Boston, MA 08/06/2014 (wallstreetpr) – GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:GTAT) has struck a deal with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to supply its sapphire suite of products to the smartphone maker. Apple and GT Advanced would partner at an Arizona base to develop sapphire products that would support Apple’s popular electronic devices. Sapphire glass is nearly unbreakable and scratch resistant making it ideal for Apple’s smart phone displays. GT Advanced stated that sapphire business accounted to 75 percent with large chunk of it coming from sales of sapphire production equipment. Sapphire material sales have lower gross margins compared to the sapphire production equipment sales that have larger margins. As a result, GT Advanced is counting on the sapphire equipment sales to boost the revenue and has projected the full year profit to about 15 cents a share.
Second Quarter Results
GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:GTAT) announced the second quarter results with revenue amounting to $58 million. The majority of revenue comes from sapphire equipment sales put at $44.1 million with other products photovoltaic and polysilicon sales totaling $13.9 million. The CEO of the company stated that the revenues are in line with expectations. The Sapphire Equipment division accounted for 75% of the revenue and the growing demand for sapphire production equipment is poised to increase the company’s performance.
Project in Middle East
GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:GTAT) secured a project with Qatar Solar Energy (QSE) to supply it HiCz™ 200 furnaces for QSE’s integrated PV manufacturing projects in Doha, Qatar. QSE plans to increase the projects capacity from 300MW to 2.5 GW. GT Advanced’s HiCz technology is expected to play key role to enable the solar industry’s transition to higher efficiency while lowering solar material cost.
One of a Kind Patent
GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:GTAT) recent acquisition of Twin Creeks Technology has enabled it to use the Twin Creek Hyperion technology to develop ultra thin monocrystalline silicon wafers for production in bulk. It has patented this technology, only one of its kinds available now in the industry. The wafers can be used to produce the thinnest ever high efficiency monocrystalline solar cells. The latest Hyperion technology improved by GT Advanced is now for commercial use in cancer treatment, production of solar cells and development of sapphire components for use in mobiles and point of sale (POS) units.
