After months of fighting, the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple and onetime sapphire supplier GT Advanced Technologies have reached an agreement that could dig GT out from under the $439 million debt it still owes to Apple.
Under the terms of the deal, which still needs to be approved by a bankruptcy judge, GT will auction off at least 1,400 of the 2,000 sapphire-making furnaces it bought in anticipation of supplying sapphire glass for Apple's products. The two companies will split the proceeds, and Apple will dispose of any equipment that remains and forgive any remaining debt.
The GT Advanced Technologies saga has been playing out since late 2013, when it signed a deal to supply Apple with scratch-resistant sapphire screens for iPhones and other gadgets (some Apple Watches use sapphire screens, and the TouchID buttons and camera lenses on iPhones also use sapphire). The sapphire glass was supposed to be ready for the iPhone 6 in September of 2014, but that phone launched with a glass display and GT Advanced filed for bankruptcy just a few weeks later.
In an affidavit that was stricken from the record as part of the companies' eventual settlement, Apple alleged that GT had blown its promised deadlines, while GT said that Apple kept changing the terms of its deal. In July of this year, the companies were back at it, arguing over a fire and a subsequent insurance claim that happened in May.
This latest deal appears to be the final chapter in the long-running battle, though. The Journal reports that GT will seek a bankruptcy judge's approval for the deal next week. Once GT Advanced has vacated the Mesa, AZ facility that was to be used for sapphire production, Apple plans to turn it into a datacenter.
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