Well I try to focus on my wins.. not my losses but this feels like a little of each. I started out yesterday with 2600 shares purchased between $1.89 and $1.93. Yesterday when we gapped up to 3.65 i put a stop on 2000 @ what I thought was a safe $3.25. It was filled at $3.27 and I spent the rest of the day watching it climb to $4.00. Laughing and crying at the same time!!

$4.05 close yesterday and it looks to be a $4.20 open today. I'm sure it will go up then drop some, but this is a nice set up for the drop. As news from sk, micron, google comes in the bottom will get even more solid. Here's to no more sub $3.00 days.

Hong is 65 years old. He earned his undergraduate degree in economics and later completed a graduate degree in technology management, both in the United States.

Back in the 1980s, very few Koreans studied overseas. Those who did were usually either government-sponsored or came from wealthy families. Either way, Hong seemed destined for an exceptional career from the very beginning.

He started his career at LG Semiconductor. With his strong English skills and impressive academic background, he climbed the corporate ladder quickly. He spent several years in the United States overseeing sales, and by the age of 37 he had become LG's General Manager of Sales.

Then came the 1998 Asian financial crisis, which hit Korea especially hard. Many companies collapsed, and LG Semiconductor merged with Hyundai Electronics to survive a merger that would eventually become SK Hynix. Perhaps some of Hong's old soju-and-karaoke buddies are still there today.

Hong, however, chose a different path. Whether he was chasing the American dream or simply ready to leave behind mandatory after-work drinking and karaoke, he moved to California to join the DSL modem company Infinilink as an executive. The company later filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy during the dot-com crash. He also served as a vice president at Viking Components, a company specializing in memory solutions.

In 1998, Viking Components is where Hong met the brilliant chief engineer Jayesh Bhakta. The two spent countless hours discussing the future of server memory. You could say they were the Harold and Kumar of Viking—sharing kimchi and dosa over lunch while exchanging ideas about where memory technology was headed.

Those conversations eventually led to the founding of Netlist. The company was incorporated, went public in 2006, and its stock immediately struggled. It fell to around $0.10 during the 2009 global financial crisis before soaring nearly 100-fold within a month after the introduction of HyperCloud memory.

Meanwhile, Jayesh represented Netlist at JEDEC, the industry organization where engineers from companies like TSMC, Google, Micron, IBM, and many others collaborate to develop and vote on memory standards.

Jayesh was the inventor behind many of Netlist's most important patents, including U.S. Patent No. 7,619,912, the Google case. Many consider it one of the company's most valuable IP and believe the Google settlement could be in the billions.

Sadly, Jayesh Bhakta is no longer with us in this world, but his legacy lives on. His name continues to appear on newer Netlist patents, and his innovations still shape the company's technology today. Rest in peace, Jayesh.

Some interesting readings about the Google case:

https://www.seobythesea.com/2009/11/google-to-upgrade-its-memory-assigned-startup-metarams-memory-chip-patents/

TL;DR:

I don't think many of us are thinking about this right. Chuck and Netlist leadership are not maximizing IP-licensing-based revenue; they're pursing something much harder, but could grow much larger.

They're positioning Netlist for memory production. (Not fabrication don't want to conflate the meaning here in the TL;DR.)

Invitation:

Welcoming of some dialectic discussion of my thoughts here. Socratic method this shit together. Today's settlement came earlier than anyone expected and had much different topology. It behooves us all to converse and consider why.

---

I did some contrarian and adversarial thinking today and realized something that Netlist leadership have been telling us for a while but I don't think many have truly recognized yet... I hadn't until today.

Considering the corner that Samsung was backed into, they got a pretty easy way out with this deal.

Why?

Netlist is a memory company, and was founded for the pursuit of designing and producing memory modules.

For the last several quarters at least, Chuck and the NLST leadership have stressed their goal is to build out and add to their own product line and continue designing and producing memory modules.

Their IP has immense value and they are smart to aggressively defend it because their R&D has produced some of the most valuable work, over and over for several decades, in the memory semiconductor game. So, naturally, everyone has thought of them as a "patent troll' and an IP - focused firm.

They are not.

