Posts related to ‘Nanotech’

Public Nanotech VC Raises Cash (TINY)

Money Stack ImageHarris & Harris Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TINY) is one of the few public nanotech and micro-tech interests out there that is in a sector that is still grossly under-followed and under-covered.  The venture capital and investment firm is seeing its shares hit hard today after it priced a public secondary offering of stock.  The company sold 4,250,000 shares of common stock at $4.75 per share, and the gross proceeds are expected to be $18,648,750.00 to the company.
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Posted on: October 6, 2009 – 10:17 am in Nanotech, Private Equity, Secondary Offering,

Can Nanotech Make A Comeback For Investors? (ALTI, IBM, TINY, NSPH, PXN)

How long has it been since nanotechnology was on the tip of everyone’s tongue as the next great speculative investment frontier?  It seems like ancient history.  But we have seen news from Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ALTI), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Harris & Harris Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: TINY), and Nanosphere, Inc. (NASDAQ: NSPH) this week.  We have even seen a bit of a move in the PowerShares Lux Nanotech (NYSE: PXN) ETF that tracks nanotech this week.

This week was actually more nanotech-related news than we have for some time even if there is still no clear direction on which way the political environment will treat nanotech in the months and years ahead.
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Posted on: May 22, 2009 – 3:06 pm in Cult Stock, ETF, Nanotech, Trading Alert, Turnarounds, Value Investing, , , , ,

Advanced Batteries: The Next Ethanol? (ALTI, ACPW, BCON, XIDE, ENS, CHP, AXPW)

There’s a fair amount of interest from green energy market watchers in the battery market. Many see this as the next big thing for energy investors.  There are allowances for advanced battery technologies in the new stimulus package.  Some of the companies involved in this are established players and some are very speculative.

Some of the companies we have looked at in this sector are Altair Nanotechnologies (NASDAQ:ALTI), privately held A123 Systems Inc., Active Power Inc. (NASDAQ:ACPW), Beacon Power Corporation (NASDAQ:BCON), Exide Technologies (NASDAQ:XIDE), EnerSys (NYSE:ENS), C&D Technologies Inc. (NYSE:CHP), and Axion Power International, Inc. (OTCBB:AXPW).
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Posted on: February 13, 2009 – 12:02 pm in Alternative Energy, Consumer Electronics, Cult Stock, Nanotech, Technology Companies, Utilities, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Is Nanotechnology the Next Asbestos? (PXN)

Nanotechnology is one of those industries that has advocates lining up for it and against it.  The theoretical possibilities are endless.  These could be in micro-computing, arterial plaque attacks, tissue repair, cleaning surfaces, cancer fighting, and on and on and on.

But nanotechnology also has many critics, particularly those who are concerned that nano-bots or nano particles could be used against people.  In a report published in advance from NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY, the new fear is that nanotechnology’s carbon nanotubes injected into mice showed similarities to asbestos.

The pilot study in a small number of mice shows that long multiwalled carbon nanotubes introduced into the abdominal cavity can cause asbestos-like pathogenic behavior. The results suggest the need for further research and caution before introducing nanotube products into the market.

Mesothelioma is a death sentence.  If nanotech generates even the same fears, this technology may be crushed before even the simple applications can get off the ground  It sounds like they need a nano-drug now, one to fight nanothelioma.

The nanotech ETF, the PowerShares Lux Nanotech (AMEX: PXN) was down 2% at $14.51, although it was on thin volume when the market itself was soft.

Jon C. Ogg
May 20, 2008

Posted on: May 20, 2008 – 2:53 pm in Nanotech, , , , ,

IBM Brings Nanotech To Chips

IBM (IBM-NYSE) is using nanotechnology in new chips, well sort of.  The company is essentially boring holes with a width of 20 nanometers to run faster and use less energy. It is also claiming that the technology is basically self assembling materials and it can be added to existing manufacturing lines and applied to its current chips.  It may even boost performance by 35% or cut that amount of power consumption.  IBM does not expect to use the technology before 2009 in IBM servers and perhaps on chips made for outside customers.

Airgap (May 2007) – Using a "self assembly" nanotechnology IBM has created a vacuum between the miles of wire inside a Power Architecture microprocessor reducing unwanted capacitance and improving both performance and power efficiency.

Based on all the promises of nanotech and what is still very limited use, we’ll have to see how this really unfolds before calling this a nanotech victory.  You can read the full release from the company here.

Jon C. Ogg
May 3, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: May 3, 2007 – 7:21 am in Nanotech, Semiconductor