GTAT Actively Pursuing Sapphire Furnace Sales and Xiaomi is Looking for more Supply
On December 15 we posted a report titled "Bankruptcy Court Approves Settlement between GTAT & Apple." In that report we noted that the settlement freed GT Advanced from some exclusivity agreements with Apple, giving it control of its sapphire-making patents and lets it retain ownership and sales rights for more than 2,000 production furnaces in Mesa, Arizona. Today, GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) announced that following the Bankruptcy Court's recent approval of its Settlement Agreement with Apple, GT is now pursuing Advanced Sapphire Furnace opportunities for sapphire cover glass applications across the broader smartphone market as well as ongoing opportunities in the LED and Industrial markets.
GTAT stated in today's press release that "Under the Settlement Agreement, all previous exclusivity restrictions have been lifted and GT retains control of its intellectual property as well as ownership of its production, ancillary and inventory assets located in Mesa."
Tom Gutierrez, GT's chief executive officer and president stated that "We are very pleased that the court has approved our Settlement Agreement with Apple, which we believe is in the best interest of all parties. We are focused on executing on our business plan which includes marketing and selling our market-leading ASF sapphire growth technology. Based on the demonstrated field performance of the ASF, GT's technology roadmap and our unmatched sapphire growth expertise, we are confident that GT's ASF platform offers sapphire manufacturers the most cost competitive, scalable and versatile solution for sapphire growth for several applications including consumer electronics. Since we have re-entered the market, interest in our sapphire technology has continued to grow."
Earlier today a report from Taiwan noted that China-based smartphone vendor Xiaomi Technology is likely to adopt sapphire for protective covers of Xiaomi 5, its 5.7-inch flagship model that will be showcased at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show.
The problem for Xiaomi is that existing sapphire production capacity is not sufficient to meet the demand, say industry insiders. For 5-inch and larger device screens, sapphire ingots' cross-section area must be enlarged and this will increase the time taken to grow sapphire crystal and decrease yield rates.
Yet with GTAT being back in the business of selling their Advanced Sapphire Furnaces for larger smartphone cover displays, perhaps a quick sale of their furnaces to Xiaomi suppliers could fill that demand. It would be rather maddening if their technology ended up making sapphire cover glass for future Xiaomi smartphones in some capacity when they couldn't get it right for Apple. While some would see that as a form of payback on GTAT's part – for now at least, the two stories seem to be coincidentally timed and unrelated.
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