Tag Archives: silicon
Taiwan Semi: Another Semi Company Shopping for Solar
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has dominated the contract chipmaker business for years. Now it’s eyeing the solar market and wants to buy its way in. TSMC’s CEO Morris Chang, who founded the company in 1987, retook thehelm this past June as the company saw its quarterly profits drop forthe third quarter in a row. TMSC [...]
Silicon Pricing Creeping Up On First Solar
Is First Solar in danger of losing its title as the king of low-cost solar panel maker? The Tempe, Ariz.-based company said Thursday it plans to set up arebate program in Germany, one of its largest markets, in order tobetter compete with companies that have sharply lowered their panelprices as a result of a rapid [...]
Contract Silicon Price Falls 50%, Close to Spot Price
Prices for silicon and the resulting wafers have fallen so fast thatmajor solar panel makers could afford to sell their products at below$2 per watt and still "make a small profit," according to New EnergyFinance on Tuesday. The price for long-term silicon contracts has fallen about 50percent this year from a year ago and come [...]
Suniva Raises $75 Million for Expansion
The Georgia solar cellstartup began production last fall and has signed nearly $1 billionworth of contracts with panel makers. Suniva, which began producing monocrystalline silicon cells last October, has raised $75 million. The Norcross, Ga.-based startup lined up the C round from WarburgPincus and Apex Venture Partners, as well as previous investors NewEnterprise Associates, HIG [...]
What I Learned From Intersolar North America
After attending InterSolar in Germany in late May,I was not sure what to expect from InterSolar North America inmid-July. Compared to the semiconductor exhibit next door at SEMICONWest, it was quite well attended and busy. However, the German show wasmuch bigger and more crowded. There also seemed to be a greateremphasis on module suppliers at [...]
Two Solar IPOs Planned for 4Q
Thefinancial market hasn’t recovered yet, so going public now seems a bitfoolish. But some investors already believe there will be a goodappetite for IPOs soon. Mark Zanoli, managing director of investment banking at JP Morgan,said his bank is working on two solar IPOs slated for the fourthquarter of this year. Speaking at Intersolar North America [...]
Voltaix Gets $9M for Thin Film Chemicals
An investment firm headed bya co-founder of Norwegian solar firm REC has placed its first bet onsolar by investing in Voltaix. Gases can be sexy investments. Chemical company Voltaixhas raised $9 million from Novus Energy Partners and is gettingco-founder of Norwegian solar company REC on its board of directors. Voltaix, based in Branchburg, N.J., develops [...]
Chip Companies using Acquisitions to Enter Solar Market
Acquisition – not developing technology in-house – is the beststrategy for entering the solar market, according to a survey ofsemiconductor companies. The survey, conducted by Greentech Media and the PV Group (part ofSEMI), sought to gauge the views of chip and solar companies on settingup manufacturing in the United States. Most of the 106 respondents saidthey [...]
CaliSolar Set to Complete a 50MW Factory for UMG
CaliSolar,which is developing solar cells using upgraded metallurgical silicon,expects to complete building its first commercial factory thisSeptember and quadruple the capacity by the end of next year, thecompany’s CEO Roy Johnson said. The startup is currently constructing a 50-megawatt factory inSunnyvale, Calif. where it’s headquartered. By the end of 2010,CaliSolar plans to expand it to [...]