Wired
Today’s news, Apple announced that it will invest an additional US$45 million in Corning, its long-term supplier, to promote Corning to develop more new glass production technologies.
Corning is a well-known manufacturer of special glass and ceramic materials. Its products are widely used in the mobile phone industry. Apple’s iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch glass panels are all provided by them. In the past four years, Corning has received US$450 million in investment from Apple’s US$5 billion “Advanced Manufacturing Fund”. These funds have helped Corning develop more new products, such as the super-ceramic glass panel that appeared on the iPhone 12 mobile phone. Is one of them.
Apple’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund was established in 2017 to “train and support innovative production and high-skilled jobs in the United States.” Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer, said: “Apple and Corning have a long history of working together to achieve impossible goals. From the first iPhone glass to the revolutionary ultra-high performance in the iPhone 12 series. Ceramic crystal glass, our cooperation has changed the pattern of smartphone case design and durability. Super ceramic crystal glass is a model of deep innovative technology. We are honored to work with Corning. Corning has a long history of 170 years, which proves The originality of the American workforce.”
The super-ceramic glass panel is currently the most rugged and durable product in the smartphone industry. This glass ceramic is produced at Corning’s Harrodsburg, Kentucky plant. It is used on the iPhone 12 series, which can significantly enhance its anti-fall ability. Become one of the selling points of this phone.
The new material forms nanocrystals in the glass matrix through a high-temperature crystallization step. The technical difficulty is to keep those crystals small enough to make the material transparent. Before super-ceramic glass, embedded crystals usually affected the transparency of the material.
Super-ceramic glass is a typical method of Apple’s in-depth layout of the industrial chain to obtain the first-mover advantage of its products. Prior to this, Apple also tried to invest in GTAT, a gem glass manufacturer. The two parties reached a cooperation agreement worth US$578 million in the fall of 2013, but as of the end of April 2014, GT has been unable to meet Apple’s standards, which eventually caused Apple to terminate the payment of the final US$139 million. There is no further text for this item.
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