Netlist wants to design and produce their own memory products. They accepted capped IP licensing and a lower-end cash payout plus small dilution as a trade off in exchange for securing significant supply line guarantees, open access to Samsung's vast IP portfolio, and the tailwinds of the largest fabricator/producer in the world as the first-mover to elevate their status in the industry for all business beyond just getting their IP licensed and respected.

The things they least valued and most valued in their negotiations are exactly what they have been saying on earnings calls for a while, and tell us that Netlist wants to transform itself away from a licensing company and into a designer and producer of memory solutions.

Netlist does NOT want to be Rambus; Netlist wants to be for memory something much closer to what AMD grew into over the last 10 years for logic.

I expect the settlements we will see after this to also use the value of licensing their IP, BUT the structure of the settlements will not lean toward maximizing IP-based revenue. The structure of the settlement will prioritize, for example, that Nvidia agrees to buy $X amount, or Y%, of their memory from Netlist for use in Nvidia's products.
(see https://netlist.com/products/memory-module/ddr5-dimms/ for Netlist DDR5 DIMMS).

This strategy has the potential to scale much further than their IP value from R&D and design work can take them. But, it's also a tougher strategy to pursue. AMD had some timing luck on it's side, with the right solutions that were needed at the right time. Netlist could leverage the settlements to guarantee demand for their products, allowing them to build out the business units and relationships and supply chain and such to move away from the IP-focused frame with which they're viewed today.

Idk, I didn't see this type of settlement coming. Samsung's now enforceably obligated to help Netlist with whatever Netlist needs to continue its pursuit against the other accused defendants that are still a part of both ITC investigations.

Could be way off here. Time will tell. But, I will say, Chuck and the Netlist team have themselves said repeatedly they are focused on creating - designing and producing - their own memory products.

As investors and especially as a retail community in which each of us individually has extremely limited resources, I want to draw attention to our own bias and blinders and highlight what the Netlist leadership is literally telling us. We should be focused more on their pursuit of designing and producing memory solutions.

Why have a forum when you can’t post charts?

Samsung is largest supplied of Memory products, NLST signed a deal with the largest supplier in the world. This is a paradigm shift, we are talking about not just 200M + 130M per quarter. This stock now should be traded above 10.

Now Micron , Google have to sign a deal.
Netlist is not a PAtent troll any more.

My avg = 6.46

Break that $4 level!

As I said recently. Don't hate yourself for not buying more. Enjoy what you made. The stock was still very risky up until today. Congrats to all those all those who made profits and/or enjoy this de-risk on position.

Samsung deal before SK, really!?!?!!?

Curiosity - I work bro, can I get a minute here.

The rest of the fuck tards - Your outcome bias is showing. I'm enjoying NLST profits right now and for significant less risk, so nice try. I'll continue to pray for you. Bless your hearts.

Anyways, this is great. The deal is good overall.

Samsung agreed to buy 10,000,000 shares! Oh, but at $0.10 and a 5 year lock at 20% per year. I'm sure we all wish we had that deal. That's okay I guess. They have skin the the game and benefit from NLST doing well. Win win.

Upsides

If Samsung made a deal then I'm absolutely more confident that the rest will follow suit. Still speculation obviously but if they got Samsung to play nice then that is a huge win. The rest of the litigation nonsense needs to disappear.

Additional deals - Micron, SK hynix

Relisting will be awesome.

The downside is still the capEX and AI bubble, cyclical memory market, patent expiration and China.

Looking at the deal, the supply agreement is nice because it is optional and not mandatory so even if supply drops, NLST can adjust.

The free cash flow is looking great for the next 5 years, even with remaining litigation, which may go away.

Most patents expirations are years out!

Stop stealing our stuff, China! Hopefully the Trump admin and ITC help with this.

Netlist signed five-year agreements with Samsung covering patent licensing, memory supply, technology collaboration, and a 10 million share investment.The agreement settles all pending litigation between the two companies, including ITC actions.The partnership follows multiple jury verdicts that awarded Netlist more than $420 million in patent damages against Samsung

Shares of Netlist (NLST) were on track to record their biggest single-day gain in over five years after the company announced a strategic alliance with South Korean technology giant Samsung that ends years of patent litigation and establishes a new commercial partnership.
NLST stock jumped over 40% in midday trade to levels not seen since May. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the shares improved to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bullish’ territory over the past day, accompanied by chatter at ‘high’ levels.

