Can OPEL Technologies, Inc. (TSX: OPL) Monetize POET Platform Technology and Change How Semiconductor Devices are Manufactured?

OPEL Technologies, Inc. (TSX: OPL) has started the week off on the right foot as shares have already climbed to a high of 0.5000, the best mark they’ve seen in seven months, while trading volume has moved beyond the 120,000 level in early activity. The jump to 0.5000 is a significant leap forward for OPL as shares were trading as low as 0.3500 on the opening day of the month and just two months ago were struggling at the 0.2000 level.

Inspiring Monday’s activity was OPL’s announcement that the Board of Directors had appointed Lee Shepherd as VP of Technology, giving some investors the impression that the company was getting close to monetizing the POET platform technology of their ODIS Division. While some investors may believe that day is coming soon OPL took a more cautious approach as Peter Copetti, Executive Director of the Board, reasoned that the addition of Shepherd was made “to provide his guidance on POET’s roadmap and assisting in ultimately marketing the technology as expeditiously as possible.”

OPL provided a brief bio of Shepherd in today’s press release and offered investors a link for more information but other than seeing his name included as a member of OPL’s team of executives there was nothing that wasn’t mentioned in Monday’s release.

Regardless of what Shepherd’s experience is investors simply want to see progress made in OPL’s division ODIS, Inc. which designs III-V semiconductor devices for military, industrial and commercial applications, including infrared sensor arrays and ultra-low-power random access memory; and through OPEL Solar, Inc., provides PV systems for energy applications. More specifically these investors have their sights set on the monetization of that division’s semiconductor POET process, which enables the monolithic fabrication of integrated circuits containing both electronic and optical elements, with potential high-speed and power-efficient applications in devices such as servers, tablet computers and smartphones.

Earlier this month OPL reaffirmed their commitment to driving the monetization efforts of their POET platform technology as well as potentially selling off certain solar assets to Northern States Metals, a move that could allow the company to focus on evolving their POET platform “from a developmental concept to a technology that can be monetized and truly make a difference in how the world sees the semiconductor business.”

The focus on the POET platform technology appears to be the best bet for OPL given its monolithic implementations which the company believes holds a considerable advantage over the standard hybrid-based solutions “in density, reliability, and power dissipation, at a cost much lower than the best available competitor.” This gives OPL a leg up, they say, on the competition in the military and commercial markets because of their more comprehensive set of elemental capabilities, and their ability to integrate them.

It is that integration that really sets the POET platform apart from competitors as it can include lasers, modulators, photoreceivers, passive optics and high-speed, low-power electronics in monolithically-fabricated die and according to the ODIS Inc. business overview “no other existing process can do so.”

As it stands shares of OPL are moving right around the 0.4800 level, much improved over their 50-day moving average of 0.349 and their 200-day moving average of 0.285 but there is some concern that the company will struggle to break that 0.5000 level until further developments with the POET technology are revealed. If OPL is able to lead the charge in shifting how semiconductor devices are processed then that 0.5000 will likely look like a bargain but the company still has its work cut out for them to be in that position.

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