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The interview in this month's SEMI Global Update e-newsletter comes not from the trade association's worthy Oral History project but translated from the pages of its Semiconductor Manufacturing China publication. Exec editor Doris Dong caught up with LDK Solar wunderkind chairman/CEO Xiaofeng Peng for a Q&A that delves into many aspects of the insurgent polysilicon and solar wafer supplier as well as broader photovoltaic subjects. Given the news of LDK's latest deal with Canadian Solar and its own updates on production capacity expansion, the interview is quite timely.

Here's an excerpt:

Dong: It is said that more than $30 million has been invested into LDK's R&D Lab. How about the direction for research and development at present?

Peng: It is the greatest contribution to the photovoltaic industry by reducing the manufacturing cost, and our R&D team mainly focuses on how to reduce the manufacturing cost during their work. Thickness of the silicon wafer has been reduced from 330 micron at the very beginning to 180 micron at present. The 160-micron silicon wafer is also now in trial operation, which might be thinner in future. The manufacturing process and yield are increasing continuously from 9 grams/watt previously to 6-7 grams/watt at present. The ingot weight is also increased from 270 kg to 450 kg at present.

It is rather a great advancement to gain these achievements in less than two years. We shall take the lead in R&D activities in order to become the largest silicon wafer supplier of solar cells in the world. Our R&D team is still expanding, and R&D activities will be conducted wherever semiconductor industry is prosperous in the world. We will endeavor to utilize global resources.