Future uncertain for MTI MicroFuel Cells

The Colonie-based company, a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology Inc., recently told shareholders in a regulatory filing that it has "adequate resources" to fund its operations only through the end of January.

MTI Micro is developing a line of small fuel cells, named Mobion, for handheld electronic devices such as cell phones and digital cameras.

The company, which has received funding from Samsung, is hoping to commercialize Mobion by next year.

Parent company MTI has had trouble raising money to support that commercial launch.

And the company's stock holdings in another local fuel cell company, Plug Power Inc., have dropped in value with the market's sharp decline. MTI uses the sale of Plug shares to fund its operations.

Although MTI Micro has not started producing revenue yet, another division called MTI Instruments sells high-end test and measurement devices and brings the company revenue.

MTI noted in a Nov. 14 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it had $3.44 million in cash and marketable securities as of Sept. 30, enough to get the company through to the end of 2009 as long as it stops advancing funds to the fuel cell division.

In the meantime, MTI Micro will be looking to either further reduce its expenses or get government or stock market funding. Under the current economic climate, both sources could prove difficult.

However, Walter Robb, an MTI board member and significant investor in the company who also recently provided the company with additional funding, said MTI Micro will be fine. He said that the SEC filing was extremely conservative.

"It isn't quite that bad," he said Monday.

He rejected any notion that the company was in jeopardy of going out of business early next year.

"No, absolutely not," he said. "We've cut the burn rate."

MTI Chief Executive Officer Peng Lim could not be reached for comment.

However on Tuesday, MTI Micro issued a press release touting Mobion, saying it was able to achieve 5,500 hours of continuous operation in lab testing and that the company had filed its 110th patent for Mobion.

MTI, which has offices and research and development for its fuel cell business on New Karner Road in Colonie, has been cutting jobs in an effort to reduce expenses. It eliminated 29 jobs in September after previously employing more than 100 between its Colonie location and the MTI Instruments office and assembly lines in Albany.

Source: TimesUnion.com