GT Advanced Technologies Inc fka GTAT

[quicktrig]

GTAT and ARC. Woo.ARC Energy Is Trying To Step On GTAT's Throat
http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjo...g-to-step-on-gtats-throat/?utm_medium=twitter
An interesting comment on that article from Jack White:

"It’s worth pointing out that Dr. Kedar Gupta, the CEO/Co-Founder of ARC Energy was formerly the CEO and Founder of GT Solar. GT Solar was the prior name of GTAT before the company bought Crystal Systems and their sapphire technology in 2010. Gupta served as CEO of GT Solar until he “retired” in 2006. Meanwhile, Dr. Chandra Khattak worked for Crystal Systems from 1977 through 2006, working on the ASF/HEM (Heat Exchanger Method) sapphire technology that Crystal Systems develop and improved for 30 years since CS Founder Fred Schmid invented the technology and founded CS in 1971. After CS, Khattak worked at GT Solar from 2006 until he was terminated in 2010. Note that he moved to GT Solar BEFORE they bought CS in 2010. A year after Gupta “retired” from GT Solar in 2006, he founded ARC Energy in 2007.

It’s also worth noting that GTAT and ARC are STILL in Litigation, as GTAT sued Gupta, Khattak, and ARC, for allegedly stealing IP, processes, etc from them and using it to start ARC. Khattak was also subject to a 10 year non-compete agreement for which he was paid $100,000. In the court documents, it says: “The Plaintiffs allege that CSI produced sapphire crystals for use in fabricating light emitting diodes which took 30 years to develop. They assert in their papers that neither Gupta nor ARC “could have discovered how to make high quality sapphire crystals without using CSI’s trade secrets.” The Defendants dispute that claim.”

In other words, GT alleges that Gupta left GT Solar, while they were already developing their Sapphire technology, and 1 year later came out with a competitor technology, but just like GT Solar, he found that Sapphire crystal growth is much harder than silicon which they had experience with, so GT Solar bought Crystal Systems 2010 and their 30+ years of development, IP, and experience. Gupta on the other hand just got Khattak to come over and used the same tech without owning or paying for it…allegedly.

However ARC developed the CHESS technology furnace which grows sapphire on the C-Axis. GTAT’s ASF/HEM technology grows sapphire boules on the A-axis…this is a HUGE difference as manufacturers need the C-axis to produce LED’s and Cover Screens, etc., so GTAT customers must core the ingots from the side of the boule, while ARC’s customers, take cores from the top down which is obviously much better. The difference is that ARC’s CHESS tech furnace allows about 75% material utilization per boule, while GTAT’s ASF Furnaces yield no more than 30% or so. GTAT’s advantage was that their Furnaces were larger, producing much bigger boules (115kg vs 35kg), but if this is true that ARC has now created a 300kg furnace than that is a game-changer. GTAT would be selling a furnace that produces 262kg boules with a 30% material utilization rate versus ARC Energy’s offering of 300kg with a 75% material utilization rate. In affect GTAT would be selling 78kg’s of usable material (262x 0.30) versus 225kg’s (300 x 0.75) of usable material."