New settlement in GT Advanced bankruptcy case gives supplier more time to sell equipment

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Apple and GT Advanced Technologies have reached a settlement in their ongoing bankruptcy case. The settlement, which was approved by the courts earlier today, gives the sapphire supplier up to four years to sell its current stock of sapphire production equipment in order to repay Apple.
The two companies previously went head-to-head over who should be considered responsible for the complete failure of the partnership, with GT blaming Apple for making demands the company couldn’t meet while blocking any other contracts GT may have wanted to accept. Apple, on the other hand, blames GT for accepting a contract and then failing to provide the agreed-upon product.

As a result of the disagreement, Apple argued that GTAT owed the Cupertino company repayment of funds that were used to buy the sapphire furnaces. Apple also wanted to get back the money that it had paid for the sapphire shipments it never received.
The solution was to sell the furnaces and give Apple a large share of the money. Of course, the two companies then bickered about the size of Apple’s cut. In order to appease creditors looking into the situation, Apple decided to grant GT a larger portion of the money.
The tech giant also agreed to give GT even more time in the Mesa, Arizona sapphire facility completely rent-free. Apple has previously stated that it intends to repurpose that facility once the sapphire debacle is over.

More details of Apple’s GT Advanced sapphire deal make it crystal clear how things fell apart

GT Advanced claims Apple used ‘bait-and-switch strategy’ and said to ‘put on your big boy pants and accept the agreement’