Future Apple sapphire plant clears final local approval

Arizona’s Gilbert Unified School District has voted unanimously to allow the extension of a foreign trade zone at a nearby airport to a proposed Apple sapphire plant, reports say. The decision clears the last of eight local regulatory hurdles for the purchase and conversion of a former First Solar complex. The overhauled facility will actually be operated by GT Advanced Technologies, but GT is expected to provide most of its sapphire to Apple, who will compensate for $578 million in capital expenditures over the course of five years….