GT Advanced Technologies today notified City Council members in Mesa, Arizona that it plans to permanently eliminate 727 jobs at its sapphire plant. Layoffs will include 524 production workers, 108 technical positions, 70 management jobs, and 25 administrative jobs.
Affected employees were notified about their impending layoffs on Thursday. Layoffs will start on Tuesday and employees will be "separated from employment" beginning on December 15, according to a notice provided by Linda Luman, GT's vp of human resources.
News that GT would eliminate hundreds of positions first surfaced last week, after the company asked the court for permission to "wind down" operations at its Mesa, Arizona manufacturing plant. The facility, which was purchased and outfitted by Apple, has been operational for less than a year.
GT Advanced first filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, after Apple withheld a $139 million loan payment because the sapphire supplier failed to meet necessary technical milestones. According to court documents and securities filings, GT may have begun having issues with sapphire production as early as February.
Apple gave GT Advanced a $440 million loan for purchasing sapphire equipment, but according to information leaked during the GT's court proceedings, the sapphire company was unable to produce sapphire up to Apple's standards, leading Apple to stick with Gorilla Glass for the iPhone and the iPhone 6.
GT Advanced has plans to shut down its Mesa, Arizona plant, and it has also asked for court approval to void its contracts related to the operation, calling the terms of the contracts with Apple "oppressive and burdensome." The company will wind down operations over the course of the next few months, keeping on a small number of workers to monitor ongoing sapphire growth.
Once the current sapphire boules have been prepared for sale, employees will clean and decommission furnaces and then clean the plant itself, with a final closure coming on December 31. Apple has not commented publicly on the matter beyond its initial pledge promising to work to preserve jobs in the area.
Affected employees were notified about their impending layoffs on Thursday. Layoffs will start on Tuesday and employees will be "separated from employment" beginning on December 15, according to a notice provided by Linda Luman, GT's vp of human resources.
News that GT would eliminate hundreds of positions first surfaced last week, after the company asked the court for permission to "wind down" operations at its Mesa, Arizona manufacturing plant. The facility, which was purchased and outfitted by Apple, has been operational for less than a year.
GT Advanced first filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, after Apple withheld a $139 million loan payment because the sapphire supplier failed to meet necessary technical milestones. According to court documents and securities filings, GT may have begun having issues with sapphire production as early as February.
Apple gave GT Advanced a $440 million loan for purchasing sapphire equipment, but according to information leaked during the GT's court proceedings, the sapphire company was unable to produce sapphire up to Apple's standards, leading Apple to stick with Gorilla Glass for the iPhone and the iPhone 6.
GT Advanced has plans to shut down its Mesa, Arizona plant, and it has also asked for court approval to void its contracts related to the operation, calling the terms of the contracts with Apple "oppressive and burdensome." The company will wind down operations over the course of the next few months, keeping on a small number of workers to monitor ongoing sapphire growth.
Once the current sapphire boules have been prepared for sale, employees will clean and decommission furnaces and then clean the plant itself, with a final closure coming on December 31. Apple has not commented publicly on the matter beyond its initial pledge promising to work to preserve jobs in the area.
38 comments
Android smartphone manufacturer Oppo has introduced a 10x optical zoom camera system that is said to be shipping in the spring. Engadget describes the system:This will still be enabled by a...
Reuters reports that Intel has confirmed it does not expect its 5G chips to be in consumer products until 2020.
Intel Corp executives said on Friday its 5G modem chips will not appear in mobile...
Apple's VP of Health Dr. Sumbul Desai recently sat down for an interview with MobiHealthNews where she discussed Apple's health products, the company's relationship with the FDA, the...
Apple maintains a photography tutorial section on its website for those interested in stepping up their iPhone photography, and it's regularly updated with new videos. Apple also uploads its...
It's no secret that Facebook is harvesting incredible amounts of data on all of its users (and some that don't even use the service), but what may come as a surprise is just how detailed and...
Apple plans to close both of its retail stores within the Eastern District of Texas in a few months from now in an effort to protect itself from patent trolls, according to five sources familiar with...
Apple chipmaker TSMC will miniaturize its fabrication process to 5 nanometers in a bid to secure orders for Apple's processors in its 2020 iPhones, according to industry sources cited in a...
Adobe has released an update for Adobe Premiere Pro via the Creative Cloud app to resolve an audio issue that left some users with blown-out MacBook Pro speakers.
Earlier this month, we...
