Tag - Nano

Riddle me this, Batman: what do you get when you cross the density of DRAM with the speed of SRAM and non-volatility of FLASH?

If you don’t know, that’s OK — the answer is a digital memory storage technology that’s still largely in the development stage. It’s called “magnetoresistive random access memory,” or “MRAM,” and those following its evolution say it has the potential to revolutionize electronics as a smaller, faster, more energy efficient and durable way of storing and sending your data, iTunes songs or even digitized Batman reruns — if that’s your thing.

This nanotechnology relies on electron spin rather than charge to acquire, store and transmit information. Albert Fert, the co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2007, recently predicted that MRAM and its offshoots are good candidates to be the “universal” memory of the future. This kind of Holy Grail talk has helped feed market hunger for MRAM’s promise, but there are still plenty of developments, testing and marketing hurdles yet to cross - not to mention the pesky little issue of cost competitiveness.

Companies leading the charge include Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: CY), Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE: FSL) — the Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) spinoff, which was the first company to bring the memory to market, IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) and last but certainly not least, Eden Prairie, Minn.-based NVE Corp. (Nasdaq: NVEC).

“Spintronics,” as the highly durable applications of this technology are called, is something that has attracted several big chunks of Department of Defense R&D change for NVE. The company has built itself around researching and marketing new uses of the technology for harsh battlefield conditions in addition to medical and industrial applications where absolute reliability is required.

China in the 21st century conjures up another time of go-go markets, our own Gilded Age when steel, coal and capital fused to create the greatest economy in the world. While China’s present boom has something to do with coal and capital, it has as much to do with nanotechnology and university partnerships.

Witness ShengdaTech, Inc. (Nasdaq: SDTH), which is applying 21st century technology to become a new leader in a decidedly old-line business. Shengdatech’s leading product is nano precipitated calcium carbonate (NPCC), made from limestone broken down to particles of ~100 nanometer (nm) in size, smaller than the wavelength of visible light.

NPCC is a key filler used in rubber, plastics, paint, ink and as a coating for paper. NPCC is also a key ingredient in the manufacture of automobile tires and PVC building materials, enhancing their tensile strength and durability. Shengdatech is currently the only supplier of NPCC to China’s burgeoning tire industry, and they’ll buy as much as Shengdatech can make.

What’s more, Shengdatech has developed, with Tsinghua University, a newly patented “membrane dispersion” production process that reduces the cost of producing NPCC particles by 5-7% over its current “ultra high gravity precipitation” process. Membrane dispersion also increases yields and provides more stable product quality.

Shengdatech (originally Zeolite Exploration Company) was created through the reverse acquisition of Faith Bloom Limited, a maker of coal-based chemicals, including ammonium bicarbonate and liquid ammonia (used in nitrogen-based fertilizers and as the raw material of many chemical products), as well as melamine and methanol. These more humdrum products have generated the cash to fund Shengdatech’s push into advanced processing of NPCC.

Nanotechnology is still a business of the future. Although great strides have been made in creating the technology of the ultra small, very few commercial products have yet made any money for their developers. Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALTI) is a case in point. The Reno, Nev.-based company has so far delivered just 61 products — lithium ion batteries for electric cars — and those cars have yet to hit the market.

But the company has several development contracts and joint ventures with big corporations in the works, including paint maker Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE: SHW) and drug makers Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) and Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPPI). If those ventures play out successfully, its tiny particles could prove to have a very big future.

Altair was founded in 1973 under the name Diversified Mines Limited, acquiring and exploring mineral properties. For three decades it was a lackluster business. So in late 2003 it restructured with an eye on the future of Nanoparticles. CTO Bruce Sabacky, who has been with Altair since 1999, the year the company went public, began developing products based on nanomaterials.

In 2004 the company brought in a new CEO, Alan Gotcher, from Avery Dennison Corporation (NYSE: AVY), where he had led the development and commercialization of the “Duracell On-Cell” tester for the popular batteries. He has been moving the company’s new technology into commercial products.

From a peak of nearly $8 per share in 2000, the stock dropped to penny stock territory by mid-2003. It has steadily recovered since then, closing at $4.43 on Monday, with a market cap of $312 million, and is now flirting with the low end of analysts' targets. Three brokers polled by Thomson/First Call have price targets ranging from $5 to $6. Its 52-week high is $5.45, reached in October, and the low was $2.48, reached in January.

