my opinion. H1 is normally the quiet time for earnings but with the last HP device now coming on steam & the rest of TP bringing in more work then this years H1 results may show a considerable improvement from the norm. Printed electronics is the future IMO... that IS a slow growth story & again its a high volume/low margin story... but the market is potentially enormous!

Looks like the market got the sp around about correct last week. Nothing new but results all good. Plan A for XSense hasn't worked & premiums for the larger form factors are now not available... the once envisgaed revolutionary tech advantage is no more & its just another TS comodity amongst many others... they now working on plan B in order to try to make the supply chain competitive with those 'others'. All as expected. Debt has increased but they have negotiated another £6m on the overdraft to give more headroom & avoided a rights issue. The story is still about future growth rather than the hear & now. The niche car business is gaining traction but real revenues are not expected for another couple of years & the same goes for any new medical device which might eventually be seen... but even so, revenues for this first half have been increasing since March 31st so H1 results could well show a great improvement over the prior year & IMO probably justifies 120-130p although that might still seem a tad rich to some. It will be interesting to see what comes out of the analysts presentation. I'm looking for a forecast price target around 160p.

..... A combination of lower pricing and an aggressive purchasing stance from the OEMs, who are looking to include touch functionality as a standard content into the portable computer segment, has reduced the effective price of touch sensors by around half during the last twelve months. Premiums that were available for larger sensors, (i.e. those over 10"), due to the historical difficulty in manufacturing at these sizes with ITO, are no longer available. The touch sensor market remains an enormous market and manufacturers including HP, ASUS, Lenovo, Dell and a number of Chinese white box manufacturers are all believed to be using metal mesh solutions, from various suppliers, in several of their products and the adoption of metal mesh remains a key strategic objective of the major OEMs. CIT has continued to evolve its metal mesh technology with a focus on manufacturing efficiency increases, line width reductions and substrate agnosticism. The key developments during the year in these areas are either in evaluation trials with our partner or in the final stages of scaled up testing within our Cambridge facility. We are well resourced to scale coated film output from our Cambridge operation to support growth in sales of touch sensor materials. There are now limited needs for additional capital expenditure in our operation. During the year our manufacturing effort has been focused on continuing to drive our technology to improve both output yields and cost efficiency. We are working closely with our partner in order to support the cost competitiveness of our product and assist them to increase market take-up.

Very good results, in good position to take advantage of future growth. Glad to hear about high yeilds for coated film, predictably cautious but hopeful for XSense. Conductive Inkjet Technology (Touch) CIT commissioned its coating manufacturing facility on time early in the financial year and all coated film manufacturing was successfully migrated from the original pilot line to the new high-speed line ahead of schedule. Annual sales of coated film amounted to GBP3.3 million during the year, being a mix of sales for our partner's production qualification and sales for end customer products. Two program wins were announced during the financial year (HP Omni 10(TM) and the HP EliteBook Revolve 810 G2(TM)) and one was subsequently announced soon after (HP ElitePad 1000 G2(TM)). All three program wins were for HP products with screen sizes in the range of 10.1" to 11.6". During the financial year there were significant changes within the touch industry as a result of new competitors entering the market and latterly as a result of ITO vendors both lowering ITO prices and also improving electrical performance of these materials. It has been widely reported that there are over 20 companies now claiming to have metal mesh technologies. In practice competition has come mainly from a Japanese and a Chinese metal mesh manufacturer. In order to gain market share our competitors have priced aggressively against ITO based touch sensors, in particular the single layer One Glass Solution ("OGS") and the more mature Glass Film Film ("GFF") versions....

Yes... the google translation is better... the warrior man "believes this means that Atmel is in licensing talks with 10 touch panel manufacturers and at least one is expected to pick up XSense in the second half of this year". He has also said... "All this is top secret of course and it makes sense that a Chinese website would leak the news first" I agree with him & obviously as Atmel have already said they are exploring different avenues... there is a lot going on behind the scenes in an effort to try to resolve the supply chain issues.

Actually the volumes were described as 'challenging' when the agreement was made. But I don't think it matters now, its the cost of Carclo's production method PLUS an inefficient supply chain thats the problem. Photolitho is a subtractive, expensive & time consuming printing process & there is no way around that. It WAS competitive but due to the competitions 50% sell price cuts, that's no longer the case but not quite so bad as it may seem, its not JUST about actual production line costs. Atmel are looking to reduce the overall cost by licensing out their sensor making side of the process... that would shorten what at the moment is a very inefficient... & therefore costly supply chain. If Carclo can send the coated film directly to an ODM... They would do the sensor work AND the lamination & module assembly & pass it on to the OEM. Pretty much how the rest of the competition operate now. So that would create a level playing field. Its NOT JUST the production lines or the technology type that makes the competition be able to be cheaper... the supply chain costs play a huge part in it. It is too soon to say its dead.

