Qimonda AG, a leading supplier of memory products, and Centrosolar Group AG, a leading German solar company, this week signed a contract to jointly build, equip and operate a solar cell manufacturing plant. As a result of the agreement, Centrosolar will be able to create additional solar cells using modern technologies, whereas Qimonda will be able to turn its scrap silicon substrate into revenue.
The joint venture will produce solar cells based on silicon and will be owned 49% by Centrosolar and 51% by Qimonda Solar GmbH, a 100% subsidiary of Qimonda AG. In the planned cooperation, Qimonda will contribute its existing know-how in silicon-based mass production as well as important access to silicon supply. Centrosolar will contribute its expertise with solar systems and the sales and distribution of solar modules. The venture company which will be located on Qimonda’s existing site in Vila do Conde, Portugal is planned to initially invest €70 million (approximately $107.9 million) by September 2009.
Late in 2007 IBM said it had developed a process or repurposing scrap semiconductor wafers – thin discs of silicon material used to imprint patterns that make finished semiconductor chips – to a form used to manufacture silicon-based solar panels. Even though Qimonda did not indicate whether it used IBM’s technology, the process used by Centrosolar and Qimonda should be very similar to IBM’s way of repurposing the wafers, even though in Qimonda’s case not only scrap wafers may be used to manufacture solar cells.
Qimonda, IBM, Intel and others in the industry use silicon wafers both as the starting material for manufacturing microelectronic products and to monitor and control the myriad of steps in the manufacturing process. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, worldwide 250 thousand wafers are started per day across the industry. IBM estimated that up to 3.3% of those started wafers are scrapped. In the course of the year, this amounts to approximately three million discarded wafers. Since such wafers contain intellectual property, most are not sent to outside vendors to reclaim, but are crushed and sent to landfills, or melted down and resold.
Subject to approval by the relevant authorities, the commencement of fab construction at Qimonda’s site in Vila do Conde, Portugal is scheduled for mid 2008. The facility is scheduled to be ready for equipment early in 2009 and to start production in the second half of 2009. The new facility is planned to have an initial capacity of up to 30 million solar cells per year (equivalent to about 100MWatt peak) and employ approximately 150 employees. In addition, a silicon supply agreement with LDK Solar Co., Ltd., Xinyu City, China, has been concluded.
“By entering the solar industry, we are addressing an attractive market with stable and high growth rates. We will leverage our core competencies in silicon-based, high-quality mass production to generate a new revenue stream for Qimonda. Together with our experienced solar partner Centrosolar we have developed a capital and resource efficient setup to start this promising new business,” said Kin Wah Loh, president and chief executive officer of Qimonda AG.
