GT Advanced Technologies announced that OCI Company, Ltd., the South Korea-based sapphire producer, has kicked off producing sapphire boules and cores in its new manufacturing facility.

The company has completed the initial installation of GT’s ASF™ sapphire growth furnaces that were purchased in January 2011. In a ceremony on March 2 to commemorate its new sapphire production facility, OCI mentioned it has begun the shipment of 6-inch sapphire cores as well as 2-inch and 4-inch products to top manufacturers located in Taiwan and Korea. The new plant has an annual production capacity of 4 million millimeters of sapphire.

OCI’s ability to produce LED-grade sapphire at diameters up to six inches will help to position them as a top sapphire producer in the region. Their entrance into the LED industry utilizing GT’s ASF sapphire growth technology expands the relationship between the two companies.