GT Advanced

New photos surface of Apple’s Arizona sapphire plant, possible expansion rumored

Cody Lee ∙ March 27, 2014

According to a new report from AppleInsider, contractors are working around the clock and on weekends to finish Apple's new sapphire plant in Mesa, Arizona. The site says that work on the facility is progressing, and that the company may be expanding the project with an additional building.

Word that the iPad-maker was teaming up with GT Advanced to build a sapphire production plant first came in November of last year, and it has since remained a popular topic. The Cupertino firm is believed to be using the plant to manufacture components for yet-to-be announced products...

Full production of GT-made sapphire starting in H2 2014, in time for Fall launch of iPhone 6

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

GT Advanced Technologies, a U.S.-based company Apple's partnered with on mass-scale sapphire manufacture in its new Mesa, Arizona facility, today released earnings for the 2013 holiday quarter and said that 2014 will be a "transformational" year for the company. Plans to supply sapphire glass to Apple are "progressing well" as GT expects a very profitable second half of 2014.

Its projected revenues also indicate a Fall launch for the next iPhone model (or models, if you believe the rumors). According to GT, the company has "started to build out the facility in Arizona and staff the operation" during the previous quarter...

Apple reportedly secured three year’s worth of sapphire glass

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 19, 2014

With a larger of the two jumbo-sized iPhones rumored to arrive later this year rocking a massive 5.5-inch screen, Apple's adamant to buy huge amounts of thin sapphire laminates, likely to strengthen the handset's cover glass. We know Apple invested nearly $500 million in high-tech furnaces and equipment for its Arizona sapphire plant.

The firm is operating the facility in partnership with GT Advanced.

We've also known that Apple and GT have signed an exclusive multi-year agreement and now Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth has gone on the record claiming that Apple has acquired three-year supply of sapphire screens...

GT Advanced’s 2014 revenue to grow 15x thanks to sapphire deal with Apple

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

As officially confirmed earlier this week, Apple has teamed up with smartphone cover glass maker GT Advanced in a $578 million multi-year deal which gives the iPhone maker steady supply of sapphire glass, a crystalline form of aluminum oxide hailed for its unmatched scratch resistance and hardness second only to diamond.

GT will be investing big money in large capacity furnaces to forge the precious gemstone on an industrial scale at Apple's upcoming eco-friendly, 700-employee facility in Mesa, Arizona. Although the deal is subject to “certain exclusivity terms” and GT expects "substantially lower" gross margins, it's of strategic nature and will be cash positive to GT.

By some estimates, GT's revenue next year could experience an unheard-of 15x increase based on the Apple contract alone...

How Apple supplier GT Advanced makes sapphire glass covers for smartphones

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Yesterday, New Hampshire-based materials manufacturing company GT Advanced announced a multi-year agreement with Apple to provide steady supply of the sapphire glass, a crystalline form of aluminum oxide known for its superior durability and scratch resistance. Apple relies on this pricey gemstone to protect the iPhone 5s's Touch ID sensor and has been using it for camera lens cover on all iOS devices since the iPhone 5.

The strategic supply agreement is valued at more than half a billion dollars in cutting-edge equipment and some folks have combed through Apple's patent filings for a clue to building next-generation iDevices with sapphire glass covers instead of Gorilla Glass.

Here's a video tour of GT's manufacturing process behind making the scratch-resistant, tougher-than-Gorilla-Glass sapphire displays for smartphones...

Apple opening next-gen sapphire glass plant in Arizona, creating 2,000 US jobs

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

The Arizona State Governor Janice K. Brewer has just issued an interesting press release confirming that Apple will open a manufacturing plant in Mesa to build components for products. The manufacturing facility will create more than 700 high-quality jobs in the first year and "generate significant capital investment".

She kept mum on details, but the "significant capital investment" rules out server farms and perhaps alludes at some sort of a new plant to assemble products other than the new Mac Pro, which is being assembled in a Texas plant. UPDATED with new info, jumps past the fold for the latest..