Tech giants Apple and GT Advanced Technologies have reportedly inked an agreement on confidentiality deals on Tuesday.
According to reports GT Advanced, as part of the deal, will begin selling more than 2,000 furnaces from its Mesa, Ariz., sapphire plant to third-party companies in order to pay back a $439 million debt it owes to Apple.
The synthetic sapphire maker is seeking to wind down its manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona, which was established as part of the $578 million deal which required GT to supply Apple with scratch-resistant, transparent sapphire glass screens for tech gadgets.
At a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Springfield, Massachusetts, GT Advanced’s lawyer, Luc Despins, said the deal “will save millions of dollars and solve most issues” and be an “amicable parting of ways.”
Apple’s sapphire screen supplier had abruptly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection sometime earlier this month without citing reasons behind the mysterious downfall.
GTAT requested the court to seal crucial case documents as its strict confidentiality agreement with Apple prevented the sapphire maker to disclose the reasons behind the bankruptcy and its turnaround plans. The agreement, if violated, could cost GTAT fines of $50 million.
Last week, GT had announced that closure of its Arizona plant operations could result in a loss of more than 700 jobs.
