Wednesday, June 6, 2018

I originally sent this to a few on May 12.



A few of my friends got this email message from me on May 12. 

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Been noodling on the exclusive licensing contract, trying to figure out who it's likely to be.

At first the prime suspects were one of four:
  • STM 
  • Sony 
  • Sharp/Foxconn 
  • Goertek
I'm 90% sure that STM is either the only or the primary supplier of MVIS Mems and ASICS. The wording of the license doesn't make sense if the licensing is to them. (Why would they purchase these components from themselves?) [ STM / Microvision PR ]

Sony is possible, but given the language during the CC, I'd remove them from the list. (I'm expecting them to be in the "fast follower" category eventually

Which leaves Sharp/Foxconn and Goertek.

Goertek: I'm more dubious of Goertek in this case. They're not really a "tier1" supplier, although they do have some of those customers. They also removed some notes on their site a couple of months ago referencing Microvision and new things they'd be doing. (Removed at the request...)

Foxconn/Sharp. They've been doing a lot around Robotics, Robohon is still around, they're definitely a tier-1 supplier, they'd be worth the stealth. (Would anyone get excited if they announced Goertek? so why keep that a secret?) And the Moviphone guy was talkative at CES, and said that the next version of the phone would be made by Foxconn. (I never posted that publicly.)

There's also Sharp's Interest in mass producing Green Lasers. Sharp Mass Producing Green Lasers

So at the moment I'm thinking chances are Sharp/Foxconn 60% / Goertek 35% and one of the others at 5%

I'm interested if there's anything you can add to this line of thinking, anything I've missed or given more weight to than I should have.

Cheers
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I have good reason (since then) to lower my chances of the company being Goertek to near zero.

Given that I'd say I'm about 95% for Sharp/Foxconn. With a 5% for some other surprise. I certainly don't know anything for sure.

Clearly Sharp is working closely with Foxconn.

Sharp is producing large quantities of green lasers, they are sticking with Robohon.



Foxconn wouldn't be a bad place to be.
From Wikipedia....

Major customers[edit]

Major customers of Foxconn include or have included:
(location is in parentheses)

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