WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.
Taiwan-based handset chassis maker Chenming Mold Industrial with its technology to create plastic/metal combined handset chassis, reportedly has already landed orders for High Tech Computer's (HTC's) new smartphone, according to sources from upstream component makers.
However, chairman of Chenming, Mu-ho Lin has declined to comment on clients, but pointed out that the technology to combine metal with plastic has already been certified by several first-tier handset vendors and will start mass production in July.
Chenming pointed out that most metal chassis processing is being done through CNC lathe machines, but since metal chassis can easily create interference with the handset's radio, the company's NanoMolding Technology (NMT), which allows a combination of metal and plastic materials, will help vendors to avoid interference issues, while providing flexible choices in designs as plastic can be easily formed into different shapes.
Chenming noted that its NMT technology already improved om the drawbacks in the past of creating extra thickness due to taping the plastic and metal materials together. In addition to reducing thickness, the technology will also strengthen the products' hardness.
Sources from upstream component makers also pointed out that NMT technology is a more simple process and has a rather lower cost compared to traditional CNC lathe machine methods and should provide smartphone vendors an additional option for their products in the future.
