GT Solar Receives 1st Orders for Sapphire Furnaces

GT Solar International Inc. announced it received its first two orders for sapphire crystallization systems from Jiangsu Jixing New Material Co. Ltd. and Jiujiang Sapphire Tech Co. Ltd.

The orders total more than $84 million for sapphire crystallization systems.

“The response to our sapphire equipment strategy from customers has been very positive and we are pleased to be able to announce our first orders,” said Tom Gutierrez, president and CEO of GT Solar. “We continue to talk with other potential customers in the Asia region for our sapphire crystallization systems and believe we are on track to meet our projected $100 million in revenue in our FY12 from sapphire crystallization equipment sales.”

The two orders mark the company’s entrance into the LED equipment market, which it announced it would pursue with the acquisition of Crystal Systems in July 2010.

“Our advanced sapphire crystallization systems are built on a highly scalable and reliable architecture that lets customers quickly ramp to volume production with a lower capital investment compared with other competing crystallization technologies,” Gutierrez said. “The combination of our technology and the depth of our regional service and installation expertise deliver compelling value to our customers by reducing the risks of equipping and commissioning a new manufacturing facility.”

GT Solar provides polysilicon production technology, and sapphire and silicon crystalline growth systems and materials for the solar, LED and other specialty markets.

For more information, visit: www.gtsolar.com