First Solar Shutters Factories and Enters Survival Mode
First Solar is closing down factories and laying off 2,000 workers worldwide as part of its plan to survive lean times for the solar industry.
In recent years, the company has been the only non-Chinese company among the top five solar panel makers in the world; and it’s the only one that makes a type of solar panel called thin film that many experts believe could be the future of solar power.
Overproduction of solar panels, in part because of rapid industry growth in China, has led to low prices that are making it difficult for companies to survive. The layoffs amount to 30 percent of the company’s total workforce.
Keep Reading
Most Popular
Toronto wants to kill the smart city forever
The city wants to get right what Sidewalk Labs got so wrong.
Saudi Arabia plans to spend $1 billion a year discovering treatments to slow aging
The oil kingdom fears that its population is aging at an accelerated rate and hopes to test drugs to reverse the problem. First up might be the diabetes drug metformin.
Yann LeCun has a bold new vision for the future of AI
One of the godfathers of deep learning pulls together old ideas to sketch out a fresh path for AI, but raises as many questions as he answers.
The dark secret behind those cute AI-generated animal images
Google Brain has revealed its own image-making AI, called Imagen. But don't expect to see anything that isn't wholesome.
Stay connected
Illustration by Rose WongGet the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.