Sapphire maker for Apple products requests payment deferral

GT Advanced Tech, which produces sapphire glass, has filed for a deferral of payment. Among other things, the company should supply the sapphire crystal for the upcoming Apple Watch. Whether the suspension of payments will affect the Apple Watch is unclear.

The company has said it has filed for protection in court under Chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy law. This gives GT Advanced Tech time to negotiate with its creditors and to see if a restart is possible. If this fails, the company could go bankrupt.

What caused GT Advanced Tech to get into trouble is not entirely clear. The director claims that the underlying business model is solid. The company also says that it will continue the production of synthetic sapphire for the time being and that at the end of September 85 million dollars, or 68 million euros, was still in cash.

GT Advanced Tech is rumored to supply sapphire for the larger displays of the iPhone 6, but production issues prevented this from happening. However, the strong sapphire glass could be used for the upcoming Apple Watch. The Apple Watch should hit the market early next year. Whether the problems at GT Advanced Tech will affect the production of Apple’s smart watch is not yet clear.