GT Advanced Technologies Inc (GTAT)

Description:

GT Advanced Technologies Inc was originally incorporated in Delaware in September 2006. In July 2008, it completed an initial public offering. The Company is a global provider of polysilicon production technology and crystalline ingot growth systems and related photovoltaic manufacturing services for the solar industry, and sapphire growth systems and material for the LED and other specialty markets. The Company's customers include several of the world's solar companies as well as companies in the chemical industry. The Company's main products are: Silicon Deposition Reactors (SDRTM) and related equipment used to produce polysilicon, the key raw material used in silicon-based solar wafers and cells; Directional solidification (DSSTM) furnaces and related equipment used to cast multicrystalline and MonoCastTM crystalline silicon ingots. These ingots are used to make photovoltaic (PV) solar wafers and cells; and Sapphire crystallization furnaces (ASFTM) which are used to crystallize sapphire boules. These sapphire boules are used to make sapphire wafers, one of the preferred substrates for manufacturing light emitting diodes (LEDs). It also produce sapphire material at its pilot production facility in Massachusetts which is sold directly to customers and used to make a variety of products such as epitaxial-ready wafers for use in the LED and other specialty markets. In addition, it produces, on a limited basis, HiCzTM monocrystalline material that is manufactured at its HiCz pilot production facility in Missouri. The Company operates through three business segments: its polysilicon business, its photovoltaic, or PV, business and its sapphire business. Its polysilicon business manufactures and sells silicon deposition reactors, or SDR, used to react gases at high temperatures to produce polysilicon, the key raw material used in silicon-based solar wafers and cells, while also offering engineering services and related equipment. Its PV business manufactures and sells directional solidification, or DSS, crystallization furnaces and ancillary equipment used to cast crystalline silicon ingots by melting and cooling polysilicon in a precisely controlled process. These ingots are used to make photovoltaic wafers which are, in turn, used to make solar cells. Its sapphire business manufactures and sells sapphire material and equipment. Its sapphire material is manufactured using its advanced sapphire crystal growth furnace, or ASF, that incorporate the Heat Exchanger Method, or HEM, technology. The Company's main competitors include ALD Vacuum Technologies AG, JYT Corporation, Ferrotec Corporation, PVA TePla AG, Centrotherm Elektrische Anlagen GmbH & Co., Jing Gong Technology, Zhejiang Jingsheng Mechanical & Electrical Co., Ltd., as well as a number of other furnace manufacturers.