Apple Will Pay Anything for This Crucial iPhone Metal

We’ve all heard the legend: there was a beautiful girl, kidnapped, a thousand ships launched, and the mightiest warriors of the ancient world descended upon the city of Troy to win her back.

Obviously this was all a myth. But Troy itself existed. And the Trojan War very likely happened as well. Though not over some pretty girl.

Instead, the Trojan War likely started as a dispute over scarce resources— then quickly escalated to a full blow shooting (or stabbing/slashing) war.

And the scarce resource in question? Tin.

Back in the Bronze Age when the Trojan War was likely fought, tin was the technological linchpin of ancient civilization. Without it, there was no bronze— and thus, none of the era’s best weapons and tools.

Copper was the other half of the chemical formula, i.e. tin + copper = bronze.

The Greeks had plenty of copper mines. But the tin component was very scarce— and distant. It came all the way from Central Asia, hauled across the Black Sea, and through the narrow strait called the Dardanelles (modern day Turkey) into the Mediterranean.

And that was only if Troy— the city perched strategically at the mouth of the Dardanelles— allowed the ships to pass.

This meant that whoever controlled Troy controlled the Greeks’ access to tin. So it’s easy to see why they probably fought a war over it.

This type of resource competition is common throughout history. But it’s a lesson that has been forgotten over the past 80 years in which global trade has been open, cooperative, and free.

Today that comity is rapidly deteriorating. Given the trade wars, regional shooting wars, and increasing global tensions, access to certain resources and real assets can no longer be taken for granted.

Some of these are obvious; oil prices, for example, regularly gyrate based on the potential for supply disruptions. And despite the Left’s absurd fantasies about wind and solar, oil is going to remain critical to modern civilization for the foreseeable future.

But with nuclear energy emerging as a clear solution to provide cheap, clean energy, uranium—whose production is highly concentrated across just a handful of countries— may become a new conflict point.

Other resources are less obvious and take a little bit more digging to understand their importance in the global economy— and their scarcity.

And that includes the forgotten ancient metal tin.

Tin is the glue that holds the modern world together… almost literally.

More than 50% of all tin demand today comes from solder, which is used to connect the billions of components on electronic circuit boards. Without solder, there are no smartphones, no electric vehicles, no AI computer chips, no cloud servers, no missile guidance systems.

The more technology progresses, the more tin is needed; AI growth alone is expected to double tin demand between now and 2028.

Yet tin is an incredibly small market. Only around $12.5 billion worth was produced last year. Given that the worldwide commodities trade is more than $6+ trillion per year, the tin market is less than a rounding error. It’s minuscule.

This creates an odd situation. While tin is a critical part of the iPhone, for example, only a few cents worth goes into each unit. And this is typical across the electronics industry.

So the price of tin could increase 5x or 10x, yet the impact on Apple’s bottom line would be negligible—maybe 50 cents more per phone.

Apple would still pay for tin at 10x the price. So would every other tech manufacturer.

In other words, if tin supply tightens, buyers won’t blink… but investors will make a fortune.

And supply is tightening.

Classic tin-producing regions have gone offline or become politically unstable. With supply tightening and demand rising, just one major Western producer is left to pick up the slack.

Production has been kept artificially low for years as Cold War strategic stockpiles were drawn down. But those stockpiles are now depleted.

There is also no substitute metal. And no feasible way to do without it.

Yet demand continues rising—steadily, predictably—year after year.

A critical metal hiding in plain sight, where even a modest supply crunch could generate enormous returns.

This compelling supply and demand dynamic is the focus of our latest issue of the 4th Pillar, our premium investment research service.

The recent July issue— published just last week— features a profitable, growing tin producer in the developed world. The company is debt-free, cash-rich, and trading at just 2.2x earnings—an insane valuation for a company producing one of the world’s most critical tech metals.

Tin is just one of many examples of the real assets that are absurdly undervalued, with extreme catalysts on the horizon.

We’ve uncovered similar stories in platinum, oil, and even iron—where supply disruptions and political pressure have created massive mispricings… and massive upside.

But some our most successful investments over the past year have come in the precious metals sector.

While central banks have been buying metric tons of gold— driving the price to all time highs— they haven’t been buying gold producers. That’s left many of the world’s best gold and silver producers trading at absurdly cheap valuations.

We’ve been writing about this for nearly two years, and the results speak for themselves:

• One of our top picks is up 153% in just three months.
• Another surged 146% in eleven months.
• Two more have gained 133% and 51% in a matter of months.
• Most others have delivered steady returns of 27–34%.

Only one has gone the other way—down 27%. But even that company is sitting on strong fundamentals and multiple catalysts— so we believe it’s just even more undervalued.

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If you’re serious about protecting and growing your wealth in a world where the old rules no longer apply, click here to learn more about the 4th Pillar.

Source

Simon Black is an international investor, entrepreneur and permanent traveler. His daily letter is both educational and entertaining, and we suggest that those who want unbiased, actionable information about global opportunities sign up for Sovereign Man’s free, actionable newsletter at http://www.SovereignMan.com.

From Simon Black of SovereignMan.com

Source: https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/apple-will-pay-anything-for-this-crucial-iphone-metal-153131/