Although its major sapphire materials business win with iconic consumer electronics firm, Apple continues to generate headlines, GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) has suggested new order wins for new products for the polysilicon and PV segment in the second-half of the year could be even greater.
Meyer Burger and CSEM PV Center are establishing the Swiss-Inno HJT Project that will include a pilot line and development program to produce low-cost Heterojunction silicon solar cell technology (HJT).
In a continued effort to return its Energy and Environmental Solutions (EES) division to breakeven, despite two-years of downsizing and restructuring, Applied Materials said it had reduced EES spending per quarter to US$25 million.
SunEdison has said the polysilicon ingot production operations for its semiconductor customers would be consolidated with the full closure of its facilities in Merano, Italy, and the transfer of 200mm diameter ingot production from St. Peters, Missouri to other overseas facilities.
SolarWorld said in a statement that it had reached an agreement with a long-term “raw material” supplier to restructure supply contracts that would result in impairment charges in the “double-digit million Euro amount.”
SunEdison and the Government of Saudi Arabia are undertaking a feasibility study to establish a fully integrated PV manufacturing complex, including polysilicon production through to PV module assembly at an estimated cost of US$6.4 billion.
Daqo New Energy has completed the de-bottlenecking project at its polysilicon plant in Xinjiang, China, which has started ramping to its expected nameplate capacity of 6,150MT.
The decision to penalise US polysilicon producers with heavy import duties by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) as part of the ongoing trade war has led to both Wacker and OCI grabbing further polysilicon market share in the country.