GT Advanced Technologies Acquires Thermal Technology

GT Advanced Technologies in Nashua announced that it has acquired substantially all of the business of Thermal Technology LLC for purchase consideration consisting of about 3.4 million shares of GTAT common stock and an earn out. Located in Santa Rosa, Calif., Thermal Technology develops and sells a range of high temperature thermal and vacuum products used in the fabrication of advanced materials that are deployed across multiple industries including smartphones and touch screens, LED, medical devices, oil and gas and automotive to name a few. Thermal Technology has delivered more than 3,000 products to customers in over 40 countries since it was founded 60 years ago.

GT has acquired several key products and technologies that will allow it to address new markets with a range of production equipment options that can be optimized around customers' specific needs. This includes annealing technology that the company believes will be important in the manufacturing of sapphire cover screens; crystal growth technology based on the Kyropoulous (KY) growth method and edge defined film growth (EFG) technology for large surface area sapphire. The company has also acquired Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) technology, which allows dense ceramics to be obtained under uniform heating at relatively low temperatures and in short processing times. The SPS technology is expected to have many diverse applications including in the medical field and even for hybrid cars.