We also develop, manufacture and sell slurry products used to polish the dielectric insulating materials that separate conductive layers within logic and memory IC devices. Our core slurry products for these materials are primarily used for high volume applications called Interlayer Dielectric or ILD, and are used in the production of both older logic devices as well as in mature and advanced memory devices. Our advanced dielectrics products are designed to meet the more stringent and complex performance requirements of lower-volume, more specialized dielectric polishing applications, such as pre-metal dielectric (PMD) and shallow trench isolation (STI), at advanced technology nodes. We develop, produce and sell CMP polishing pads, which are consumable materials that work in conjunction with CMP slurries in the CMP polishing process. We believe that CMP polishing pads represent a natural adjacency to our CMP slurry business, since the technologies are closely related and utilize the same technical, sales and support infrastructure. We believe our unique pad material and our continuous pad manufacturing process enable us to produce a pad with a longer pad life, greater consistency from pad to pad, and enhanced performance, resulting in lower cost of ownership for our customers. We are producing and selling pads that can be used on a variety of polishing tools, over a range of applications including tungsten, copper and dielectrics, over a range of technology nodes, and on both 200mm and 300mm wafers. Our pad product offerings include our EPIC D100 series of pads and our next generation D200 series. perfect shape and surface finish on a range of optical components such as mirrors, lenses and prisms. Historically, advanced optics have been produced using labor-intensive artisanal processes, and variability has been common. QED has automated the polishing process for advanced optics to enable rapid, deterministic and repeatable surface correction to the most demanding levels of precision in dramatically less time than with traditional means. QED’s polishing systems use Magneto-Rheological Finishing (MRF), a proprietary surface figuring and finishing technology, which employs magnetic fluids and sophisticated computer technology to polish a variety of shapes and materials. QED’s metrology systems use proprietary Subaperture Stitching Interferometry (SSI) technology that captures precise metrology data for large and/or strongly curved optical par ts and proprietar y Aspheric Stitching Interferometry (ASI) technology, which is designed to measure increasingly complex shapes, including non-spherical surfaces, or aspheres. QED’s products also include MRF polishing fluids and MRF polishing components, as well as optical polishing services and polishing support services. Strategy We collaborate closely with our customers to develop and manufacture products that offer innovative and reliable solutions to our customers’ challenges and we strive to consistently and reliably deliver and support these products around the world through what we believe is a robust global infrastructure and supply chain. We continue to focus on the execution of our primary strategy of strengthening and growing our core CMP consumables business within the semiconductor and hard disk drive industries. We are also leveraging our expertise in CMP process and slurry formulation to expand our ESF business in the optics and electronic substrates markets. CMP Consumables for the Data Storage Industry We develop and produce CMP slurries for polishing certain materials that are used in the production of rigid disks and magnetic heads used in hard disk drives for computer and other data storage applications, which represent an extension of our core CMP slurry technology and manufacturing capabilities established for the semiconductor industry. We believe CMP significantly improves the surface finish of these rigid disk coatings, resulting in greater storage capacity of the hard disk drive systems, and also improves the production efficiency of manufacturers of hard disk drives by helping increase their throughput and yield. We believe that opportunities for growth may exist within the data storage industry as cloud computing activity grows and the need for data centers utilizing hard disk drive storage increases. Strengthening and Growing Our Core CMP Consumables Business We intend to grow our core CMP consumables business by leveraging the capabilities and global infrastructure we have developed as the leader in the CMP slurry industry. We dedicate significant time and resources to new product innovation, and we work closely with our customers to deliver reliable solutions on a global scale that are designed to provide superior quality and lower overall cost of ownership. We believe our strong financial position allows us to fund growth opportunities in our core CMP consumables business through internally developed technologies as well as through potential acquisitions of technologies and businesses. Precision Optics Products Through our QED subsidiary, we design and produce precision polishing and metrology systems for advanced optic applications that allow customers to attain near- 5