Oh, I concur with you that Dr. Taylor is ahead of his time and that all that POET needs to do is finish the GaAs development.
I am not referring to POET being a unique project (even though it is exclusive to them only). I am speaking in general terms when any manufacturer manufacturing anything for a client that is customized for that customer, then you get a start-up payment of let's say, approximately, 30% of the projects value upfront, then the rest is paid in work-in-progess stages. But the customer will also retain a holdback on the value of the negotiated contract (20% for instance) to ensure that all obligations of the contract have been met.
So, by the term "unique", I mean, a "customized" project as opposed to flat out manufacturing for all customers in mass production. POET will probably have a lot of such customers.
Monolithic