Less than a year after the conclusion of the transaction between GT Advanced and Apple, sapphire glass manufacturer has terminated the contract and is on the verge of bankruptcy. GT Advanced comes out of the business of producing sapphire glass .
As part of the settlement of the contract with Apple, which must be approved by the bankruptcy court in November, GT Advanced announced the termination of production of sapphire materials. Instead, it plans to refocus its business and retrain as a supplier and manufacturer of equipment for the production of sapphire coating. This will allow GT Advanced to get rid of an exclusive agreement with Apple, while maintaining all production and ancillary assets located in Mesa, Arizona, USA.
To repay its debt to Apple, GT Advanced plans to sell more than 2,000 kilns for production of sapphire. In total, over four years, the company has to pay $ 439 million.
Following these news on AppleInsider was reported that Apple and GT Advanced working to develop a new method for the production of sapphire glass. But this technology for obvious reasons has not been implemented.