Apple’s Former Supplier Cuts 40% of Its Workforce

Apple hired the company to produce sapphire screens for its iPhones

In 2013, Apple hired the New Hampshire-based manufacturer, which previously manufactured industrial equipment, to produce sapphire screens for its iPhones at a Mesa, Ariz. plant. But the company struggled to produce screens that were at the quality Apple demanded, and Apple decided not to use sapphire screens at all for the iPhone 6.Apple’s former supplier GT Advanced Technologies is laying off 40% of its workforce after losing its deal with Apple and filing for bankruptcy, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The supplier filed for bankruptcy in October, less than a month after Apple revealed an iPhone version that used glass screens instead of the sapphire screens that GT Advanced Technologies attempted to produce. The supplier had spent $900 million to transform from a successful industrial equipment manufacturer to Apple’s partner—a decision that resulted in no revenues when Apple refused to buy.

GT Advanced Technologies has already laid off 700 employees. It stated that it had 1,000 when it filed for bankruptcy.

Apple plans to convert the factory, which was originally slated to produce 2,000 jobs, to a data center that employs 150 people. The failed plant was supposed to be the world’s largest artificial sapphire production facility.

Apple’s Siri Will Give You Hints About the Upcoming iPhone Event

She doesn’t promise to be helpful

The tech world is on the edge of their collective seat in anticipation of Apple’s upcoming Sept. 9 event,when the tech giant is expected to unveil its newest iPhones.

If you’re like just about every tech blogger under the sun, and want the inside scoop on what Apple CEO Tim Cook will reveal at the event, you now have an option besides stalking the apple-obsessed blogosphere: just ask Siri.

Ask the robo servant to “give me a hint,” and you’ll be served with a variety of answers, from the admonishing to the playful, like, “look deep within yourself and you will find the answer. Especially on 9 September.”

These answers aren’t probably any more insightful that the predictions of Apple bloggers, but they will at least give you something to do before the big day.

Apple’s Diversity Numbers Reveal Plenty of Progress To Be Made

The Apple logo.

But there are signs of improvement

Apple has updated its breakdown of employee demographics, first reported in August of last year. And while the needle hasn’t budged much—at least percentage-wise—the company says it has hired more diverse candidates in the past 12 months than in any other year.

According to head of human resources Denise Young Smith, more than 11,000 women have been hired worldwide in the last year, a 65% increase from the year before (for some more perspective, the company employs over 110,000 people worldwide). In United States, 2,200 black employees and 2,700 Hispanic employees were hired in the same time frame, representing increases of 50% and 66%, respectively. And in the first six months of this year, nearly 50% of Apple’s U.S. hires were women, black, Hispanic or Native American.

“We feel good about what’s been accomplished in the last 12 months,” Young Smith said in a phone interview with Fortune. “Clearly this is a start, but we know that with the investments that we’re making and the work we’re doing we’ll show much more progress over time.”

CEO Tim Cook also offered a message on the company’s website Thursday afternoon, saying that Apple realizes there is a lot more work to be done. According to Cook’s statement: “Some people will read this page and see our progress. Others will recognize how much farther we have to go. We see both.”

Like many other large Silicon Valley players, Apple’s gender and racial breakdown is still far from reflecting our society. Under increasing pressure, these companies have pledged to not only disclose the demographic breakdown of their employee base, but to put money into programs that aim to increase the pipeline of women and minorities in tech and to make changes to their hiring practices. Last year, Cook said he is as committed to “being as innovative in advancing diversity as we are in developing products.” He has also said that the definition of diversity should go beyond race and gender and include age and sexual orientation, among other characteristics. (Last year CEO Cook became the first openly gay leader of a Fortune 500 company.)

 

“It is the leader and leaders of a company that really sets the tone and articulates the commitment [to increasing diversity],” says Young Smith.

Earlier this year Apple announced it would invest more than $50 million in diversity efforts, partnering with the likes of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. This week the company unveiled another partnership with Code2040, which runs a fellowship program for black and Hispanic entrepreneurs.

Other companies, like Intel, are also putting their money where their mouth is, investing in diversity efforts and adopting more inclusive hiring practices. The efforts are leading to very slow progress, though it is progress nonetheless: Apple’s 2015 breakdown shows that the company’s employee base is still 69% male and 54% white; in 2014 it was 70% male and 55% white. But while one percentage point doesn’t sound impressive, it does reflect thousands of new, more diverse employees, and—as Young Smith admitted—it is just a start.