Apple’s sapphire glass manufacturer goes bankrupt

The rumour about Apple placing sapphire glass on their flagship iPhone 6 handsets went viral with many waiting for the crystal protected smartphones to launch.

Unfortunately, Apple went ahead to deploy a regular glass instead and tucked away the sapphire glass for their Home buttons and camera lenses.

Sapphire glass is known to be one of the toughest glasses after diamond. It is tougher than the presently used Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on most smartphones.

Around late 2013, a news piece went out that Apple signed a deal with GT Advanced Technologies to build a sapphire manufacturing plant in Arizona. The deal gave rise to rumours of GT Advanced Technologies manufacturing the sapphire glass for Apples iPhone 6.

A report by the WSJ stated that GT Technologies filed for bankruptcy. The launch of Apple’s iPhone 6 gave out the fact that there is no sapphire glass being used on the display and GT Advanced Technologies faced a massive dip in their stocks in 2014.

However, the company hopes that the Apple Watch, which is due to be launched in 2015, will use the sapphire glass display protection and the company will regain their stand back to where they were.

Below is the press release from the company:

Merrimack: GT Advanced Technologies Inc., announced that it had, together with certain of its direct and indirect subsidiaries (collectively, GT), commenced voluntary cases under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire. GT expects the court will authorize the company to continue to conduct business as usual while it devotes renewed efforts to resolve its current issues and develops a reorganization plan.

GT indicated that as of September 29, 2014 it had approximately $85 million of cash. In addition, it is now seeking debtor-in-possession financing, which, once obtained, would provide the company with an immediate source of additional funds. These funding sources will enable GT to satisfy the customary obligations associated with the daily operation of its business, including the timely payment of employee wages and other obligations.

As a result of the filing, and as is customary with public companies, NASDAQ may temporarily halt trading in the company's stock pending the receipt of additional information on the company's financial condition. The company is cooperating with NASDAQ and will be providing any requested information as promptly as possible.

"GT has a strong and fundamentally sound underlying business," said Tom Gutierrez, president and chief executive officer of GT. "Today's filing does not mean we are going out of business; rather, it provides us with the opportunity to continue to execute our business plan on a stronger footing, maintain operations of our diversified business, and improve our balance sheet.

"We are convinced that the rehabilitative process of chapter 11 is the best way to reorganize, protect our company and provide a path to our future success. We remain committed to our roots in innovation and our diversification strategy. We plan to continue to operate as a technology leader across our core set of businesses."

The company indicated that it expects to provide additional details with respect to the chapter 11 filing as soon as they are available. More information, including access to court documents, can be accessed at www.KCCllc.net/gtat (court-appointed claims agent site); or www.nhb.uscourts.gov, the official Bankruptcy Court web site.