Apple supplier Catcher plans Vietnam plant

Apple supplier Catcher Technology, a world-leading chassis maker, is in the process of building a production plant in Vietnam as other Taiwanese companies shift production to the country.

According to a report on Wednesday by leading Taiwanese tech magazine Digitimes, Catcher is nearing the end of site acquisition discussions and may begin work on a new factory in Vietnam in the second half of this year.

Digitimes said Catcher chairman Allen Hung had announced the new plans. The investment capital is not known yet.

Catcher, listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) as 2474, makes shells for electronics such as PC notebooks, cell phones, and cameras, using magnesium alloy die castings, aluminum alloys, zinc alloys, stainless steel or plastic.

On August 18, 2020, the Catcher chairman announced at a news conference in Taipei that his corporation had approved the sale of its wholly owned Topo Technology (Taizhou) Co. and Meeca Technology (Taizhou) Co. in China to Lens Technology Co., a Chinese handset-cover glass maker, for $1.43 billion. Today, the leading chassis maker is in a position to invest in Vietnam.

Apple is currently expanding its supplier base in Southeast Asia and India as more manufacturers have embarked on massive relocation efforts to build a more resilient supply chain.

Apple Inc. on May 24 published its supplier list for the fiscal year 2022 which will end in September. It has added several Taiwanese firms, including IC designer Novatek Microelectronics and memorychip maker Winbond Electronics Corp to its list of suppliers, and said it will continue to work with Foxconn and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. or TSMC.

Foxconn has plants in California, Vietnam’s Bac Giang province, and India’s Tamil Nadu state, and is a major iPhone assembler.

Catcher also appeared on the list, which includes Taiwanese chip packaging and testing services provider ASE Technology, connector producer Cheng Uei Precision Industry, contract electronics maker Compal Electronics, and printed circuit board manufacturer Compeq Manufacturing.

Compal, also a supplier to Amazon and Dell, signed a deal to lease 40 hectares of land in Vietnam's northern province of Thai Binh in December 2022 for its new $260 million investment.

Meanwhile, Apple supplier Pegatron, another Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, kicked off the construction of a worker accommodation project on a site of more than 5 hectares in Hai Phong city, northern Vietnam, on Tuesday. The $68.3 million project will feature 10 high-rise buildings that can house 10,000 workers. Pegatron aims to complete six buildings by the fourth quarter of 2024.