It's a soap opera with twists and turns that
has been playing since the beginning of the week for the company GT Advanced Technologies,
each day bringing its share of news.
Let us first remember that this company specializes in the manufacturing
of a material more resistant than glass, sapphire crystal, currently
used by Apple to protect the photo lens and theTouch ID sensoriPhones. Appleinvested 578 million
dollarsin the form of an advance in order to ramp up a
sapphire crystal manufacturing and cutting plant located in
Arizona.
But this week,surprise for everyone, including
Apple: the company has just placed itself under the protection of the
American bankruptcy law!
In practice, while the arrival of sapphire crystal screens for
new iPhone 6 was strongly anticipated, the company would not have succeeded in
achieve the objectives required by the contracts signed with Apple, blocking the
payment of the last amounts provided for in the agreement. Despite the help of the
Apple firm, the company was unable to resolve the problems encountered,
blocking the last payments.
In the end, the manufacturer, heavily dependent on orders from Apple, would have
found in an unsustainable financial position and forced to
under the protection of American bankruptcy law. Since then, the company
would have asked the administrator to be ableclose the factory.
Apple, which owns the walls and rents the building, said it was working
to seek a solution to maintain employment in this region of
Arizona
The factory located in Meza, Arizona:
But that's not all, because by going almost bankrupt, the company
must (it) publicly reveal a lot of information including
its customers and contracts. Except that by contract with one of its most
large customers, not named (read Apple therefore), it shouldpour
penalties if the contracts and information concerning this customer are ever
revealed. Squaring the circle and a very delicate position at the
both for GT Advanced and Apple
We will finally add to this unfortunate technical and financial rout, a
another episode, since the boss of GT Advanced would have according to Wall Street
Journalsold
shares of his companythe day before the announcement of the iPhone 6, start
September…
If the Sapphire Crystal was ultimately not used on the iPhone 6, the
question may arise as to whether this is a discrepancy in terms of
deployment, in which case a next generation of iPhone could benefit from it,
or if the problem is deeper and the material would ultimately not be
adapted. Still, Apple goes beyond current needs (lenses, Touch
Id) has planned to use this ultra-resistant glass for certain models of
onrange of watches
connected: the Apple Watch. This should be marketed
early next yearbut should not
not be impactedby GT Advanced issues.
In the end, we can imagine that Apple will be able to find a solution to this
problem, maybe it will go through a buyout? As long as the
material remains of strategic importance for Apple.
To read:
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By : Keleops AG
founder of the site. Computer engineer and Internet specialist where he has held various positions of responsibility, Laurent has been passionate about mobility since the arrival of "PDAs" in the 90s. Journalist for 4 years for the magazine Team Palmtops (Posse Presse) and author of several books on the iPad published by Pearson.
