Beleaguered Swiss solar manufacturer Meyer Burger has reportedly laid off an unconfirmed number of employees at its US module manufacturing facility.
Local Arizona news reports claim that Meyer Burger has cut the workforce at its Goodyear, Arizona module assembly plant. A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filed in the state on 22nd May lists 355 employees affected.
Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis
Photovoltaics International is now included.
- Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
- In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
- Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
- Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
- Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
- Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual
PV Tech has contacted Meyer Burger for clarification of these reports, but the company has yet to respond.
The reports of layoffs are the latest in a string of negative news for Meyer Burger. The company ploughs a relatively lonely furrow in producing heterojunction technology (HJT) solar cells and modules, where much of the industry has currently opted for tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) technology.
The Goodyear facility was opened in June 2024 following the closure of its module assembly plant in Freiburg, Germany. At the time, the company was also planning to build a 2GW HJT solar cell manufacturing plant in Colorado, though this was abandoned in August.
Just a few months after the Goodyear facility began production, Meyer Burger lost its 5GW US supply deal with D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI), the deal which had underpinned the facility’s viability.
Last year, Meyer Burger’s then-CEO, Gunter Erfurt, told PV Tech Premium the company had been “proven right” in choosing to move its operations from Europe to the US. Erfurt resigned as CEO in September 2024, along with a further 1,050 job cuts, and was replaced by Franz Richter later that month.
Throughout this US uncertainty, the company had maintained its solar cell production facility in Thalheim, Germany. In April 2025, it announced a reduction of working hours for around 300 of the site’s employees due to a “bottleneck” in supply and confirmed that the Goodyear, Arizona module assembly facility would henceforth alternate between production and “technical work”.
Alongside these operational challenges, the company’s balance sheets have made for negative reading. Last month, its full-year financial results for 2024 were delayed until 31st May at the latest, following net losses of CHF317 million (US$383 million) in the first half of the year.
The collapse of the DESRI deal also triggered a “restructuring” effort, where Meyer Burger secured around US$40 million in funds to sustain its operations during a transition phase.
In January 2025, the company announced a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) process seeking interested buyers.
