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If you have time, watch the Nanosys presentation at Qdot Forum.
Trevor posted the link over the weekend.
https://www.nanosysinc.com/news/2019/3/21/2019-quantum-dots-forum-recap
No one is saying anything. We don't know what the margins are at $12/gram.
In the presentation, Jason Hartlove (CEO Nanosys) provides data that states they are selling qdots at $12/gram for displays.
I personally assume they are making money on this, but clearly others have different views. I think they have been dropping price as they have improved their process and scaled up for mass production. The reduction in sale price meets what is needed for mainstream market acceptance for displays and other product development.
Hartlove also spoke about market growth and the fact that $400 is the cheapest qdot TV coming to market soon. I see this as qdots become common product and a consumer product for all consumers. This in turn means faster market acceptance and growth for the qdot market. It's a win in my book for QMC and Nanosys. QMC is showing that they are breaking into the market in India and if they land anything else this year, their market share will likely grow with the market demand.
Let's go back to actual terms in the contract.
To your last comment and my response to end product royalty, for solar, if QMC has the IP and design, then I could see them getting a percentage of the end product revenue. I just don’t see it happening for a display product since qdots are such a small portion of overall component costs.
I’m not assuming either is better than the other. I’m talking current business status and cash flow.
Nanosys is the market leader. When QMC breaks into the market with full production via license or direct sales, then we can talk about performance comparisons.
Don’t get me wrong, I want QMC to succeed, but this down playing of the only leading competitor is just silly. Fact is that Nanosys has the market cornered at the moment, but QMC looks like they may start gaining some of that market this year.
Whatever their operating costs are, they've stated they were cash flow positive a couple years ago.
Whether they are just breaking even or rolling in cash, we don't know, but they are going bankrupt on the margins they are getting, at least not yet.
It's more than QMC can say at the moment. Granted QMC looks like they may be cash flow positive at the end of this year.
I believe QMC has about $6 million in annual operating costs per last filings. With $7-10 million in revenue expected this year, they should come close to breaking even on operating costs. And that's just on the India deal. If they can only close one other deal, we'll all be very happy about the books at the end of the year.
Your argument falls short. If the VCs thought margins were going to get squeezed, they would have done an IPO a year ago before prices continued to fall. It's simple economics now, lower margin but higher volume equals more revenue and subsequent profit.
Except, Kurt’s argument still holds. You can have partners, but end product users are still going to squeeze supplier margins eventually. I’m sure Nanosys is likely still making a good margin on $12/gram.
The advantage for Nanosys or QMC is that prices have dropped significantly enough to make major market penetration a reality. When Qdot TVs are now available to every consumer at $400 per TV, we have arrived into the mainstream consumer market. It’s no longer a premium provider. Price per gram and margin goes down but volume goes way up therefore surpassing previous revenues. Supply and demand, micro economics 101.
Only argument I had is that we don’t know what QMC can produce and sell their qdots. What if QMC can manufacturer at a fraction of $12?
Still too many unknowns for us to evaluate the future potential.
By giving the $12 value, I think they’ve given QMC an advantage. Of course QMC likely knew approximately where Nanosys was on sale price.
I think if QMC lands a display partner, we will see similar share price growth. Displays pull more media coverage than solar or licensing agreement payments.
Upside for investors if QMC retired a majority of this debt with India cash is that we got less dilution than if $500,000 was converted. That’s a very big win in my opinion.
I assume any shares that Carson received will have 6 month restrictions like the rest of QMC direct investors like myself.
Actually, I may have misspoke. Looks like conversion of remaining balance. Probably some cash payment from India revenue with remainder as conversion.
If I recall correctly, about $500k was due to Carson last month.
Guess he likes where QMC now regarding progress. He chose conversion over cash,
I take it as good sign when a large investor wants shares over cash.
Lol! You said it!
She doesn’t want me to talk about QMC anymore. I think her threshold was when it gets back to $0.20, then I could talk with her again.
So you all are my only outlet, misery loves company, lol!
Make it 5 more for me.
Just need a little news bump from receiving more payments for licensing and reactors. Maybe it'll get us back into the teens.
Lol! Retirement conference! I like it!
