Hoku abandons plan
to buy Tyco site in Maili
Hawaii fuel-cell developer Hoku Scientific Inc. is looking for a new home -- again.
The rapidly growing start-up had planned to buy the 38,000-square-foot Tyco building in Maili as part of plans to shift into commercial production of its promising fuel-cell membranes, but the deal has fallen through.
Company President Dustin Shindo said Hoku walked away after it became clear that a zoning variance for the property -- a never-used telecoms facility on residential-zoned land -- could not be received in time to suit Hoku's tight timetable.
"Instead of crossing our fingers and hoping for the best, we decided to look elsewhere," Shindo said.
The company now occupies 7,000 square feet in Kalihi but needs more space to begin commercial fabrication of its proprietary hydrogen membranes, the key ingredient in fuel cells that will provide cheap and clean energy to homes in Japan.
Shindo said Japanese companies plan to launch fuel cells for home use as early as next year, opening a potentially vast new market for Hoku. Hoku expects demand to grow sharply. It is already selling its product to several Japanese companies, including Sanyo, with which it has a $6 million development agreement.
He said Hoku has initiated the purchase of another property but declined to reveal details.
Hoku, which means star, is one of the rising stars of Hawaii's tech community. Shindo says he remains strongly committed to keeping the company in Hawaii, avoiding the fate of other promising local start-ups that had to move offshore to be nearer to funding sources.
Hoku has raised $8 million in investment to date and Shindo said the company actually turned down significant new equity investment recently, saying it was no longer needed, and he expects the company to become profitable earlier than the original target of year-end 2005.
www.hokuscientific.com/
