First Solar

First Solar is the largest U.S.-based solar module manufacturer, headquartered in Tempe, Arizona. The company makes thin-film cadmium telluride photovoltaic panels, a technology that avoids the polysilicon supply chain most competitors rely on. First Solar recently brought online a $1.1 billion, 2.4-million-square-foot factory in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, adding 3.5 gigawatts of annual capacity and pushing its American manufacturing base toward 17.7 GW by 2027. Founded in 1999, the company supplies utility-scale developers across North America and has expanded aggressively on the back of federal manufacturing incentives.

First Solar is the only U.S.-headquartered company among the world’s largest solar manufacturers, and its Tempe, Arizona base anchors a manufacturing strategy built entirely around American production. Founded in 1999, the company makes rigid thin-film modules using cadmium telluride rather than the crystalline silicon most competitors rely on, a technology that sidesteps the polysilicon supply chain and is developed at R&D labs in California and Ohio.

Over two decades First Solar grew from a small Ohio manufacturer into the country’s largest PV module producer, shipping more than 25 gigawatts of modules to over 45 countries. Its footprint now spans manufacturing and R&D across three U.S. states, backed by billions in domestic investment. Beyond the panels themselves, the company runs a recycling program for end-of-life modules and frames the whole operation around what it calls Responsible Solar, a set of environmental standards it applies to production.