From Stockhead:
This company sits sort of adjacent to the semiconductor market with its Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) device which is small and can withstand temperatures so low that it can be used to ID samples in harsh environments like cryogenic samples.
Yep, we’re talking IVF samples, clinical trials, cell therapies, vaccines, population cryobanking – in case we need to repopulate the Earth after a zombie apocalypse – basically any market that requires ultra-low temperature ID and traceability.
Recently, the company even nabbed a new Japanese Patent: Device, System and Method for Temperature Limit Indication and Detection of Temperature-Sensitive Items.
MD Andrew McLellan has previously said there are well over 300 million high value bio samples that are stored, and preserved and processed in minus 196°C environments “and this is a well over $600 million annual target market for us.”
The $14.96m market cap company had $2.79m as at 31 March 2022.
Who doesn’t love lasers? Not to mention it’s a US$25bn market, with around US$380 million of that for industrial applications.
Laser diode player BluGlass is focused on its remote plasma chemical vapour deposition (RPCVD) technology to build gallium nitride (GaN) laser diodes.
They’re used in the industrial welding that goes in your telephone, medical diagnostics tools, and electric vehicles.
And in April the $33.16m market cap company picked up a semiconductor fab in Silicon Valley for a cheap $2.5 million and is building laser diodes at 405, 420 and 450 nanometres – with plans to launch six or seven products this year.
Cash at end of the March quarter was $4,382 million.
This artificial intelligence (AI) chip developer says its Akida neuromorphic processor mimics human brain processing.
Last month fresh chairman Antonio Viana compared it to a security camera where IR detects movement, turns the camera on and alerts you to some form of movement – but you have to figure out what it is.
“Where neuromorphic processing can come in would be a security camera that is ‘smart enough’ to know what is causing the movement… and not just send an alert that says ‘something’ is in the frame… but instead says ‘it is a dog’, ‘it is a human’. And even better, to know who that human is – ‘run away, your spouse’s family just showed up!’” he said.
The company already has a bunch of patents under its belt and the plan now is commercialisation.
BRN ended the March quarter with US$31.2M in cash and has a market cap of $1.75b.
This company uses AI to protect drones – thus the name – with its DroneGun able to scramble the controller-inputs on airborne drones to render them incapacitated.
Or there’s its DroneSentry-X product which uses sensors to detect and disrupt unmanned aerial systems (UAS) moving at any speed after being masted to vehicle roof racks or other fixed applications.
And in March, CEO and MD Oleg Vornik said they’d received some urgent enquiries by various NATO countries for large purchases as drone defence has become front of mind with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The company secured around $3.8 million for a two-year AI contract with the Australian Department of Defence in 2021 and soon its products could be used to counter explosive devices, with the recent partnership with Allen Vanguard.
Vornick said many of DroneShield’s customers have mission sets that requite both counter unmanned aerial platforms (C-UAS) and counter improvised explosive device (C-IED) solutions so by combining them, the two entities can provide a more complete offering.
And in April, DroneShield teamed up with Nearmap (ASX:NEA) – who provide city-scale 3D content, artificial intelligence data sets, geospatial tools, and high-resolution aerial imagery in Australia, New Zealand, and North America.
The $95.15m market cap company had $8m in the bank as at 31 March.
This company makes robots that lay bricks. The Hadrian X can apparently build structural walls faster, safer, more accurately and with less wastage than traditional manual methods.
But it could be some time before it’s out in the field.
In the March quarter the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Liebherr-Mischtechnik GmbH who will provide its expertise on structural and mechanical design, control systems and automation, design for manufacturing, as well as providing practical feedback on the operation of heavy machinery in construction environments in applicable markets.
And that’s just phase 1 which is expected to take around two years, the company says.
Here’s what the Hadrian X brick-laying-robot looks like. Pic: FBR
A close third to lasers and aerospace players are defence tech companies – like unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) specialists such as Orbital Corp who make integrated engine systems for tactical UAVs, like its ScanEagle 3 model.
Last month the $26.38m market cap company signed an MoU with US-based Anduril, which was founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey, the designer of the Oculus Rift, and founder of Oculus VR which was acquired by Facebook.
Anduril aims to transform allied defence capabilities by fusing AI with the latest hardware technology and the companies are teaming up to collaborate to “advance the next generation of military technology.”
OEC also manufactures aeroengines for Boeing from its Perth-based and US facilities and is developing a hybrid propulsion system for a vertical take-off and landing UAV with defence technology company Northrop Grumman.
It’s probably not some super-secret Top Gun stealth tech, but we like to think it is.
