Saint Gobain Crystals recently sponsored this article -...

Saint Gobain Crystals recently sponsored this article - Sapphire: The Ultimate High Performance Manufacturing Material. A PDF copy is available via their website here: sapphire-use-manufacturing-artical.pdf (saint-gobain.com)

Sapphire, which goes by the mineral name corundum, is a crystalline form of Al2O3 (aluminium oxide) with a hexagonal structure. (i.e. ANO's Alusion product). Full SDS is here stating 100% aluminium oxide.

They reference a table of how it is a superior material across a variety of metrics on their product page.



Despite all the upside of ANO's zinc oxide business, it's likely the Alusion business has considerably higher TAM. I do not think Alusion is priced in to ANO at all in current valuation, neither on current or future earnings. Potentially this technology is worth many billions of dollars. Possibly more once it is incorporated on every SpaceX cabin and Tesla windshield and roof. Blue sky is every km of Hyperloop tunnel. (Don't laugh: Since 1996, SaintGobain Crystals has provided scintillation detectors and materials for space missions such as the 2001 Mars Odyssey, the 2011 Curiosity Mars Rover, and the 2015 CALET Calorimetric Electron Telescope.)

More curiously, the conclusion of the article states:

"Sapphire is a fabulous, multifunctional material that can help solve a vast range of complex engineering challenges. The demand and applications of sapphire are continually increasing. So, if you haven’t considered sapphire for your application yet, you may be falling behind.¹¹"

The footnote (11) refers to the following article. ‘Sapphire crystal screens: why Apple is interested in a gemstone’

The note(11) article itself notes: "In its currently available form (published 2014), sapphire crystal cannot be created as thinly as glass and therefore leads to heavier screens. It is unknown whether Apple has developed a way to make thinner, stronger sapphire crystal screens."

I think what we are seeing here is that Saint Gobain are indeed using Alusion to create thinner, stronger sapphire crystal screens in present day, and a curious footnote paired with a joint Apple patent, suggests the technology is certainly at the very least in Apple's pipeline.

Beyond that, we are seeing practical expansion of the Alusion line, via Saint Gobain, beyond the realms of Merck KGaA's cosmetics applications into high volume, high tech, future defining applications.

To quote Saint Gobain themselves, "Read about how synthetic sapphire enables a range of high tech applications in this article posted on AZO Materials. The properties of sapphire enable the production of large and complex sapphire pieces that open up a range of previously impossible applications."