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Apple To Build New $2 Billion Data Center In Bankrupted GT Advanced Buildings
mrspoonsi writes Apple announced it will spend about $2 billion to build a new data center in Mesa, Arizona. It will be housed in buildings formerly used by GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT), which went bankrupt last year after failing to supply sapphire display covers for the iPhone 6. The data center will be powered entirely by renewable energy. It will be a "command center for our global networks." Apple has said it would help find work for people affected by GTAT's bankruptcy. It's possible some of those former GTAT employees might help construct the new command center. When Apple initially partnered with GTAT to make sapphire displays, the company invested millions in a sapphire production facility. It makes sense that Apple would want to do something with the building if it couldn't make sapphire there.
While we like making the big company the bad guy. GTAT Executives were the ones who really screwed up. If you are going to have a business relationship with Apple, you better be sure that you are big enough to operate without Apple.
It is no secrete that Apple is very fickle when it comes to venders. If you are not giving what Apple wants they will not sit there and take it, they will drop you in an instant. Apple has the resources to drop seemingly vital venders, and rework its products just so they get the deal that they want.
GTAT should have known this, and avoid Apple unless they had the resources to manage without them as well. However they just beefed up their company size to produce something on a mass scale that they haven't before. Just so they can have a chance to win a contract.
If I were a GTAT employee I would be more pissed at the executives for hiring you for a high risk position without letting you know the actual risk.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
These are so-called "lights out" operations because they employ so few employees (relative to the prior residents) that the ultimate benefit to the community is extremely limited.
There's even a new german data center where they scrub out much of the oxygen. Apparently it helps with both security and fire control. No humans can go in.
I'm surprised by the choice however because one of GTs claims was constant power disruptions were a factor in their poor crystal quality. does not bode well for a data center. And I would think that one would prefer cool outside temperatures and a source of water for cooling would be good too, both of which are in short supply in most of arizona.
On the otherhand GT's original product was solar cells. And Arizona is a good place for clear skies and sun in the US. maybe they are thinking about a solar powered data center? I'd think it not important to co-locate it near the solar cell supplier however.
The ultimate benefit to the community will be taxes and perhaps upgraded infrastructure.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
You buy a company, bankrupt it because your idea didn't work out and then offer to help some of the people who;s job you destroyed.
Out of curiosity, what do you get out of deliberately mis-representing what happened? Why the fiction? Why lie about it? What do you hope to accomplish? Really, it's an honest question (unlike your dishonest fantasizing). Please, be specific as you answer, so people can better understand people like you.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
While they were to blame, that wasn't exactly what happened. They bound themselves to a contract which was skewed wildly in Apple's favor. Basically they bore all the risk - borrowing all of the money to gear up for production, resulting in them bearing all the losses if the product didn't live up to specs or if they weren't able to produce sufficient quantity. Normally in a situation like this, a vendor orders and pays for samples, the manufacturer produces them, then the vendor decides whether or not to pay for a full order. In this case, Apple requested samples, the GTAT execs went "OMG Apple!" and bent over backwards (or forwards depending on what analogy you want to use), borrowing huge amounts of money and investing it in massive production facilities when they didn't even have a firm order from Apple yet.
Apple bears some of the responsibility for using their huge size to coerce behavior out of a supplier, like how Walmart coerces suppliers to give them ruinous pricing. But the bulk of the responsibility lies squarely with GTAT for agreeing to those terms. Companies like GTAT or Walmart suppliers (or even employees who meekly accept whatever terms their employer sets) put themselves into these situations through their unwillingness to stand up for themselves just to hold onto a contract (or a job).
It's like the saying goes, before you can respect someone else, you have to respect yourself. These companies (or employees) didn't respect themselves, and it's only a natural consequence that they get walked all over. Show some pride in your work. If you truly believe you have the best thing since sliced bread, then it's Apple which should come to you on their knees begging if they want their products to have the best components. If they don't, it's their loss and their competitors' gain.