Sapphire wafer maker Tera Xtal Technology expects global supply of sapphire wafers to be short beginning the first quarter of 2014 due to increasing use in smartphones and other mobile devices.
The company currently has a monthly production capacity of 300,000 2-inch-equivalent sapphire wafers at its factory in eastern China and 700,000 units at factories in Taiwan. While the capacity in Taiwan has been fully utilized, the capacity utilization at the China factory stands at 50% currently and is expected to increase to 70% in first-quarter 2014, Tera Xtal indicated. Currently, Tera Xtal has a monthly production capacity of 70,000-80,000 4-inch sapphire wafers and several thousand 6-inch units.
Tera Xtal supplies sapphire wafers for iPhones, industry sources said.
In addition, Tera Xtal has a monthly production capacity of 200,000mm sapphire ingots, the company said. The in-house ingot capacity meets only one-third of Tera Xtal's demand for sapphire wafers and the rest relies on outside supply, the company indicated.
Tera Xtal has applied for more than 30 patents concerning sapphire wafers in Taiwan, China, the US, Japan, South Korea and Germany, the company noted.
