First Solar, Inc. is a publicly traded American manufacturer of solar panels. First Solar uses rigid thin-film modules for its solar panels, and produces CdTe panels using cadmium telluride as a semiconductor. The company was founded in 1990 by inventor Harold McMaster as Solar Cells, Inc. In 1999 it was purchased by True North Partners, LLC, which rebranded it as First Solar, Inc. It provides end-of-life panel recycling at each of its manufacturing facilities. The company went public in 2006, trading on the NASDAQ as FSLR. It has been listed on the Photovoltaik Global 30 Index since the beginning of this stock index in 2009. Its current chief executive is Mark Widmar, who succeeded the previous CEO, James Hughes, July 1, 2016. The Arizona-based manufacturer opened a $1.1 billion manufacturing facility in Alabama in September 2024. The company operates three manufacturing facilities in Ohio and is currently constructing a $1.1 billion 3.5 GW plant in Louisiana. As of February 2025, the company expected to have more than 14 GW of domestic capacity by 2026 once the Louisiana facility is fully operational. Wikipedia