If the rumors are true, GT Advanced Technologies, based in Mesa, Arizona, acquired enough sapphire crystal furnaces to produce over 100 million iPhone screens in a single year.
Apple and GT Advanced Technologies partnered last year with many speculating that GT Advanced’s sapphire producing capabilities is what made Apple partner with them in the first place. Even though these are just rumors as of now, and nothing has been confirmed by either Apple or GT Advanced, there is some promise to the gossip.
Every year, Apple releases a newly designed smartphone to their lineup of iPhones with new hardware and software features. 2014 may see a totally revamped screen. The technology behind the new screens is said to be a thin sapphire crystal layer that will serve as the outer layer. Sapphire is said to make the innovative screens indestructible. You never have to worry about dings or scratches.
Apple has never been shy about going after tax breaks, so when Mesa, AZ mayor Scott Smith put together an outline of why Apple should come to the Valley, it was a no-brainer for the tech company. The city of Mesa offered tax breaks, built power lines, fast-tracked building permits and got the state to declare a vacant 1.3 million sq. ft. facility that Apple was exploring a foreign trade zone. With unemployment high, it was becoming difficult for Mesa, or the state of Arizona rather, to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But the most valuable company in the world, Apple, came in and purchased the facility for $114 million and changed Arizona’s employment landscape.
Among the other advantages of choosing Mesa for Apple was a $10 million building grant from the Arizona Commerce Authority and an agreement with the city’s power company to build solar and geothermal installations and a new power substation for the plant. Building permits for the facility were expedited in a timely manner, much to Apple’s liking. When the facility opens it will add 700 full-time job and another 1,300 temporary construction jobs to the Phoenix metropolitan area. Mayor Smith estimates roughly 300,000 jobs have been lost in the area since 2007.
If the rumors are true, and the factory produces at full capacity, this could lead to a tremendous increase in jobs in the state of Arizona and a sustainment of Apple’s relationship with Arizona-based company GT Advanced Technologies.
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