Dallas, Texas 10/17/2013 (Financialstrend) – In what seems to be like a blessing in disguise development for the $1 billion market capitalized GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:GTAT) IHS has released a market report which predicts a 70% year on year increase in demand for 2’’ sapphire ingots. This comes as good news to furnace maker GT Advanced Tech. The reason this news would be received happily by the firm is because its 2Q sales had dipped by close to 67% in a quarter on quarter compare. If the demand for sapphire based glass goes up, then by default the demand for GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:GTAT) products will also go up.
The IHS report has listed out the reasons why it thinks sapphire manufacturers and support streams are going to be in demand. It starts off by highlighting that Apple has introduced a sapphire cover to its iPhone 5S home button. Earlier, sapphire glass was used only as a cover for the camera on the back of the phone. Reports have emerged that LG has used sapphire as a lens cover in its recently launched G2. Industry watchers are predicting that it will only be a matter of time before some equipment manufactures decide to bring out a phone which has a sapphire covered display screen.
In what might turn out to be a bonanza for GT Advanced Tech, Digitimes had speculated in a recent report that Apple might release an iPhone which has sapphire covered display screen. This development is expected to happen in or around 3Q of 2014. On the back of these positive reports, GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:GTAT) shares have staged a remarkable rally over the past few days. Its market value is up 20% in the past 30 days. At close of business on October 16, the stock was trading at $8.31 per share.