This company’s Boron Nitride Nanotubes (BNNT) produces a ‘fibre’ 100 times stronger than steel but as light as carbon fibre, super flexible, more thermally conductive than copper, and able to sustain high temperatures of up to 1000C without degrading.
The tech has applications from aviation, automotives and aerospace to ballistic armour, defence, electronics and beyond.
That’s probably good for Li-S Energy’s (ASX:LIS) disruptive battery technology – PPK’s most commercially advanced technology incubation project that just secured funding under the Federal Government’s Trailblazer University Project.
LIS will receive up to $5m in federal co-investment over the next four years to further develop its lithium sulphur batteries that could, for example, allow EVs to drive longer and drones to fly for hours between charges, as well as mobile phones you don’t have to plug in for a week.
PPK retains 50.2% ownership of Li-S, which has been on a roll since its successful spin-out IPO last September.
Li-S already has a collaboration with Boeing subsidiary Insitu Pacific to integrate and test its battery technology in a range of drones. That followed the announcement of a partnership with Janus Electric to power around 400 electric trucks.
With its broader focus on BNNTs, PPK has formed a strategic alloys JV with manufacturing solutions company Amaero International (ASX:3DA) and Deakin University to incorporate the high-strength and super flexible fibres into Amaero’s High Operating Temperature Aluminium Alloys (HOT Al).
PPK also has a material stake (45%) in Craig International Ballistics too, which is a leading supplier of body armour to the Australian Defence Force and Police Forces.
As if that wasn’t enough to be getting on with, PPK also has a strategic 20% stake in Advanced Mobility Analytics Group Pty Ltd, an artificial intelligence SaaS product that’s basically a traffic management safety system that can even predict accidents.
Wait, there’s more.
The $229.47m market cap company is also working on commercial manufacturing plans for its ~60% owned subsidiary, White Graphene Ltd.
White Graphene is also known as Boron Nitride Nanosheets, flat 2D sheets with microscopic thickness that share many properties of BNNT such as high strength, thermal stability up to 900C, excellent thermal conductivity, electrical insulation, and radiation shielding.
The company has a large-scale base/precious metals project in the Western Deserts of the Officer Basin – but it also has an artificial intelligence and robotics company called Stealth Technologies and a Nanocube Memory Ink project which is a liquid transparent ink containing billions of tiny nanometer scale cube-shaped particles.
Last month it announced a breakthrough in how electricity is generated with research partner The University of New South Wales (UNSW) developing a world-first battery pack that aims to harvest ampere-hour range of electrical charge solely from moisture in the air.
The 36cm2 cells will be printed onto flexible plastic using green, sustainable, safe materials, with results expected to be available in Q3 FY22.
It could have potential in the US$10 billion electronic skin patch market – which is forecast to grow to US$30 billion by 2031.
The company has a market cap of $68.4m.
Staying on the defence thematic, this company makes mini X-ray tech, which is also used in airport security – but more recently has been deployed to the front lines in Ukraine.
In the March quarter, MX1 secured $0.8 million of Micro-X Rover sales into the Ukraine to provide additional medical imaging capability for Ukrainian soldiers and civilians injured in the war.
The orders were funded by a US-based charity for use in temporary medical facilities following attacks on Ukrainian health infrastructure.
The company is also working on its ‘Argus’ IED X-ray camera product, “with a number of customers already expressing strong interest in conducting Argus trials, including the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, military EOD organisations and some of the larger state police bomb squads,” the company said.
The $73.83 market cap company had a cash balance of $16.1 million as at 31 March 2022.
Financial indicators
The VIX fear gauge up by 5.72 of a point since 18 September to 32.02.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1,376 points or 3.78% since 18 September to 29,635, the STOXX 600 down 16.93 points or 2.68% to 391.31 and the Shanghai Composite index down 54,41 points or 1.86% to 3,071.99.
Gold down to 1,650,20. US 10-year Treasury Bonds up to 4.042 and oil down to 85.55.
Cryptos Bitcoin down by 816 points or 4.27% to 19,145.
ASX 200 down 19.10 points or 0.51% since 18 September to 6,739.70. The Aussie dollar down to 62.02 US cents.
Carbon Market Spot Prices
LGC $64.25 STC $39.85
ESC $35.50 VEEC $69.00
ACCU $30.75 EU ETS €69.84
NZU $NZ81.00 UK ETS GBP72.90
Sources: RenewEconomy, demandmanager, Market Watch, CarbonView, Stockhead, Green Car Report, Driven