After a bankruptcy judge in December approved a settlement with primary creditor Apple Inc., GT Advanced Technologies has started dismantling a Mesa, Ariz., factory that was once touted as a symbol of Apple’s commitment to bring manufacturing jobs back to America.
The means of funding the settlement are unusual and have created skepticism. GTAT will give Apple $439 million through the sale of more than 2,000 furnaces it intended to use to make sapphire glass in Mesa. While the court has approved the settlement between Apple and GTAT, the case is far from over for contractors and engineering firms that are still owed millions of dollars for their work on what was known as “Project Cascade.”