Apple to Hire 700 Jobs for Manufacturing Facility in Arizona该网站将用于国内水晶产品ion and require 1,300 additional construction jobs.

ByBenjamin Kabin

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Apple Inc.is interested in sapphires. No, the tech giant isn't getting into the jewelry business. It has plans to build amanufacturingfacility in Mesa, Ariz. to create sapphire material likely to be used in production of Apple devices.

The news was announced by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who hailed the technology company's choice as a significant capital investment in the state that willcreate at least 700 permanent jobsand 1,300 construction jobs.

"Apple will have an incredibly positive economic impact for Arizona," Gov. Brewer says. "Their investment in renewable energy will also be greening our power grid, and creating significant new solar and geothermal power sources for the state."

Related:10 Questions to Ask When Shopping for Your Next Smartphone

Apple is partnering with Merrimack, N.H.-based GT Advanced Technologies to open the manufacturing plant. GT says it specializes in innovative crystal growth equipment solutions for a number of industries, including consumer electronics. In addition to occurring naturally, sapphire material can be manufactured for industrial purposes.

Apple will give GTa prepayment of $578 millionwhich will be repaid over the course of five years, beginning in 2015, GT says. Apple will own the facility but GT will own and operate the production furnaces.

So far, Apple is mum about what exactly it will be manufacturing, but reports have speculated that the sapphire materialcould be used in screen productionfor devices like iPads and iPhones.

Related:Apple Sells Record Number of iPhones

Benjamin Kabin

Journalist

Benjamin Kabin is a Brooklyn-based technology journalist who specializes in security, startups, venture capital and social media.

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