GT Advanced Technologies Inc. and Apple Inc. announced Thursday they have reached an agreement on terms for the wind-down of sapphire materials production in GT’s Mesa, Ariz., and Salem, Mass., locations.
First mentioned in court, the pact is termed a “settlement” by Apple, which didn’t use sapphire from GT Advanced for its latest generation smartphones.
In a statement, an Apple spokeswoman said: “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.”
After filing for Chapter 11 protection Oct. 6 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manchester, N.H., GT Advanced said it would stop making sapphire materials.
According to a news release from GT Advanced, the settlement with Apple releases GT from “exclusivity obligations under its various agreements with Apple.” Apple, in return, gets “a mechanism for recovering its $439 million prepayment made to GT.”
