Boston, MA 10/10/2014 (wallstreetpr) – GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:GTAT), the supplier of sapphire to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), revealed that it filed an application to shut down the facility in a U.S. court.
Court Filing
As disclosed in an article, GT filed a request in a U.S. bankruptcy court to shut down its facility earlier in the week. The company sought to wind down operations at the manufacturing facility within a period of one year after it announced its deal with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Judge Henry Boroff had fixed Oct 15 as the date for the hearing of the matter in Springfield, Massachusetts. However, further details of the filing are unavailable because the case was filed as confidential. It held back the fact that the company it had contracted with was Apple. In fact, it was only later that the third party spoken of in the contract was identified as Apple.
As GT moved to avail the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Apple responded saying that the step was “surprising.” A spokesman of the company however assured that the tech giant plans to keep creating employment opportunities in Arizona. It is currently in talks with government authorities to maintain the job numbers in Arizona.
Background
The matter concerns GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:GTAT) earlier announcement that has entered into an agreement with the iPhone maker to supply Sapphire. In November, the companies had announced a $578 million contract which demanded GT to manufacture sapphire at its Mesa, Arizona facility.
It was later revealed that Apple had handed out four out of the total five advance payments to the company. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) had however withheld a sum of $139 million, which was due in October. The reason for the act is still unknown. But if reports are to be believed, the company sought to help GT fulfill the requirements of the contract so as to make GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:GTAT) eligible for the final installment. The total sum that Apple would have paid GT if it had met all the contractual demands was almost $440 million.
