Roshow Technology has released an abnormal stock price announcement after experiencing three days of inflation on stock prices surpassing 25 percent. The listed company does not manufacturer sapphire substrate. It expressed that rumors on the Internet claiming the company has invested a total of RMB 1.1 billion (US$?) to produce 4 million LED sapphire substrate pcs annually is false.

With 4Q coming to a close, this week has seen a substantial number of companies releasing their financial reports. Financial firms, such as UBS, have also released market forecasts for 2014.

Sapphire substrate application has come a long way from the original usage in military applications in the 1960's. This year alone has seen some major shifts in application with Apple's new integration of sapphire substrate into smartphone design. While LEDs and general lighting continue to make up a major chunk of sapphire substrate market share, 

Before 2012, the largest market for sapphire substrate applications was LED and the entry of many players led to an oversupply situation, with most manufacturers still suffering from losses, according to LEDinside analysts. Sapphire substrate prices remained low over the last two years due to this oversupply situation, according to a LEDinside report published in May 2013. Over the last few months, though, developments in the industry especially in the non-LED application field have shown a likely price rebound in 2014.

Sapphire substrate application has come a long way from the original usage in military applications in the 1960’s. This year alone has seen some major shifts in application with Apple’s new integration of sapphire substrate into smartphone design. While LEDs and general lighting continue to make up a major chunk of sapphire substrate market share, non-LED application usage has had a dramatic increase this year. Increasing penetration rates for LEDs and rise in non-LED applications, the next few years look bright for sapphire substrate market growth. 

Currently 80 percent of sapphire applications are used in sapphire substrate while the other 20 percent is for non-substrate materials, according to Chinese-language online media Finance.com.cn estimations. Sapphire that is used in substrate is mainly applied in LED lighting and Si On Sapphire (SOS) related products, with LED lighting accounting  for over 90 percent. Therefore demands from LED lighting directly affect sapphire substrate and is the market’s main focus. 

GT Advanced Technology (GTAT) announced that it has entered into a multi-year supply agreement with Apple Inc. to provide sapphire substrate materials for US $578 million (NT $17 billion). Feeling the effect, Chinese sapphire substrate listed company stockholders yesterday start preparing to make a move. Shanghai and Shenzhen have 8 related concept stocks and aside from Crystal Optech stocks which is under trade suspension, all others increased.

The company also announced that it has entered into a multi-year supply agreement with Apple Inc. to provide sapphire material. GT will own and operate ASF® furnaces and related equipment to produce the material at an Apple facility in Arizona where GT expects to employ over 700 people. Apple will provide GT with a prepayment of approximately $578 million. GT will reimburse Apple for the prepayment over five years, starting in 2015.

With big smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and LG introducing sapphire substrate into smartphone camera lens protector caps and home buttons, the market predicts that in 2014 sapphire substrate will also be used to replace glass in smartphone screens. Glass substrate manufacturer Corning, however, maintains a guarded opinion towards the replacement as production costs for sapphire substrate are high and sapphire substrate, which is as thin as glass substrate Gorilla Glass has a higher damage rate. 

The increased demand for sapphire substrates in non LED applications including for smartphone camera lens caps plus home button covers, the supply and demand situation has had a turnaround.

San'an released a statement that on September 30th they received Anxi county finance bureau “sapphire substrate project."

Apple has yet again swept the market with the launch of the new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. The new cell phones have acted as a propeller for sapphire substrate manufacturers and LED manufacturers with the introduction of new fingerprint recognition technology. This has significantly increased the demand in sapphire substrate.

Monocrystal, a leading manufacturer of electronic materials for LED and solar industries, announced today shipment of its premium 8-inch C-plane epi-ready sapphire substrates to one of the world’s leading LED manufacturers. It was almost a recent discussion of LED industry players and experts concerning the possibilities for the industry of employing larger than 2-inch sapphire substrates for LED production.

Monocrystal, a leading manufacturer of electronic materials for LED and solar industries, announced availability of the company’s innovative ultra-large 10-inch C-plane epi-ready sapphire substrate. Monocrystal’s 10-inch sapphire substrate vs 2-inch sapphire substrate Source: Monocrystal

It’s reported that Raja Parvez, CEO of Rubicon Technology, Inc., a leading provider of sapphire substrates and products, discussed the importance of the shift in the LED industry to larger diameter sapphire substrates in order to speed adoption of LEDs into high volume, high performance, green applications such as commercial lighting and large area display backlighting units.