US cadmium telluride (CdTe) manufacturer First Solar saw sales and net profits increase in Q2 2025, as it forecasts a strong performance under the Trump administration’s industrial and trade policy changes.
First Solar saw net income of US$341.9 million in Q2 2025, an increase from US$209.5 million in Q1 and a slight decrease from US$349.5 million in the equivalent period last year. Diluted income per share stood at US$3.18, notably up from US$1.95 in Q1 and, once again, down slightly on Q1 2024 (US$3.25).
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Net sales for the period reached US$1.1 billion, the majority of which came from increased sales of its CdTe thin-film technology solar modules. First Solar shipped 3.554GW of CdTe modules in Q2 2025, and produced a total of 4.2GW. Sales were up 30% sequentially and 9% year-on-year.
The company’s gross profit percentage was 45.6%, a 4.8 percentage point increase from Q1 and a 3.8 point fall from Q2 2024.
In Q2, First Solar sold US$312 million in Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing tax credits for cash proceeds of US$296 million. Yesterday, PV Tech reported that the company sold another US$391 million of 45X credits to a “leading financial institution”, bringing its total 45X sales to over US$1.5 billion to date.
In its earnings report presentation, First Solar said it continues to ramp up its Alabama module production facility and has begun integrated production at its Louisiana site.
‘Strengthened First Solar’s relative position’
First Solar CEO, Mark Widmar, said the recent changes to tax credits for solar manufacturing, particularly the Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) restrictions introduced in July’s budget reconciliation bill, “Places First Solar in a greater position of strength than it was following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022.”
The FEOC restrictions limit access to the 45X manufacturing credit for products manufactured by or receiving “material assistance” from certain foreign entities, which, for the solar industry, amounts to Chinese companies. We have heard from industry analysts who said that the FEOC restrictions will make it hard for many solar manufacturers to access 45X tax credits, as the global solar supply chain is dominated by China and Chinese-backed firms. It may only be the biggest players able to access the credits. Read more on that in the latest edition of PV Tech Power (subscription required).
First Solar, largely by using CdTe technology in place of crystalline silicon, is isolated from much of the China-dominated supply chain. It is also the largest solar manufacturer in the US, and well-poised to benefit from more difficult circumstances.
“These [FEOC] provisions address one of the biggest loopholes under the IRA,” Widmar said on the company’s Q2 earnings call. “In our view, it is not unreasonable to expect that there will be limited Chinese solar manufacturing in the US in the foreseeable future … which may reduce the supply of domestic content.”
In March 2024, Widmar addressed the Senate Finance Committee, calling for the exclusion of Chinese solar manufacturers from IRA tax credits. He said the US “cannot line China’s pockets with US taxpayer dollars.”
The budget reconciliation bill also brought in deadlines for the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and Production Tax Credit (PTC) for solar projects. New sites will have to “begin construction” by 4 July 2026, or be operational by the end of 2027, to receive the credit.
Widmar said that if projects continue as scheduled, it “strengthens the resilience of our existing contracted backlog … which we believe creates a strategic foothold to integrate our international supply with the US, and potentially create a US finishing line” for the company’s international supply and manufacturing operations.
He also said that the near-term rush of projects trying to gain the tax credits could create demand that sees orders fulfilled for the rest of the decade.
First Solar has also been a proponent of antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) tariffs on solar modules and cells entering the US. Along with fellow manufacturers Qcells and Mission Solar, it is one of the companies pushing the Department of Commerce to impose tariffs on products that it claims are illegally subsidised and sold at unfairly low prices in the US market.
These tariffs “meaningfully decreased” imports of cells and modules from Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, Widmar said, and the companies have recently launched a new petition against Laos, Indonesia and some Indian manufacturers.
Coupled with FEOC restrictions, the market for affordable and non-restricted solar components for US manufacturers is narrowing, a development which likely favours First Solar.
