Thank you, everybody, for being here. The last time I presented at all. It's good to be back. I presume none of you were there at that time. I'll go over some of our technology and our history, and hopefully you'll enjoy our story. The first page of our presentation basically talks about the fact that it is all about the hinge, and the hinge is this part here. I will describe in more detail how this part is our future of our business. Let me go over the history of our company and our technology. First of all, in 1962, our technology was first invented by Caltech. A few engineers actually dabbled in this technology and discovered it by accident, and they didn't know what to do with it in the beginning until 1987 when Liquidmetal Technologies was formed, and we began commercializing the technology.
In 2002, we went IPO on NASDAQ with a purchase order from Samsung. The purchase order was for a small hinge for the flip phones. During that time, flip phones were very popular. If you recall the Motorola Razr, Samsung, LG, Ericsson, all these phones were the small flip phones, and you probably never knew that there was a liquid metal hinge included in that phone. After we went public, the company struggled because the technology was somewhat new, and we burned through cash, and we had a manufacturing plant in Korea, but we shuttered all that down and went out to funding. We were fortunate enough to get the interest of Apple. In 2010, we partnered with them, and they signed a license with us to incorporate our application into consumer electronics. Thereafter, we also struggled to keep the technology going, and we burned through cash.
In 2016, we were fortunate again to have caught the interest of our current Chairman, Professor Lugee Li. He invested $63 million into the company and really elevated the company to allow for research and development and commercialization. In 2020, a company called Yihao Metal, it's an affiliate company of ours all under our Chairman's umbrella, started manufacturing these hinges en masse for the Chinese mobile device industry. Huawei, BYD, Oppo, Vivo, these companies all incorporate our technology into their mobile phones. In 2026, it is my belief that we will be manufacturing these hinges with our new manufacturing plant that is slated to operate in 2026. Let me go over our technology. Typically, when liquid is, well, liquid is by itself in an atomic structure that is amorphous, meaning that the structure of the liquid is random. It flows. It takes the shape of its container.
When it solidifies, it becomes crystalline. You see the screen up there, and you see those boundaries. Those are where the crystals form, and those are the weak areas of the solid. If you actually break that solid, that's where it breaks. Our technology is amazing in that it incorporates the amorphous atomic structure while it is a solid, and it is a zirconium-based alloy, 70% zirconium, and it also contains titanium, nickel, aluminum, and other materials. How do you make liquid metal? Our technology is mainly this die-cast machine. It's a hybrid die-cast injection molding machine, and you essentially take feedstock and melt it in an induction chamber, and you injection mold it into a mold that's made of stainless steel. Out comes a part, and with some minor secondary processes, you get a part that looks like this.
It's a remarkable part because no other process can replicate what we do utilizing amorphous alloys. This particular part is actually a hand-controlled device for dental equipment. Let me also now go over some of the characteristics that make this technology remarkable. By utilizing amorphous alloy, we can create these parts that are twice as strong as titanium. It achieves a hardness that's greater than heat-treated stainless steel. We have dimensional controls and very tight tolerances that exceed CNC machining. We can produce these parts in volume utilizing the mold, and additional cavities allow us for reduction of costs. Our parts are corrosion-resistant. They're scratch-resistant, so you can't scratch it. Lastly, our material is elastic, so you're able to bend it, and it doesn't plastically deform. By itself, these characteristics aren't that spectacular, but we're the only process and material that incorporates all these characteristics into one part.
This is not possible with any other material or process, and that's why our technology is revolutionary. Typically, our sweet spot is parts that are 1 g- 20 g, and the parts typically fit on the palm of your hands. The thickness is where we shine. We can actually make parts that are 0.3 mm thick. As you know, the devices that we carry with us, iPads, mobile devices, they're becoming thinner and lighter. This is why our technology is perfect for the future mobile devices that are in production currently. Let me now talk about some of the industries that we're pursuing. Anything can be made out of liquid metal, but we want to pursue the industries that have high volume and greater revenue opportunities. The medical industry is one of the ideal markets that we want to pursue.
The medical device industry utilizes very strong, tight tolerance, complex parts. We manufacture parts like the staple anvil, jaw grasper, and clip applier. These devices are used to cut tissue and skin. We can make molded housing for pacemakers. We can also make sharp devices to cut skin. There are a lot of other applications in the medical industry that we can do, and we will need to identify something similar to the hinge that we can manufacture in the millions. Robotics and EVs, that's an industry that we are aggressively pursuing as well. If you think about the Tesla Optimus robots, there are hundreds of parts included in the robot, and any application we can utilize liquid metal to make those parts. Similar to robotic knuckles, strain wave gear, and racks, we can utilize our application to make those parts. I have here with me in the EV industry.