Hopefully, it's the shareholders retiring and not the company. ;)
Correct. This is just 1-2 reactors. Any other licensing deals or direct sales would add to the valuation. Things are looking good, especially if they can land something in the display sector for 2019 production.
QTTM is making me happy right now, but I'll be much happier when I'm in the black again.
Those were some of my thoughts. Are they selling near cost to just get market penetration? We’ll never know until they are public.
I think the biggest take away from Nanosys presentation is the market status and continued growth.
Qdots are about to hit mainstream TV sets for $400 due to reduced cost per gram. That will drive more market growth as consumers demand rises. This means more opportunity for all qdot suppliers that can equal or exceed performance characteristics for equal or less cost.
Nanosys has done the qdot market a tremendous thing by bringing a solid qdot to market in displays. Now let the real games begin as new product development continues and opens up qdots to multiple product streams beyond displays. If QMC continues market entry further this year and makes a break into displays on top of their current India progress, this will be a great show to watch.
Good point. He may be referring to cost to buyer.
Also to note, if you look at total qdot sales last year, assuming all were revenue for Nanosys. Do the even break even with their overhead, operations, and R&D cost if they are selling the dots between $12-$20 per gram?
I’ll have to take a stab at finding sales numbers for last year to see what revenue would be for them.
Also, notes that the price was sales price not cost.
In Nanosys presentation, they state cost of $12.15 per gram for IP C-S-S. Other types may have different costs.
Also, what company in their right mind with a monopoly on the market would give their actual costs? What is the benefit to give such a number other than to possible try to force competition out of the market if they can’t produce that low?
It also doesn’t benefit them to give that to their buyer. If that is real number, buyers would start squeezing Nanosys margin.
I’m baffled by the number being made public if it’s legit.
Wouldn’t that be adjusted for new production level from one reactor?
Or multiple reactors?
This is only on news of first payment of $500,000 licensing fee. They are expecting another $500,000 payment for licensing fee any day now. Also another $2-3 million payment is expected soon (80% of milestone for order of two qdot manufacturing reactors).
QMC forecasted $7-10 million total revenue in 2019 from first licensing deal.
Especially with steady movement up with no recent news to cause it.
Definitely what I would want to see. That would give validation to tech.
That spike was the combination of these two press releases in my opinion. Likely more heavily impacted by QMC Asia announcement since the spike started upon announcement.
QMC showing at CES 2017, PR date January 4, 2017
http://www.qmcdots.com/press/press62.php
GTG and QMA China investment, PR date January 30, 2017
http://www.qmcdots.com/press/press62.php
That’s some hefty confidence!
I've been told the same thing by individuals I know that used to trade the OTC professionally. The shorting typically occurs after a strong up trend when the volume slows down. They do it behind the vale of the one MM where borrowing of shares isn't visible.
Coincidentally, when we hit $0.05, the volume dropped from 5-7 million a day to about 2-3 million while the price reversed. Clearly the buying pressure subsided that day, but we also saw a MM (WDCO), that historically has not participated in the daily trading of QTMM, start playing both sides of the bid and ask on that very same day that volume dropped.
Could be coincident, but if it quacks like a duck!
Only known items to consider for May is the 1st Quarter 2019 10Q due on May 15. QMC is expecting another $500,000 licensing fee payment and 80% of the reactor order payment per recent press releases.
Also to note, Display week is May 14.
http://www.displayweek.org/
We've had no display progress updates from QMC, maybe that is a good indication they may be under NDA as product is finally being developed. Or the opposite side of coin, no further progress has been made in bring something to market. The last update we had on displays was in the shareholder update in January.
Another company making a run at QDSC.
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2019/04/02/ml-system-to-build-bipv-module-factory-in-poland/
https://mlsystem.pl/?lang=en
We haven’t heard anything about the debut of their new remote phosphor QLED display that they were supposed to show to OEMs in February.
Would be nice to get some info on how that went.
