Singapore-headquartered solar manufacturer Maxeon has sold its non-US assets to focus its business ‘exclusively’ on the US.
Maxeon has reached an agreement-in-principle for the sale of Maxeon’s EMEA, APAC and LATAM sales and marketing organisation to TCL Technology Group, the parent company of Maxeon’s majority shareholder, TCL Group.
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These acquisitions will be integrated into a new solar solution business unit called TCL SunPower International, while Maxeon’s manufacturing capacity in the Philippines will be acquired by TCL Group.
Both companies aim to finalise the definitive agreement by the end of 2024. Once the transactions are completed, Maxeon will continue to operate independently with a focus on the US residential, commercial and utility-scale markets, while remaining listed in the US and publicly trading on NASDAQ.
In its delayed Q2 2024 financial results, Maxeon had already said that its utility-scale solar business would be “exclusively” focused on the US market.
However, the Nasdaq Stock Market moved to delist the company in September due to its low stock prices, for which it submitted a hearing request, while implementing a reverse stock split to increase the company’s bidding price above US$1.00 per share minimum bid price. Today (26 November), the company opened trading at US$9.5 and traded at US$8.18, at the time of writing.
“As Maxeon intensifies its focus on the US market, our priority is to further expand our growing residential and commercial partner network and support our well-established base of utility-scale customers,” said George Guo, Maxeon’s CEO. “This strategic re-focusing of our business is designed to keep us closer and more attuned to the needs of our US customer base,” added Guo, who was recently appointed CEO of the company as Bill Mulligan announced his departure from the role at the end of January 2025.
As part of the company’s strategy to focus solely on the US market, it has executed a five-year lease on an existing building in Albuquerque, New Mexico where it aims to build a module assembly plant with a 2GW annual nameplate capacity. It expects to begin production of solar panels in early 2026.
Guo added that as the company moves forward with the 2GW module assembly plant, it will also evaluate its long-term objectives to establish solar cell manufacturing capacity.
Maxeon initially announced plans to build a solar cell and module assembly plant in Albuquerque last year. At the time, the company aimed to have a 3GW annual nameplate capacity of tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) modules.
Maxeon’s business restructuring comes after the company registered losses in the first two quarters of 2024, and lower module shipments compared to the same period in 2023.
Moreover, modules shipped from its Mexico manufacturing plant have been detained by US Customs and Border Protection since last September. The CBP detained the modules in a routine assessment to ensure that imported solar products comply with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Earlier this month, Maxeon announced plans to submit “one or more protests” to the CBP over the continued detention of its products.
