Will give money to Apple
GT Advanced Technologies is flogging its sapphire furnaces and will pay former partner, Apple a portion of the cash it gets from the sale. The furnaces were installed to make sapphire glass for Apple, which loaned GT Advanced $439 million for the project.
The company invested heavily into increasing production of sapphire materials for Apple, went under when Apple started to dicker about with the supply agreement. GT’s attorney Luc Despins had earlier told the court that he anticipated each furnace would fetch at least $500,000.
The case is being seen as a the peril of basing your business model on supporting Apple’s business plans. Several suppliers have also decided that it is not such a good idea to rely too much on Apple and are seeking to diversify into other areas in case the rug is pulled out from underneath them.
