Happy Days For Apple's Metal Casting Suppliers

Apple iPod cases made by Catcher Technology.

If the latest news about Apple is any indication, metals in the consumer technology sphere aren’t going away anytime soon.

Apple recently posted record quarterly profits to the tune of $7 billion as the company continues to experience record success with the iPhone and iPad products. That success has led to folks wondering what Apple will do with its “mountain of cash, around $76 billion. (How about buy a fountain of youth for its magical CEO, Steve Jobs?)

Apple’s profits and market health mean good things for its suppliers, such as Catcher Technology out of Taiwan. Bloomberg BusinessWeek just reported that Catcher’s stock price estimates rose to record levels.

Catcher excels in magnesium die casting, as well as working with aluminum, stainless and zinc to create metal casings and other products for the personal computer industry, such as these:

iPhone cases.

A Macbook frame.

Catcher’s touch panels. Photos: Catcher Technology

“Catcher has demonstrated it is ahead of the competition by 12-16 months, Wei Chen, a Citigroup analyst, said in a report yesterday, as quoted by Bloomberg.

Catcher Technology also traffics in MIM, forging and extrusions, among other things. They also have an integrated system, in which all processes from metal forming to CNC to surface treatment are “under one roof, according to their website.

Catcher has the capability of extruding and casting a variety of tech parts.

This allows them to diversify its client base which also includes Dell and Research in Motion — and be ahead of the game.

Whether for Apple or any of its direct or indirect competitors, Catcher’s market hotness goes to show that metal will remain crucial in our everyday technology.

No wonder the Chinese are exploring the deepest oceans for metals¦

–Taras Berezowsky