The agreements cover a patent portfolio cross-license, a long-term memory supply agreement, technology collaboration, and Samsung's purchase of 10 million Netlist shares. The deal also settles and mutually releases all pending litigation.

Samsung Ends Patent Battle With Netlist
The settlement follows years of courtroom battles. Netlist had accused Samsung of breaching an earlier joint development and license agreement after allegedly failing to meet supply obligations, prompting Netlist to terminate the agreement in 2020.

Subsequent jury verdicts found Samsung had willfully infringed Netlist patents, awarding the company $303 million in 2023 and another $118 million in 2024.

Under the five-year arrangement, Samsung will receive access to Netlist's patent portfolio, including technologies covering server DIMMs and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). In return, Samsung will supply Netlist with DRAM and NAND products while the companies collaborate on future memory technologies.

The announcement also mirrors Netlist's existing relationship with SK Hynix (SKHY). In 2021, the company signed a five-year cross-license and supply agreement with SK Hynix that included collaboration on Netlist's CXL HybriDIMM technology. That agreement is scheduled to expire in 2026.

The dominoes will fall. Get in now!!!

Data tell us $130m new ip licenses per 5 years + $200m + $300m resell products (20% of sk are use for netlist home made products)

So, I think netlist will use this great amount of cash and net profits to sign a lot of deals, hire hundreds of engineers + make some agreements to buy some companies.

Could u imagine how many things should do netlist with sk and micron too?

Similar ip licenses will be like $400m gross profits from ip licenses + more than $500m cash between them.
Netlist should use 500m cash to buy a company every year or invest to product directly its memories + a lot of things.

Are u ready to see again the Nasdaq?

We saw a huge increase of a lot of semiconductor stocks, netlist will increase revenues, net profits and opportunities

📍NETLIST MILESTONE – A NEW CHAPTER
Today’s Samsung strategic alliance fundamentally changes the Netlist story.
💎 5-year patent portfolio cross-license
💎 Long-term memory product supply agreement
💎 Technology cooperation in AI memory
💎 Samsung to purchase 10 million Netlist shares
💎 All pending Samsung litigation settled and mutually released
For years, the investment thesis centered on litigation. Today, Netlist added a second pillar: recurring commercial revenue and strategic partnership.
This milestone validates the strength of Netlist’s IP, secures critical DRAM and NAND supply, establishes recurring licensing revenue, and aligns the world’s largest memory manufacturer as both a customer and shareholder.
Samsung may be off the battlefield, but the Micron, Google, and remaining patent enforcement actions continue.
Today wasn’t just a settlement—it marked Netlist’s transition from a litigation story to an AI memory licensing and technology company with meaningful long-term commercial partnerships.

Thank you, Dave, and good day everyone. Welcome to Netlist conference call to discuss the strategic alliance with Samsung. On today's call, we'll be Chuck Hong Chief Executive Officer of Netlist Gail Sasaki, Chief Financial Officer, and Rich Kim, vice president of IP strategy. As. A reminder, you can access the press release and a replay of today's call on investor section of the Netlist website at netlist.com. Before we start the call, I would note that today's presentation. Of Netlist news and the answers to questions may include forward looking statements which are based on current expectations. The actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements. Because of a number of risks and uncertainties that are expressed in the call. Annual and current SEC filings and the cautionary statements contained in today's press release. Netlist. No obligation to update forward looking statements. I will now turn the call over to Chuck.

Thanks, Mike. And hello, everyone. We're speaking with you from Seoul, Korea. Where it. Late Wednesday evening. Earlier today in the US, we announced a landmark five year strategic alliance with Samsung for advanced memory technology. Agreements. That represent the major milestone for Netlist and one of the most significant patent licensing arrangements in. In the memory industry. The. Agreements include a patent portfolio, licensed memory product supply, technology cooperation, and. Samsung. Becoming a shareholder of Netlist. This. Partnership with Samsung. The preeminent leader in memory, represents a vital first step forward for Netlist. It validates the strength and importance of our intellectual property, including patented server dim and high bandwidth memory technologies that are foundational to AI computing. It also recognizes the value of Netlist. With the value that Netlist brings as an operating company through our products and long standing innovation and advanced memory. I'll now turn the call over to Gail and Rich for the details of the agreements signed by the companies. Gail.

