Apple supplier GT Advanced Technologies said this weekend it will cut 890 jobs and close an Arizona plant expected to make scratch-resistant screens for Apple.
"Only if GT winds down these operations will it be able to stop its mounting losses and re-focus its resources on the operation of its core business of selling sapphire furnaces and other products," the company said, according to Reuters.
GT Advanced said on Friday that it was burning through $1 million a day at the operations it intended to close.
"GT believes that it has many claims against Apple arising out of its business relationship with Apple," the company said in a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manchester, New Hampshire, according to Reuters.
The company said it couldn't pursue unspecified claims at the outset of its bankruptcy, but feels that the claims would allow GT Advanced to terminate several Apple agreements that it said were "burdensome and of no value."
Apple responded by mentioning its earlier statement that it remains committed to preserving jobs in Arizona and was consulting with state and local officials on its next steps.
Shares of rival sapphire material maker Rubicon Technology surged 23 percent to $4.93 on NASDAQ.
"It looks like if GT has its way, they will wind down their sapphire operations, and that's a positive for the industry generally, and more specifically, as a primary supplier, for Rubicon, too," said Andrew Abrams, an analyst at JG Capital, according to Reuters.
Srini Sundararajan of Summit Research said Rubicon's come back was "an over-reaction to GTAT shutting down."
GT Advanced filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with little warning last Monday, sending its shares plummeting 90 percent to below $1.
In Friday's court filing the company said it needed to wind down operations in Mesa, Arizona and Salem, Massachusetts as soon as possible to save its dwindling cash, according to Reuters. The process could take until the end of the year, it noted.
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