A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR QUANTUM DOTS
By Mary Page Bailey | April 1, 2019
The novel performance characteristics and tunability of quantum dots make them a promising nanomaterial in numerous emerging applications
Quantum dots (QDs) represent a broad group of semiconducting nanoparticles that feature a unique combination of optical and electronic properties. For example, QDs provide many of the same benefits as organic dyes in existing applications, but they are more robust in terms of light-conversion capabilities and can also withstand harsh chemical solvents, higher temperatures and corrosion, while generally providing a broader light-absorption band. Perhaps QDs are most prominently known for their ability to emit extremely pure colors for long durations (Figure 1) — they have been widely used to improve the display characteristics of high-end televisions. But QDs’ applicability stretches far beyond consumer electronics into wide-ranging potential end uses from solar power to agriculture to water purification.
FIRST CONTINUOUS PROCESSING METHOD
Quantum Materials Corp. LLC (QMC; San Marcos, Tex.; www.qmcdots.com) has developed what is said to be the world’s first continuous production process for QD manufacturing. QMC’s technology uses all fluidized materials and continuous-flow reactors, whereas the vast majority of QD production depends on batch production. “We use microflow reactors, which can achieve high rates of heat and mass transfer, resulting in a very uniform product. Therefore, very little post-processing is required,” explains Krishna Kowlgi, senior research engineer at QMC. In addition to product homogeneity, another benefit of continuous QD processing over batch is time — the entire continuous-flow process can be automated and requires much less manual intervention. “From start to finish, it takes a minimum of 5 s to a maximum of 19 min, based on the QD material type, to convert raw materials to functional QDs. We think this is the fastest QD production currently on the market. The numbers in literature for batch QD processes range from multiple hours to days or even weeks,” adds Kowlgi. He emphasizes that QMC’s reactors are flexible enough to produce different QDs for different end uses. “The light-emission capabilities of the QD depends on its geometry and chemical composition. A 4-nm spherical QD would produce different emissions than one with a 3-nm diameter,” he adds. Due to the fluidized flow chemistry of QMC’s process, QDs are produced in solution, so they are either filtered or undergo some other type of post-processing separation step.
Currently, QMC has production capabilities to manufacture around 3 kg/h of QDs at its site in San Marcos (Figure 2). In late 2018, the company signed a license agreement to construct a large-scale QD plant in Assam, India. QDs produced at the Assam site are expected to mainly be deployed in solar power and display and lighting applications. Once operational, the Assam site will be among the world’s largest manufacturing plants for active nanoparticles, and the only industrial-scale site to employ continuous QD production.
Moving forward, QMC is continuing to push the boundaries of its continuous-flow process. “Because the flow reactors have a very small footprint, they are well suited for handling extreme process conditions,” explains Kowlgi. By examining different combinations of processing conditions, more robust QDs can be tailored for a broader range of end uses. Kowlgi lists anti-counterfeit inks (Figure 3) and tags, digital camera sensors and photovoltaics as important emerging application areas for QDs in the coming years.
QDS FOR SUSTAINABILITY
QDs also hold promise in improving environmental sustainability. UbiQD, Inc. (Los Alamos, N.M.; www.ubiqd.com) has developed specialized QDs for agricultural and solar energy applications. According to Hunter McDaniel, founder and CEO of UbiQD, the company’s QDs bring together a unique semiconducting composition and a novel luminescence mechanism into a low-toxicity formula — based on zinc or copper rather than commonly used, more toxic materials, such as cadmium (Cd) or lead (Pb) — to enable QDs’ use in applications that were not previously accessible at a commercial scale. “Our main focus is large-area applications that involve the manipulation of sunlight. Greenhouse agriculture and commercial building windows are our priorities. In both cases, we are partially absorbing sunlight, changing the color, and then re-routing that light energy to either boost crop yield or generate electricity.” explains McDaniel. The UbiGro greenhouse-focused product line is commercially available, while the solar-window materials are still in the development phase. UbiGro is an active QD-based film used on greenhouses (Figure 4) that red-shifts the sun’s spectrum. McDaniel says that UbiGro has shown effectiveness in improving yield and quality over a variety of climate conditions with many crops, including tomatoes, cucumbers, leafy greens, hemp and more.