This is why: UniPixel +34.9% after announcing operational update call UniPixel (UNXL) says it will hold a CC at 4:30PM ET on June 25 to discuss the progress it has made towards "achieving a reliable, high-volume, roll-to-roll production process" for its InTouch sensor films.After jumping yesterday in the absence of new, shares are now up 50% from Tuesday's close.Worth noting: 1) Shares are still down over 80% from an April '13 high of $41.42. 2) 3.9M shares (38% of the float) were shorted as of May 15, though that's down considerably from the 5.8M shorted as of Dec. 31.

Anyone who wants to listen in paint drying can hear the webcast from Atmels site http://ir.atmel.com/ Click on the June 4th 'more' link. Click on the 'listen to webcast' link. Registrar your email addy, pick an easy abbreviation to any company you can think of !!!! & you will be registered to listen to it. Press play & grab a beer or a glass of whiskey!!! S.A of which I am a pro member have not provided a transcript yet, they may not but usually do. If so I'll post up the relevant bits. Looks like the market sentiment IS looking forward to June 10th & HAS discounted ANY real prospects for XSense potential. My take on that is that it has decided fair value with a some of the bits of revenue from the 3 HP devices built into it IS around about right level for the time being. To be fair... Atmel did say that revenues from XSense will be substantially up this quarter.... but from a very low base line. The last device from HP with XSense is still in the process of being rolled out across the planet so at least SOME money will continue to be going towards the unwinding of the pre-payment as that device becomes more available. All they gotta do then is try to achieve sufficient sales in order to make inroads into the capex. Its gonna be a long road but there is a good chance they will get there IMO. One good thing to have come out of the exclusivity agreement with Atmel, if nothing else... is the new premises were bought for them by Atmel... & that in turn has allowed Carclo to turn the old premises into a modern up to date facility to concentrate on printed electronics!!

Atmel presented last night (11pm our time) It was webcast. I did post the details about that. There have been no more wins. The competions pricing has been far more aggressive than they expected & they "know they have made the investment" and so are continuing to look at ways of returning value to their shareholders such as licensing out production. Basically that means XSense is priced out of the market at the present time. My GUESS is that they are considering EITHER licensing it out IF that is a viable proposition or walking away as probably the only remaining options but they will wait to see if the collaboration with Corning comes to anything. Its now got to be rather doubtful IMO that anymore wins will be seen in the near future. I was wrong about the market sentiment so far today, it doesn't appear that no news has been seen as bad news. I'm pleased to say!

Still looking at licensing out. Nothing new. Market far more aggressive than they expected. Fancy that!

..... High resolution AHVA medical displays AUO will showcase 21.3-inch 3 megapixels (2048×RGB×1536) high resolution AHVA panel for medical use. The panel has high brightness, low color shift, wide viewing angle, and true 10-bit color depth for even finer images, which can increase diagnostic precision for medical personnel and meet the rigid specifications for high-end medical markets. With applications to security check, AUO will exhibit its fingerprint sensing technology with a resolution higher than 500ppi, in accordance with ISO international standards. AUO employs its specialized glass panel processing technology to trim the panel to 1.8 mm thick, overcoming common difficulties of semiconductor and optical sensing technologies to produce sensors that are large and thin in design. Ultra high resolution displays for smartphones, tablets and notebooks With respect to mobile devices, AUO will debut 8-inch WQXGA (1600x2560) panel for tablets. The panel adopts amorphous silicon TFT process and AHVA technology to achieve a resolution as high as 377ppi, making its production more cost competitive. AUO's 5.5-inch WQHD LTPS panel for smartphone enhances its pixel density to reach 538ppi, demonstrating even more exquisite image details and depth. Its narrow border design results in a mere 0.7 mm width from display area to panel border, substantially increasing the viewing area. Ultrathin in-cell touch AMOLED panel for wearable devices For AMOLED displays, AUO will present its 1.6-inch in-cell touch AMOLED panel for wearable devices. The panel is only 0.5 mm thick and power-saving, making it the best choice for wearable devices. AUO will also exhibit 5-inch flexible AMOLED panel adopting plastic substrate and thin film encapsulation technology, allowing the minimum bending radius of less than 1cm. The panel is only 0.2 mm thick, creating more possibilities for future wearable device applications. During SID Display Week, AUO will publish 19 conference papers on technologies, among which the inkjet printing technology for 65-inch full HD AMOLED TV display will be published. Inkjet printing is the trend for the future development of AMOLED TV technology, as its advantages include lower production costs, higher yield rates and production efficiency. In addition, Michael Sun, vice president of AUO's Mobile Solutions Business Group, delivered a speech titled "Display & Beyond Display" at SID Business Conference on June 2, in which he shared various opportunities and future possibilities for display technologies development.