I posted the following response at SH while Agoracom was down.
Interesting Chris would post this on Facebook?
He is right about Denselight's history of losing money. No real debate there. But it becomes important to understand why. And I think most people do know why.
Custom engineered small volume sales on 2 in InP wafers. Not a recipe for making money but does make for a cheap aquisition that was ideally suited to POETs needs.
Unutilized floor space and 2 in wafer production. Engeneering intensive custom design for a low volume product is not a winning combo.
It turned out to be the perfect opportunity for POET to launch a new technology that industry is looking for in very high volume and at a price point that is expected to be achieved. Industries wish list is to see the cost of 400G at $1/G. POET said they would upgrade the Denselight facility and they did. They went from 2 inch to 4 inch InP. A pretty significant increase in production capacity and what looks like a doubling of utilized floor space and I think a doubling of staff.
They are deep into a new platform that can meet customer’s cost targets with everything under one roof. It is not moving the goal posts it is putting new goal posts in place on a new platform. We should always look at the current situation of a company. Referencing the solar days well sure it makes good conversation but what does it mean to the investment today and what they are doing now? Not much really. There is not much to be gained by reliving the Copetti days.