“Apple Inc said on Thursday it is studying options for sapphire supply and might work again with GT Advanced Technologies Inc if the distressed supplier can reduce production costs for the scratch-resistant material,” Sayantani Ghosh reports for Reuters.
“On Thursday, Apple, which had backed the development with GT of a sapphire-manufacturing plant in Arizona, said it will keep an eye on GT’s advances, holding open the possibility of doing business with it in future,” Ghosh reports. “‘Apple put a lot of effort into an ambitious new sapphire manufacturing process with GTAT which is not ready for production. We’re going to continue evaluating GTAT’s progress on larger sapphire boule development, as well as consider other options for the facility,’ spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said, referring to raw cylinders of the material.”
“On Thursday, GT said it will continue ‘technical exchanges’ with Apple on making larger, next-generation sapphire boules, raw cylinders of the material that effectively increase capacity and lower the unit cost of production. GT said it would expand into boules of more than 165 kg, from the current 115 kg,” Ghosh reports. “On Thursday, GT Advanced also laid out the details of an agreement struck and described in court on Tuesday. Under that pact, GT will stop making sapphire materials for now and focus on supplying equipment to make sapphire crystals.”
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