

Inside Apple’s Broken Sapphire Factory - domdip
http://online.wsj.com/articles/inside-apples-broken-sapphire-factory-1416436043

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softdev12
This is really incredible. To summarize for people who don't have access:

1) GT was a solar furnace maker that first offered to sell Apple 2300 furnaces
so that Apple could produce sapphire screens for the iPhone 6.

2) Then Apple decided to lend GT $500 million and have GT own the furnaces and
produce the sapphire (although it had no experience in producing high quality,
production volume sapphire) for Apple.

3) GT became a captive supplier to Apple and had exclusivity arrangements - so
it couldn't diversify its business.

4) GT hit production problems with almost 50 percent of the boules of sapphire
being cracked and unusable.

5) GT had operational issues, where people were paid to just sweep the floor
over and over.

6) GT eventually filed for Chapter 11 - surprising Apple.

7) The iphone 6 didn't have sapphire screens.

~~~
ChuckMcM
Actually they said "more than half" were unacceptable, but still your summary
is basically an accurate one of the article.

I don't know if it is the same but in the semi-conductor business the
reactor/furnace used to make the silicon boule had an oversized influence on
the yield of the wafers produced. That lead to some folks timing their wafer
starts to coincide with a specific lot of wafers.

------
pbhjpbhj
Similar/realted (from what I can tell) stories:

[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/10/shattered_apples_jil...](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/10/shattered_apples_jilted_glass_supplier_to_shut_down_sapphire_ops/)
(interesting info on Sniper weapons pod use of sapphire in comments).

[http://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/19/gt-advanced-sapphire-
fai...](http://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/19/gt-advanced-sapphire-failures/)
(references the WSJ article)

[http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/19/us-gtadvanced-
bank...](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/19/us-gtadvanced-bankruptcy-
apple-idUSKCN0J31W620141119)

------
wodenokoto
For those too lazy to do a google search on the article, this link should get
you there:
[http://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&...](http://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Finside-
apples-broken-sapphire-
factory-1416436043&ei=IqFtVKFYpbWbBbLjggg&usg=AFQjCNElAvxoY2E0YPeMlrK2HKSkwjcqhw&sig2=Is9YxV4Ymx13mwqXSbbRXA&bvm=bv.80185997,d.dGY)

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mcphage
I assume this article is Apple telling their version of what happened.
Honestly, though, it's kinda what I expected—GT agreed to produce iPhone
screens for Apple, which they were unable to do effectively enough.

------
jmcguckin
Typically, news sites with a paywall (e.g. WSJ) will give you access if the
referrer is from Google. I simply google the headline and follow the link back
to the story and am granted access.

Always works for me.

------
Cookingboy
Content behind pay-walls should not be allowed for submission on HackerNews.

~~~
dang
It's not that simple. HN prefers accessible stories, but it also prefers
original sources and demands substantive ones, and many of those are behind
paywalls. Are we to ban the NYT, Economist, and New Yorker? That would be
chopping off a foot to spite a hangnail.

Not all paywalls are equally problematic, and most of this content is not
truly inaccessible. There are standard workarounds that everybody already
knows or can easily learn. It's not as if HN users are shy about pointing them
out.

The status quo isn't great, but the brokenness of online content models is not
something we can just fix by decree in our little corner of the web.

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bensherman
Got a non-paywall link?

~~~
omonra
Google the headline in a Chrome anonymous window. First link should be full
text of the article.

~~~
zzleeper
[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Finside-
apples-broken-sapphire-
factory-1416436043&ei=UTRtVKTjFbb9sATjvoKABQ&usg=AFQjCNElAvxoY2E0YPeMlrK2HKSkwjcqhw&bvm=bv.80120444,d.cWc)

~~~
pbhjpbhj
"To Read the Full Story, Subscribe or Log In "

------
idoh
non-paywall link: [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-
journal...](http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-
journal/inside-apples-broken-sapphire-factory/story-fnay3ubk-1227129207294)

~~~
fallinghawks
It's odd. I googled the article, got a link at theaustralian.com, went there,
no paywall. But then copying and pasting the resulting link, it goes to the
paywall.

