Liquidmetal Technologies Inc (LQMT)

[PatentGuy1]

Eicheljager,

Thank you for a thoughtful reply. You invited me/us to find holes and provide a new narrative. I don't have an interesting narrative with Apple/LQMT/Eontec. I think that Apple will use BMG when it is commercially viable and that doesn't have anything to do with Eontec's scaling up to meet Apple's needs. Apple has a long history of investing hundreds of millions - billion of dollars to increase the manufacturing capacity of their suppliers (e.g., GTAT - $200M for saphire, LG - $2.7B oled screens, Finisar - $390M laser chips, LG, Toshiba and Sharp - $3.9B LCD screens, etc.). IMO if Apple wanted Eontec to have the manufacturing capacity necessary for Apple, Apple would finance it.

But what if Apple WANTS to place its orders through LQMT? They will pay what they pay for a phone case. If LQMT gets the royalty as a condition of letting Li in the door, with Apple getting to mix and match BMG formulas within one device, all produced by Foxconn, using Eontec branded machines for DC105 and Engel machines for LM105, then everyone wins.

But why would Apple want to place its orders through LQMT? You seem to admit that doing so would increase Apple's costs because LQMT gets a royalty. Apple has a history of squeezing costs from its suppliers. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-squeezes-parts-suppliers-to-protect-margins-1472713073; https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-19/the-life-of-an-apple-supplier-is-getting-even-tougher) Based on Apple's past performance, I don't see why they would increase their costs by ordering through LQMT.

If Apple turns down that scenario, or one similar to that, what happens? Eontec sells to everyone else. LQMT probably would not benefit to the extent it would with Apple.

If Eontec sells to everyone else, how does LQMT benefit at all?

LQMT makes money, because it is a package deal that was a precondition to allowing Li in the door, in exchange for the ability to mix and match formulas based upon cost/ need.

When this package deal was being put together, who was LQMT's benefactor - who making certain that LQMT would make money? If there was a package deal, then I see three players: Steip/LQMT, Cook/Apple, and Li/Eontec. Steip/LQMT had no power/leverage to dictate such a demand. LQMT was circling the bankruptcy drain. Cook/Apple - what was their motivation for ensuring that LQMT made money from the package deal. It seems to me that any money coming to LQMT is going to be paid by Apple, which seems to be contrary to Apple's best interests. Li/Eontec - what was their motivation for ensuring that LQMT made money from the package deal. It seems to me that any money coming to LQMT is money being diverted from Eontec, which seems to be contrary to Eontec's best interests.

My narrative is old and boring.

Li came to LQMT independent of Apple. I haven't read the entirety of the MTA, but I haven't found anything that Apple could have done to prevent the Li investment. In other words, I don't believe the Apple blessed the investment, and I don't think that Apple could have blocked it if Apple had objected.

IMO, Li's plan was/is to get some manufacturing contracts outside of the CE field and prove that BMG is the new "plastics" of this century. By doing so, if Apple became convinced that Apple needed Eontec's IP, then so much the better. If not, then continue to grow LQMT outside of the CE field.