UbiQD utilizes a liquid-phase batch reaction to make about 1 kg of QDs per 10 L of reactor each week. McDaniel says that the key to manufacturing the company’s unique QDs is in the chemical recipes and post-processing steps, and that the process requires lower costs and results in higher-stability materials than other QD manufacturing processes.
Although QDs are still mainly thought of as display components, UbiQD believes that the agricultural market will quickly become another major application area, with solar energy not far behind. “Quantum dots are already making the world a better place, but there is huge untapped potential,” emphasizes McDaniel.
Water purification is another area where QDs can improve sustainability. A group of researchers from the University of South Carolina (Columbia; www.sc.edu) and the SmartState Center of Catalysis for Renewable Fuels (www.smartstatesc.org) have successfully integrated QDs into a reverse-osmosis (RO) membrane designed for high-flux desalination processes. The team used nitrogen-doped graphene-oxide quantum dots (N-GOQDs) as an additive in the fabrication of a polyamide membrane. “The very small size of GOQDs and their rich functional groups make them an excellent additive in polymeric membranes, or even as basic building blocks for GOQD membranes if packed and crossed appropriately,” says Miao Yu, one of the lead researchers on the project, and currently a professor of chemical and biological engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, N.Y.; www.rpi.edu; yumiaorpi.wixsite.com/mysite). According to Yu, this work is the first to investigate GOQDs in membrane applications. “There are many nanoparticles that have been added to RO membrane matrices, but much of this work is still at the lab stage, and the water flux increase is not as significant as that seen with the addition of N-GOQDs,” he adds. The research showed that adding just 0.02 wt.% of GOQDs tripled the polyamide membrane’s water permeability, while still rejecting salts at a comparable rate to an untreated polyamide membrane.
Yu says that N-GOQDs’ functional groups can be easily crosslinked into an RO membrane matrix without introducing large cavities, and that their hydrophilic nature helps to further facilitate water transport, increasing flux. Thus far, a membrane with a permeation area of 10 cm 2 has been demonstrated, but Yu says that the fabrication process, based on interfacial polymerization, is compatible with industrial membrane-preparation processes, making its scaleup more promising. The team has applied for a patent and plans to work with an industry partner on larger-scale production.
ADVANCED IMAGING AND BEYOND
In China, NajingTech (Hangzhou; www.najingtech.com) is working to extend the performance of QDs for both photoluminescent (photon-to-photon) and electroluminescent (electron-to-photon) uses. Founded in 2002 by QD pioneer and former professor of chemistry at the University of Arkansas, Xiaogang Peng, NajingTech’s U.S. subsidiary, NN-Labs LLC (Fayetteville, Ark.; ww.nn-labs.com) was among the first commercial providers of QD nanocrystals. Currently, NajingTech is focused on the deployment of QD light-converting devices (QLCD) and QD light-converting films (QLCF), as well as commercializing electroluminescent QD light-emitting diode (QLED) technologies (Figure 5), along with emerging work in the fields of photovoltaics, sensors and detectors, lasers, bio-imaging and more, says Wei Huang, senior researcher at NajingTech. On the biotechnology front, NajingTech is currently working to develop QD-based immunochromatography technologies and QD-linked immunosorbent assays. The company is also investigating ways to minimize or eliminate the Cd content in QD materials for large-scale applications and electroluminescent devices, since Cd introduces toxicity and limits materials’ ability to be used in certain commercial end markets. For example, NN-Labs has developed copper indium sulfide/zinc sulfide (CuInS/ZnS) core-shell QD products for use in biomedical, solar energy and LED lighting applications. The company also offers a line of indium phosphide/zinc sulfide-based (InP/ZnS) QDs as an alternative to Cd-based formulations.
https://www.chemengonline.com/bright-future-quantum-dots/
Need another round of news: next payment or the February display showing would be nice.
I would say we have closure in August or sooner if they settle:
08/08/19 09:00am 2 JURY TRIAL
08/07/19 09:00am 2 JURY TRIAL
08/06/19 09:00am 2 JURY TRIAL
08/05/19 09:00am 2 JURY TRIAL
08/02/19 09:00am 2 FINAL TRIAL CONFERENCE
04/30/19 03:00pm 2 PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE
Lol! Oops! ;)
“When they announce...”
Feel better?