This part is made out of amorphous alloy, and it is the door latch for the Model X Tesla EV. Originally, it was made by stainless steel, but it kept breaking. Tesla contacted us, and we designed a part that doesn't break. If you drive a Model X, this is what's inside that car currently. The biggest market that we want to pursue is consumer products. There are so many applications that we can do. We currently make a ring, a health ring for Movano. It's designed for women, and again, the elastic features make this an ideal application. We're currently prototyping credit cards for one of the biggest banks in the United States. We've made earbuds for Sony. We can make sunglasses. We've made watch bezels. It's an endless list of applications that we can do for consumer products.
That's kind of a brief history and our focus of the business. I would like to switch it over to the future of this business, 2026 and beyond. The next phase of amorphous alloy development and innovation begins in 2026. The first aspect of that growth is related to our liquid metal manufacturing plant that we just announced in Hangzhou, China. Hangzhou is China's digital and innovation hub. There are manufacturers. There are customers. Companies like Alibaba, Huawei, DeepSeek, they're all there. There's a number of sub-suppliers that we can utilize, and it's a great location to initiate our first manufacturing plant. Heading that operation is Lugee Li, our Chairman. Let me describe a little bit about him. He's a Professor at South China University. He's a member and advisor to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He's a serial entrepreneur, and he has many patents under his name.
He's a philanthropist, and he's what I dub the master of manufacturing. He started a company in 1993 called Dongguan Yantech in China. They are a magnesium and aluminum die-casting company. If you drive a car, you most likely will have a Yantech part in that car. In 2014, he did a spin-off and created a company called Yihao Metal. They are our contract manufacturer, and it's an affiliate company. They specifically focus on manufacturing amorphous alloy parts. In 2016, as I mentioned earlier, our Professor invested $63 million into our company and became Chairman. In 2025, he is now the head of our China manufacturing operations.
He is basically the person that brought this technology to the masses, and his ecosystem that he's created with Liquidmetal Technologies focusing on the Americas and Europe and Yihao Metal focusing on China, he's created this ecosystem that nobody else has done in the past. Our team in China, we have experts in the field of manufacturing. These guys come from BYD, Yantech, Yihao. They have years of experience. Making liquid metal parts is not easy. It's very hard. Utilizing mold technology, utilizing the die-cast machines, utilizing CNC machining, it's a very complex process, but these guys make it very simple. The next generation of die-cast machines we are currently developing will utilize 10 years of our knowledge and research and development that we've done. The new die-cast machines will be called Liquid Morphium. This will significantly reduce liquid metal parts and enhance our technology even further.
Earlier in the presentation, I was talking about the hinges. What is a hinge? This is basically the backbone of foldable devices. It has the structural integrity and the strength and the elasticity to be a very essential part. There are very delicate cables that go between the two screens, and it basically allows data and power to be shared among the two screens. It provides a screen protection mechanism. The feel and the ergonomics of foldable devices are much more enhanced utilizing our technology. The market for foldable hinges is estimated to be about $1 billion in 2024, and we look at that to be about $7 billion in about 10 years' time. That is just this one particular part. If you do the math, let's say this particular part is $10 per piece. We can make a million parts. That's $10 million in revenue.
This could be 5 million, 10 million parts in just one application. You can see the significance of one application and the revenue-generating opportunity there. This is a foldable device manufactured by Huawei, and this is where the hinge goes right here. This product was launched early part of this year. It's a huge monitor, or it can be a laptop. It's highly successful in China, but you won't see any of this in the United States. Also, a Huawei cell phone right here. Same concept. The hinge goes right in the middle. A little bit about our customers. As I mentioned earlier, we signed a licensing agreement with Apple, and we are always in communications with them to develop the next application. Samsung, I mentioned earlier, we've come full circle with them. We're now making prototypes for Samsung for their foldable phones.
