Abstract The sapphire manufacturer GTAT filed for bankruptcy protection triggered a shock in the industry. GTAT is the leader of sapphire materials. The industry not only regards this as a single company's business problem, but also regards it as an industry trend event. Many analysts believe that this matter...
The sapphire manufacturer GTAT filed for bankruptcy protection triggered a shock in the industry. GTAT is the leader of sapphire materials. The industry not only regards this as a single company's business problem, but also regards it as an industry trend event. Many analysts believe that this will constitute a negative for the sapphire industry in the short term, but it needs to be treated differently in the medium and long term. It may not be an opportunity for domestic manufacturers. Behind the GTAT technical bankruptcy
Although the iPhone 6 did not use sapphire in the first batch of machines, the industry almost unanimously expected that the iPhone6 ​​with sapphire will be shipped in early 2015. Apple is the leader in the smart phone industry. If the entire screen uses GTAT sapphire, its significance is self-evident. Some analysts have pointed out that this move is expected to break the supply and demand pattern in the industry for many years. It is precisely because of this, domestic manufacturers smell the opportunity, in 2014, the sapphire concept company has become a new star in the field of electronic materials.
The GTAT bankruptcy protection incident is undoubtedly the first sap in the current sapphire industry. The industry has voices saying that the industry leader has been changed, which undoubtedly shows that the current sapphire industry has serious ailments. However, people in the capital industry believe that the GTAT bankruptcy is technical. From the past rules, after applying for bankruptcy protection, GTAT will follow a series of actions.
"It should be noted that the bankruptcy of GTAT is not the bankruptcy of the so-called shackles in the traditional sense. The company's operations will continue. The orders of the early stage and suppliers will still be fulfilled." Zhao Gongming, chairman of Juchao Assets, according to the reporter Said, "The incident is very popular, that is, Apple gave the advance payment, let GTAT make a product that meets the requirements, but GTAT can not produce a mass-produced product within a limited time, plus its own capital chain is indeed very Tight, so use this to delay."
It is not difficult to find out the GTAT financial report. At present, GTAT's finance still allows the company to operate normally, and bankruptcy is not the only option. As of September 29, 2014, GTAT still holds $85 million in cash. The tension of the company's capital chain mainly comes from the lawsuit. According to public information, the equipment dispute between GTAT and Taiwan Sapphire Changjing Factory Xinjing Diamond has lost, and it is necessary to return the amount of equipment of 24 million US dollars to Xinjing Diamond.
Another person in the capital circle said that according to the reporter, some of the contract terms proposed by Apple on GTAT were very harsh. Under the condition that production could not be completed, GTAT's move was more of a gesture of "forced the palace" to Apple. It is to let Apple extend the delivery time, and the second may be to let Apple add financial support.
The source believes that the US bankruptcy court said that GTAT will hold its first bankruptcy hearing at 10 am Eastern time on Thursday, when GTAT will further explain the incident, and many suspense can be clear.
Industry impact still needs to be treated rationally
The GTAT incident inevitably affected the trend of domestic sapphire concept stocks. On October 8, such stocks collectively fell. In fact, since Apple announced at the press conference in early September that the first batch of iPhone6 ​​is not equipped with sapphire, the share prices of Xinya Process, Southwest Pharmaceutical (Origen), Luxiao Technology and Tiantong have all fallen by more than 10%.
"The GTAT event will definitely hit the morale of the market in the short term. After all, there is a high expectation of sapphire in the use of mobile phone screens." An electronic analyst reportedly admitted that the problems involved in GTAT are relatively complicated and the sapphire industry There has always been a dispute over the technical route, so it is necessary to analyze rationally. The domestic sapphire concept company is in a different industrial chain position, and the GTAT bankruptcy protection is not necessarily bad.
The analyst believes that the biggest problem of the GTAT bankruptcy protection incident is that it reflects the fact that the current large-size sapphire products do not solve the problem in the short term. According to public information, the GTAT large-size sapphire yield has been below 10%. This figure indicates that the technology cannot achieve mass production in the short term.
"The business before GTAT is mainly the crystal growth furnace, which is at the top of the sapphire industry. The main purpose of Apple's entry into GTAT is to achieve the integration of the sapphire industry." The above analysts said that now, the problem of too large sapphire yield is too low. Not only in the crystal growth level, but also in the immature processing technology, GTAT itself cannot solve all problems. Apple as the industry leader, the investment vision should not be wrong, the market has not questioned the GTAT capacity problem. But nowadays, large-size sapphire does have some serious problems in technical implementation.
The analyst pointed out that GTAT previously promoted the mass production of large-size sapphire, mainly based on its unique heat exchange technology. Relatively speaking, the domestic enterprise technology route is mostly in the bubble method, and the process is relatively mature and stable. Through this incident, the industry may re-examine the technical path of sapphire crystal growth, so it may not be a bad for domestic enterprises. Of course, the GTAT incident will undoubtedly delay the time of the sapphire industry outbreak, which will have an adverse impact on sapphire processing enterprises.
Sapphire application pattern or change
According to a reporter from a domestic sapphire listed company executive, although the outside world has always had high expectations for the application of sapphire to large screens of mobile phones, the attitude of the industry has been quite cautious. The listed company also announced plans to expand production before, but the executive said that its main purpose is to target relatively mature downstream markets such as LEDs and mobile phone accessories.
"There are already mobile phones made by Huawei to make sapphire screens, but the difference between the price of the sapphire P7 mobile phone and the ordinary version of the P7 mobile phone is quite obvious, indicating that sapphire is still a luxury in smart terminals in the short term, mainly because of good There is no way to solve the problem of rate and capacity at this stage."
The person believes that in the future, smartphones will be relatively popular in two ways to apply sapphire materials, first the home button of the phone, followed by the protective cover of the camera. In both respects, the wear resistance of sapphire will be highlighted. The home button involves fingerprint recognition technology in mobile payment. If scratches occur, the fingerprint will not be recognized. As the pixel of the mobile phone continues to increase, the wear of the camera cover will also affect the effect of the photo. But both areas use small sapphire.
In addition to the application of sapphire in the above fields, the biggest export is the LED field. The above-mentioned executives believe that the demand for capacity in the downstream is still strong, but both smart terminals and LEDs are facing the problem that the downstream sales are diluted and the upstream profits are diluted. The sapphire companies generally do not make money, and the GTAT event may make The industry spends more time looking for other downstream applications.
The person said that in the field of optical windows, sapphire has many applications, and the profits are relatively rich, the future is a good downstream opportunity. However, if domestic manufacturers want to enter this field, they need to meet with Japanese companies. At present, the suppliers in this field are mainly from Kyocera, Japan.
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