Taiwan-based sapphire substrate supplier Crystalwise Technology suffered a loss per share of NTD 2.99 in the past three quarters in 2017 mainly due to the low price of patterned sapphire substrates (PSS). The market has gone through a reshuffle and gradually turned healthy in recent years.

LED lighting demands are booming this year, according to a report in the Economic Daily News. Sapphire substrate manufacturers saw good operational performance in 1Q14, and remain optimistic as the industry moves into 2Q14. 

The newest addition to the Apple family, the iPhone 5S/5C will be launched later this month. The addition of fingerprint recognition technology incorporating sapphire crystal has greatly benefitted substrate manufacturers. Crystal Applied Technology hit record highs with their August revenue at NT$194 million (US$6.5 million) with a monthly growth of 26.79 percent. Crystalwise Technology revenue for August was NT$170 million, an increase of 3.6 percent.