Sony, we partnered with them to make earbuds. As mentioned earlier, Vivo, Huawei, and Oppo already incorporate our technology into their mobile phones. You're not going to see any of them because they are only in China. Medical device customers include Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, and Intuitive Surgical. We've prototyped, and we've been in communications with them. We are in the process of identifying an application similar to the hinge that we can manufacture in the millions. Needless to say, Tesla and BYD are also our customers. As mentioned, we will utilize our technology and get into their robotics, incorporate our technology into their robotics division as well. Liquidmetal USA, we're the foremost authority in amorphous alloy technology. There are a lot of small players in China that also manufacture amorphous alloys, but we're the leader, and we're the only one with the brand name recognition.
The hinge is going to basically be the product that makes us a household name. It's going to elevate this industry, and it's just the beginning because this hinge is going to get the interest of the giant manufacturers out there in China. There's going to be a lot more investment into this technology. It will lower the cost. There will be industry consolidation and acquisitions, and we are going to lead those transactions, and that's Liquidmetal 's value proposition. There are other applications that we do. This is a golf club head. We make the head right here. We can make phone frames. We've prototyped these parts, and these can be manufactured in the millions as well. We make implants. This is a knee. Our material is biocompatible, and there's a huge market for implants. I think that's all I have here with me.
The company itself, we're traded on the over-the-counter exchange. Our stock price is at around $0.13- $0.15. We have a very healthy balance sheet. We have about $40 million of liquid cash and assets. We are fully SEC-compliant, audited financials, and we are NASDAQ eligible. Hopefully, in the foreseeable future, we will be able to get back onto NASDAQ, perhaps in 2026, but we'll see. Just a little bit about myself. I've been with this company for about 20 years. I first started as a finance guy, then I was General Counsel, then I became CFO, and I became CEO in 2021, just at the right time, right out of the gate from the pandemic. It's been a long road, and it took a very long time to really take this technology to the next level. I think 2026, again, will be the year that we will break out.
There's a lot of revenue opportunities for this company. We're not looking to raise any funds at this time, but wanted to share our story, and I think the future is very bright. Any questions? Yes.
Could you just sort of compare what it would cost someone to buy a personal hearing cover versus like a single-metal part or a simple part, just so I can understand?
Are you talking about the frame?
Yeah, just like a simple part. How do you compare to the alternative? It doesn't have any benefits, but I'm just trying to.
Our main competitors are parts made out of CNC machining and also MIM, metal injection molding. Our competitors are not necessarily materials, but it's processes. We're able to reduce the cost by utilizing mold technology. I mentioned $10 for this particular piece. Our prices range from $1- $10, depending on how many cavities we can achieve for each mold, depending on the complexities of the part, what kind of secondary processes are required. We try to keep it, again, in the $1- $10 range. The parts that we manufacture are extremely complex. To CNC machine, you'd have to take a block and chip out all the parts, and that's very expensive. With the multi-cavity mold, we're able to reduce costs and be competitive for these very complex parts.
You're saying you're less expensive than your competitors?
Yes. Machined parts, we are much less expensive and very competitive. MIM, the technology there for MIM is not as precise, it's not as strong, it's not as predictable as ours because MIM has a tendency to shrink. Ours comes right out of the mold, and it's usable right away. This particular part, again, it comes right out of the mold, and it's shiny and ready for use. Yes.
For the foldable devices, like the ones that Samsung and Xiaomi make, who do they use? Are they just not using nickel or are they using the forms?
They're currently using different types of steel. They can utilize aluminum. They can utilize MIM. Devices are becoming thinner and lighter, and they can't achieve what we can achieve with Liquidmetal. The thinness, the strength, the elasticity, it just does not exist. We're the only alternative that they have for utilizing for very thin mobile devices.
What is the patent protection that you have?
Sorry, what's that?
What's the IP protection that you have around the company?
We have currently about 40 patents, and we are going to refocus our cash and resources into producing additional patents. You saw that new machine. We're going to be developing new patents. Liquidmetal manufacturing is very hard. In the past, the patents prevented competitors from competing with us. The patents are important, but at the same time, the knowledge and the know-how and the expertise on manipulating and manufacturing amorphous alloy, that's what's valuable. The patents are, of course, there for secondary protection. We actually want competitors to come in because in order to elevate this industry, you have to have second sources, and customers need to have second sources for manufacturing. We're going to lead our competitors. We're years ahead of the next competitor. Basically, we want competitors. We want more exposure of this technology so that it becomes generally available for everybody and becomes a household name.
If there are no questions, I will have samples here for everybody to see, and I have one-on-one sessions after this. Hopefully, you enjoyed the program and look forward to seeing you.