The company also announced that it has entered into a multi-year supply agreement with Apple Inc. to provide sapphire material. GT will own and operate ASF® furnaces and related equipment to produce the material at an Apple facility in Arizona where GT expects to employ over 700 people. Apple will provide GT with a prepayment of approximately $578 million. GT will reimburse Apple for the prepayment over five years, starting in 2015.

The imbalance in sapphire substrate supply and demand is being overcome by increased demands in LED lighting applications and strong demands for non-LED applications. GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) is optimistic about the rapid growth in smartphone demands for sapphire substrates.  As a result, the company’s Advanced Sapphire Furnace (ASF) might grow and expand production capacity in the future.