Aug 7 2008 10:58AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (7) |
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These people need an award or something. How cool is Shea homes? So cool that if you buy one of their homes in California, Arizona, Florida and Washington, they will give you a free solar roof.

Seems like a creative and innovative way to boost the solar market. Hopefully they can find buyers that can get mortgages.

In another interesting solar development, Tokyo-based Sanyo Electric Co Ltd reported Monday that it has completed construction of the Shiga Plant at its Shiga facilities in Ohtsu City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, which was constructed for the assembly of HIT solar cell modules as part of the company’s plans to expand its solar business, in order to be ready for the expected growth in Jap...Read More

Jul 29 2008 12:10PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (3) |
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Last year at about this time STMicroelectronics disclosed that it would close three of its manufacturing operations over the next two to three years, which followed the decision to spin-off its flash memory business in December 2006.

The plants set to close were a 6-inch (150-mm) wafer fab in Carrollton, Texas, an 8-inch (200-mm) fab in Phoenix, Arizona and its back-end packaging and test facility in Ain Sebaa, Morocco.

Word on the street in Phoenix, according to Bill McClean, president of market research company IC Insights, is that ST’s Phoenix fab will be sold to a pure-play foundry with China-based Grace Semiconductor and Singapore-based Chartered in pursuit. Chartered is considered to be the front runner, McClean noted in an email Monday afternoon.

Jul 28 2008 11:00AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (6) |
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Ontario, Canada is jumping on the green bandwagon. The province is seeking to create new jobs in green industries by investing nearly $8 million in solar-grade silicon maker 6N Silicon in order to create sustainable solar energy industry jobs for skilled workers.

The investment comes as part of 6N’s $50 million expansion that includes a new manufacturing plant in Vaughan, Ontario, which will create 84 new jobs.

6N hope this investment will help build its reputation in the emerging “green economy,” and continue to draw international interest for its manufacturing process that turns low-grade silicon into the form needed to produce solar cells. 6N claims its method is cheaper, quicker and more energy-efficient than others, and is helping meet the growing demand for renewable power.

The O...Read More

Jul 15 2008 7:34AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (6) |
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I’m starting to wonder what the real story is behind all the talk on the 450-mm wafer size. I’m here at Semicon West in San Francisco this week, where ‘450’ is the buzz everywhere you turn, with most equipment vendors saying they won’t go down that path.

SEMI recently released a report on the economics of a 450-mm wafer transition and concluded that for now, “Shrinks, new materials, and new processes will continue to advance the industry on Moore’s Law, but there are simply not enough R&D resources available to continue such advancement in nodes and processes AND to work on a 450-mm wafer size transition.” 

This report is corroborated by a recent survey of semi...Read More

Jul 9 2008 9:20AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (7) |
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Given the poor state of the economy in the US, and with the situation likely to get worse for the semiconductor industry, companies supplying to customers located outside the US may have a better likelihood of business growth.

Clearly, Germany leads the world in its acceptance and implementation of solar energy with although other big solar-supporting countries such as Spain and Italy, are working hard to catch up as evidenced by thin film solar module equipment supplier Applied Material Inc’s many contracts in these geographies, with another just announced today.

Aragona, Sicily-based renewable energy producer Moncada Energy Group ...Read More