4 June 2011

GT receives largest single order; $460m of sapphire furnaces for Chinese market entrant

GT Solar International Inc of Merrimack, NH, USA (a provider of polysilicon production technology as well as sapphire and silicon crystalline growth systems and materials for the solar, LED and other specialty markets) has received an order for its advanced sapphire crystallization furnaces (ASF) totaling $460.4m from a new market entrant for its new sapphire production facility.

As its largest single order to date, it represents a milestone for GT in the fast-growing LED industry, the firm says. The order will be included in GT’s backlog for its current fiscal firs-quarter 2012 (which ends on 2 July 2011).

“Our customer is a well established, diversified manufacturing company located in China who is new to the LED industry,” says president & CEO Tom Gutierrez. “The market acceptance of our sapphire growth technology has been remarkable and it speaks to the confidence our customers have shown in our ability to help them build successful businesses that leverage our crystalline growth expertise and our global equipment installation and support resources,” he adds.

According to analyst firm Strategies Unlimited, revenue for high-brightness LED applications will be about $19bn by 2015, with general lighting applications accounting for about 25% of this. Since high-brightness LEDs are manufactured primarily on sapphire wafers, this growth is driving the expansion of manufacturing capacity to meet the increased demand for high-quality sapphire material, says GT Solar.

See related items:

GT Solar’s full-year income doubles as revenue grows 65%

GT Solar wins $91m in sapphire furnace orders from Asia

GT wins $218.9m sapphire furnace order from Haotian Opto

GT Solar wins $41.6m order for sapphire furnaces from new Asian customer

GT Solar wins $33.3m order for sapphire furnaces from South Korea’s OCI

Tags: GT Solar Crystal Systems Sapphire crystallization furnaces

Visit: www.gtsolar.com