Understand any stock in simple English
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First Solar makes and sells solar panels and large solar power plants.
First Solar is a solar company with one main business, not several. It makes solar panels, the flat black rectangles that turn sunlight into electricity. Then it sells them to two kinds of buyers: big utilities and developers who need millions of panels for giant solar farms, and companies building large projects in places like India and the Middle East. It also sells the panels to other installers and distributors around the world. When a utility wants clean power cheaply, it often calls First Solar because its panels work well in hot, dusty places where ordinary silicon panels fade. The company is based in Tempe, Arizona, but most of its manufacturing happens in Ohio, Malaysia, and Vietnam, with new factories in Louisiana and India ramping up.
First Solar is different from most panel makers because it uses a thin film called cadmium telluride instead of silicon. Think of it like choosing a diesel truck instead of a gasoline car. Both move cargo, but the diesel one does better hauling heavy loads over long distances in rough heat. That thin film lets First Solar avoid buying silicon, which often comes from China and swings wildly in price. So when silicon gets expensive, First Solar looks smart. Most of its money now comes from selling panels, not from building entire power plants like it did years ago. In 2024 it sold about $4.2 billion of panels, and its order book stretches years ahead, partly because US rules favor panels made outside China.
Recently, a big US climate law called the Inflation Reduction Act started paying First Solar extra for making panels at home. That subsidy is huge. Government support could add hundreds of millions of dollars a year in cash. First Solar also spent years fixing its technology and cutting costs, so it now earns more per panel than most rivals. It uses its spare cash to build more US factories and buy back some of its own shares. In short, First Solar is a rare profitable solar manufacturer, betting that America will pay a premium to keep solar panels made at home.
Saved answer · last researched 11 Oct 2026