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Chip-tool makers pursue key solar players
By Matt Andrejczak, MarketWatch
Last Update: 7:28 PM ET Jul 17, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- At its annual trade show here this week, the chip-equipment industry is rolling out a much bigger welcome mat to solar companies.
Chip-equipment executives will share the stage with key solar players, underscoring a growing market for machine makers looking to apply semiconductor technologies to solar.
Delivering keynotes Wednesday are T.J. Rogers, chairman of solar panel maker SunPower Corp. SPWR, and Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association. Watch video with Rhone Resch.
"We've raised it to another level," said Tom Morrow, vice president of marketing at SEMI, the chip-equipment trade group hosting the three-day event known as Semicon West. "The market is on fire."
Semicon West will feature more than a half-dozen technical engineering sessions related to solar, including one with Charlie Gay, who heads the solar business at Applied Materials Inc. AMAT, which this year started shipping machines to make solar panels.
The solar market will be well-represented on the trade show floor, with more than 60 exhibitors offering live demonstrations, exhibiting equipment and showcasing new products.
'...It's a realization that the solar market both in the United States and globally is a very fast-growing opportunity for the semiconductor industry.'
Rhone ReschSolar Energy Industries
It's a big step up from last year's event, when a Solar 101 engineering session was held in the exhibitor hall, according to SEIA's Resch.
"I think it's a realization that the solar market both in the United States and globally is a very fast-growing opportunity for the semiconductor industry," said Resch.
At Semicon West, Resch plans to urge chip-tool makers to develop new manufacturing technologies to make solar just as affordable as conventional electricity.
In terms of manufacturing costs, solar makers seek to emulate the success of the chip industry. Solar-panel makers want to reduce their costs per kilowatt just as chipmakers over the past 40 years have lowered costs per chip while boosting processor performance.
"It's a symbiotic relationship," Resch said. "We need those companies that have experience in high volume production with low defects . . . companies that can improve the performance of solar cells.
However, chip-equipment makers have been slow to diversify outside their core market.
Applied Materials, the world's No. 1 semiconductor tool maker, is among those leading the charge into solar, moving into the marketplace via an acquisition last summer. And the company has gotten off to a bright start, outpacing its initial contract projections. See full story.
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