Investors are having great chemistry with ShengdaTech, Inc. (Nasdaq: SDTH). The Chinese manufacturer and seller of nano precipitated calcium carbonate (NPCC) and coal-based chemicals is ramping up production capacity, which is translating into stellar top and bottom lines.  

While the company still generates a pretty penny from coal-based chemicals such as ammonium bicarbonate and liquid ammonia, which the company then markets as chemical fertilizers and raw materials for the production chemicals, ShengdaTech’s revenue growth stems from its NPCC production. NPCC is extracted from limestone and used in the manufacturing of paints, rubber, plastic and tires.

NPCC production climbed to 130,000 metric tons (MT) from 30,000 MT in the past year. The Chinese small cap brought 40,000 MT of NPCC online in July and jumpstarted construction of 60,000 MT of NPCC capacity at a new facility in Xianyan City, Shaanxi Province in September. The new lines are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2008 and will begin contributing to revenue at that time, according to ShengdaTech’s CEO, Xianghzi Chen.  

Once capacity at the company’s new facility is completed, total annual production capacity is expected to reach 190,000 MT.

In addition to strong product production, the company is creating efficiencies within its operations. ShengdaTech upgraded equipment used in its chemical factory in the third quarter, which created operating efficiencies that offset decreases in chemical prices and resulted in record gross margins in the third quarter.

Shares of ShengdaTech, Inc. (Nasdaq: SDTH) are advancing in pre-market trading after the Chinese company reported third-quarter results above a sole analyst’s estimate.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, the manufacturer of nano precipitated calcium carbonate (NPCC) and coal-based chemical products recorded net income of $7.8 million, or $0.14 per share, above a sole analyst’s estimate of $0.11, as surveyed by Thomson Financial. Earnings were up 62.7% from $4.8 million, or $0.09 per share in the third quarter of 2006.

Net income for the third quarter includes a tax provision of $775,264 due to a tax holiday on income generated from the company’s original NPCC factory in Tai'an City, Shandong Province, ended on Dec. 31, 2006.

ShengdaTech booked revenues of $27.2 million, up 44.4% from $18.8 million in the third quarter of 2006. Revenues clocked in above the $25.33 million an analyst polled by Thomson Financial was forecasting. The small cap attributed the increase in its top-line to increased capacity of the company's NPCC production filling the continuing demand for its products.

In July 2007, ShengdaTech added two new NPCC production lines with a total of 40,000 metric tons of additional capacity.

Shares of ShengdaTech (SDTH) popped 8.67%, or $0.65, to $8.15 in pre-market trading. Shares of ShengdaTech have been trading in the range of $3.55 to $9.55 for the past 52 weeks.

Nanotechnology, a broad field that essentially means the ability to create specifically designed compounds a few nanometers in size, has for many years been hailed as the next great breakthrough for solving a plethora of the world’s problems. At this size, the electrical, chemical and optical properties of the compounds are radically transformed, promising such things as more efficient electronic circuits, longer-lived batteries, improved drug-delivery systems, engineered biofuels, better lasers and more advanced imaging equipment.

But so far, successful commercial products based on the technology have been harder to find than a nanocrystal under a microscope. Nanophase Technologies Corporation (Nasdaq: NANX,) founded in the late 1990s, has for the last several years been focused on getting real products to market rather than on simply creating new nanoparticles. It has partnerships with BASF, Rohm & Haas Company (NYSE: ROH), health care companies and others, through which it has developed more than 200 commercial products. Those products are now being used to create semiconductors with fewer flaws, better fuel cells, scratch-resistant and microbe-resistant coatings, and even better sunscreens and deodorants.

In April, it announced a new deal with Behr, a premium paint company that is using its nanoparticles to make a paint that resists mildew, has better adhesion and requires no primer. The paint will go on sale at The Home Depot, Inc.’s (NYSE: HD) stores soon. Last December Nanophase also signed a deal with a German company to produce a transparent coating that protects automobile paint from scratching.

Several analysts are hoping that signals a turning point for the company’s profitability and long-stagnant stock. Nikolay Tishchenko at Crown Global Capital, sees the potential for 30% to 50% annual revenue growth for Nanophase for the next several years. “Nanotechnology is breaking out of its limited applications and is at the early stage of exponential growth,” he says. “I like the company’s management and business model.”