well, opt set such a high bar for analysis and quality of questions it's understandable that no one would want to follow his act...

In the Q117 CC Andrew said, “Our goal is to get funding for the next-generation display design as a precursor to establishing the mass production capacity that the consumer market would require”.  He described a three-step strategy saying, “In summary, we ….. develop the technology, are working on the next-generation display design, and working towards mass production with partners”.

With respect to the first step of providing the next-generation technology he said in the Q117 CC, “We started this quest by listening to what the AR, VR, HMD companies needed. That is high brightness, OLED microdisplays.“ and  “It is clear to us that our direct patterning technology is the game changer in AR and VR.”  I asked if this meant that direct patterning represents eMagin’s key technical advantage and that DPD chips will ultimately dominate eMagin’s product line.  He answered that ultimately they would but, with the possible exception of some monochrome versions, not until the new next-generation DPD manufacturing facilities were operational.

With respect to the second step of developing next-generation chips he said in the Q117 CC, “we’ve had great success here.  One company is funding a next-generation display that we are currently developing, another is actively involved in discussions and for whom we have done preliminary work and the third is keenly interested in our current 2Kx2K design.”  I asked if any of these three companies are one of the Tier1 companies with which eMagin had announced an agreement and he answered, “No”.  I asked if one of these three companies is the one that paid the licensing fee and if so which one?  He said, “No” but didn’t elaborate further

With respect to the third step of establishing manufacturing facilities he said in the Q117 CC, “we are actively talking to high volume manufacturers to join our commercial display partners and us to fund and build the production capacity to handle the volumes required for the commercial market. Our commercial display partners are also introducing potential mass production partners to us”.  I asked if the word “precursor” meant that the next-generation display design had to be completed before beginning the establishing of mass production capacity.  He said yes --- one had to know the design characteristics of the chips to be built before designing machines to build them.  I said that could make it years before actual mass production was in full swing.  He agreed.  He said the prerequisite chip design cycles could take a year, and then it would take at least nine more months to get the machine built and another three to get it installed.  I said I thought such a machine schedule sounded optimistic --- it was similar to the original one with the SNUP machine and we all know how that turned out.  Moreover there’s another half- year of qualification runs and 1000-hour life tests, etc. before actual full production can start.  So it seems to me it’s at least 2020 before we see mass-produced next-generation display chips bringing in revenue.  Andrew mentioned there were other options to SNU Precision in Korea as well as a couple of companies in Japan which he said looked promising.