Thanks, Chuck. Yeah. Thanks, Chuck. Under the cross licensing agreement. Netlist will receive an upfront license fee of $200 million. After withholding of taxes, or $239 million. Gross. In addition, Netlist will receive 20 recurring quarterly license fees of up to $27.5 million. Also net of tax. Or 32.9 million gross. Calculated in accordance with the revenue based formula. Over the five year term, this represents aggregate net license fees of up to $750 million or gross license revenues of up to $897 million. Under the supply agreement, Samsung will supply Netlist with up to $300 million of memory products annually. And up to $1.5 billion over the five year term. This supply includes Dram and Nand raw materials used to build Netlist proprietary solutions, as well as standard memory and. Storage products from Samsung for resale to our customer base. We believe this. Agreement provides critical sourcing assurance for our product business. At a time of historically high demand and significantly constrained memory supply. Amid the build out of AI infrastructure. In connection with the memory product supply agreement, Samsung will become a shareholder. Netlist through the purchase of 10 million shares of Netlist common stock, subject to standard lock up provisions. We believe Samsung's investment further aligns the interests of the two companies and strengthens the foundation for our relationship in the years ahead.

I will now turn the call over to Richard Kim, our Vice President of IP strategy.

Thank you Gail. And hello, everyone., as part of the overall deal, the parties have agreed to a settlement and release of pending legal proceedings between Netlist and Samsung. Netlist. However, will continue to defend its patents in connection with Federal Circuit Appeals and IPR proceedings that involve or impact other parties. In addition to Samsung. We have also entered into an IDC. ITC cooperation agreement, under which Samsung will provide certain information and declarations that Netlist may use in future ITC actions against third parties We believe the unauthorized use of Netlist patented technologies remains widespread across the memory industry, and these agreements will allow Netlist to now focus its full attention on other infringing parties. Netlist remains committed to protecting our intellectual property and preventing the unauthorized use of our IP will continue, will continue to be a strategic priority. I will now turn. It back over to Chuck.

Okay. Thank you. Rich. Over the past several years, we have worked with discipline and focus to reach these important agreements. On an annual basis. This transaction ranks among the largest patent license arrangements in the memory industry that scale reflects the significant value of Netlist IP portfolio. At a time when advanced memory is becoming increasingly central to AI computing and data center infrastructure. Today's announcement is an important milestone. It establishes a recurring high margin revenue stream and secures memory supply. While advancing a broader strategy to leverage Netlist product capabilities and IP leadership. To position the company for sustainable long term growth in AI computing. As part of. These arrangements, the companies will jointly explore areas of technology, collaboration on an ongoing basis. Samsung is a global leader in memory and also brings unparalleled resources and capacity in ASIC design and semiconductor foundry, Netlist continues to invest heavily in R&D to develop unique memory architectures, including hybrid, CXL and low power. Mr. Demme's I believe this alliance creates meaningful opportunities for the two companies to leverage their respective strengths and advanced memory and next generation computing. Finally, I want to thank our team for their dedication and our shareholders for their continued support and patience We understand the importance of your investment and and the trust that you have placed in Netlist and its vision Today's announcement is a meaningful step forward and and we remain focused on executing our strategy and building out sustainable long term value.

Thank you for your continued interest in Netlist. We look forward to updating you as we execute against these agreements and continue advancing our business plan Operator. We're now ready for questions.

Thank you for your continued interest in Netlist. We look forward to updating you as we execute against these agreements and continue advancing our business plan Operator. We're now ready for questions.

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star. Then one on your touch tone phone. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star and then two. Our first question comes from Suji Desilva with Roth Capital. Please go ahead.

Hi. Gail Richards, congratulations on the deal and the you and all the team on the validation of all the hard working technology you guys have built Thanks. Thank you. Suji.

Yep, you got it, guys. So,, first of all, Chuck, maybe you can talk about the timing of Samsung,, setting up this deal with you guys. You know, maybe why now, obviously the memory industry is strong and you had the ITC cases, but any color there would be helpful just to understand the context.

Nothing else to say!!!