UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

(Mark One)

þ		ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

o		TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Commission file number: 001-33156

First Solar, Inc.

Delaware		20-4623678
(State or other jurisdiction of		(I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization)		Identification No.)

350 West Washington Street, Suite 600
Tempe, Arizona 85281
(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)
(602) 414-9300
(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class		Name of each exchange on which registered
Common stock, $0.001 par value		The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC

     Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes þ No o     Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes o No þ

     Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes þ No o

     Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes þ No o

     Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. o

     Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Large accelerated filer þ		Accelerated filer o		Non-accelerated filer o		Smaller reporting company o
				(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

     Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes o No þ

     The aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock, $0.001 par value per share, held by non-affiliates of the registrant on June 27, 2009, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was approximately $7,360,781,207 (based on the closing sales price of the registrant’s common stock on that date). Shares of the registrant’s common stock held by each officer and director and each person who owns 5% or more of the outstanding common stock of the registrant are not included in that amount, because such persons may be deemed to be affiliates of the registrant. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes. As of February 12, 2010, 85,229,228 shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.001 par value per share, were issued and outstanding.

     The information required by Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, to the extent not set forth herein, is incorporated by reference from the registrant’s definitive proxy statement relating to the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held in 2010, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year to which this Annual Report on Form 10-K relates.

 

 

FIRST SOLAR, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 26, 2009
Table of Contents

				Page
PART I
Item 1:		Business			3
		Executive Officers of the Registrant			14
Item 1A:		Risk Factors			16
Item 1B:		Unresolved Staff Comments			34
Item 2:		Properties			34
Item 3:		Legal Proceedings			34
Item 4:		Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders			34
PART II
Item 5:		Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities			35
Item 6:		Selected Consolidated Financial Data			39
Item 7:		Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations			40
Item 7A:		Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk			59
Item 8:		Financial Statements and Supplementary Data			63
Item 9:		Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure			64
Item 9A:		Controls and Procedures			64
Item 9B:		Other Information			65
PART III
Item 10:		Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance			65
Item 11:		Executive Compensation			65
Item 12:		Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters			65
Item 13:		Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence			65
Item 14:		Principal Accountant Fees and Services			66
PART IV
Item 15:		Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules			66
Signatures					68
Consolidated Financial Statements					70
Index to Exhibits					123

     Throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we refer to First Solar, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries as “First Solar,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our.” Our fiscal years end on the last Saturday in December. Our last three fiscal years ended on December 26, 2009, December 27, 2008 and December 29, 2007.

NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

          This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Securities Act of 1933, which are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. All statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made pursuant to safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements include statements, among other things, concerning our business strategy, including anticipated trends and developments in and management plans for, our business and the markets in which we operate; future financial results, operating results, revenues, gross profit, operating expenses, products, projected costs and capital expenditures; research and development programs; sales and marketing initiatives; and competition. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words, such as “estimate,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “project,” “plan,” “intend,” “believe,” “forecast,” “foresee,” “likely,” “may,” “should,” “goal,” “target,” “might,” “will,” “could,” “predict” and “continue,” the negative or plural of these words and other comparable terminology. Our forward-looking statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and our projections about future events. All forward-looking statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are based upon information available to us as of the filing date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements for any reason. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. These factors include the matters discussed in the section entitled “Item 1A: Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described under this section.

PART I

Item 1: Business

Overview

          We manufacture and sell solar modules with an advanced thin film semiconductor technology, and we design, construct and sell photovoltaic (PV) solar power systems.

          In addressing a growing global demand for PV solar electricity, we target markets with varying approaches depending on the underlying economics, market requirements and distribution channels. In subsidized feed-in tariff (FiT) markets, such as Germany, we have historically sold most of our solar modules to solar project developers, system integrators and independent power producers. In other markets, such as the United States, the demand for solar has been primarily driven by renewable portfolio standards requiring regulated utilities to supply a portion of their total electricity from renewable energy sources such as solar power. To meet the needs of these markets and enable balance of system cost reductions, we have developed a fully integrated systems business that can provide low-cost turn-key utility-scale PV system solutions for system owners and low cost electricity to utility end-users. By building a fully integrated systems business, we believe we are in a position to expand our business in transitional, and eventually economically sustainable markets (in which subsidies or incentives are minimal), which are expected to develop in areas with abundant solar resources and sizable electricity demand, such as the United States, China, India and parts of Europe. In the long-term, we plan on competing on an economic basis with conventional fossil fuel based peaking power generation.

          In furtherance of our goal of delivering the lowest cost of solar energy and achieving price parity with conventional fossil-fuel based peak electricity generation, we are continually focused on reducing PV system costs in three primary areas: module manufacturing, Balance of System (BoS) costs (consisting of costs of components of a solar power system other than the solar modules, including inverters, mounting hardware, grid interconnection equipment, wiring and other devices, and installation labor costs), and cost of capital. First, with respect to our module manufacturing costs, our advanced technology has allowed us to reduce our average module manufacturing costs to the lowest in the world, based on publicly available information. In 2009, our total average manufacturing costs were $0.87 per watt, which we believe is significantly less than those of traditional crystalline silicon solar

module manufacturers. By continuing to improve conversion efficiency and production line throughput, lower material cost and drive volume scale to further decrease overhead costs, we believe that we can further reduce our manufacturing costs per watt and maintain our cost advantage over traditional crystalline silicon solar module manufacturers. Second, by continuing to improve conversion efficiency, leverage volume procurement around standardized hardware platforms, and accelerate installation time, we believe we can continue to make substantial reductions in BoS costs, which represent over half of all costs associated with a typical utility-scale PV solar power system. Finally, we believe that continuing to strengthen our financial position, including our balance sheet and credit profile, will enable us to continue to lower the cost of capital associated with our solar power systems, thereby further enhancing the economic viability of our projects and lowering the cost of electricity generated by solar power systems that incorporate our modules and technology.

          We are the world’s largest PV solar module manufacturer and produced more than 1.1 gigawatts (GW) of solar modules in 2009, becoming the first PV company to attain this production volume in a single year. We manufacture our solar modules on high-throughput production lines and perform all manufacturing steps ourselves in an automated, proprietary, continuous process. Our solar modules employ a thin layer of semiconductor material to convert sunlight into electricity. Our manufacturing process eliminates the multiple supply chain operators and expensive and time consuming batch processing steps that are used to produce a crystalline silicon solar module. Currently, we manufacture our solar modules at our Perrysburg, Ohio, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany and Kulim, Malaysia manufacturing facilities (with additional manufacturing facilities planned for construction in Kulim, Malaysia and France) and conduct our research and development activities primarily at our Perrysburg, Ohio manufacturing facility.

          Our fully integrated solar power systems business includes (i) project development, (ii) engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services, (iii) operating and maintenance (O&M) services, and (iv) project finance expertise, all as described in more detail below.

	•		Our project development group obtains land and land rights for the development of solar power plants incorporating our modules, negotiates long-term power purchase agreements (PPA) with potential purchasers of the electricity to be generated by those plants, manages the interconnection and transmission process, negotiates agreements to interconnect the plant to the electric grid and obtains the permits which are required prior to the construction of the plant, including applicable environmental and land use permits. Our project development portfolio and capabilities have grown significantly primarily as a result of our acquisition of the project development business of OptiSolar Inc. in April 2009, and our acquisition of certain assets from Edison Mission Group’s utility-scale solar project development pipeline in January 2010. We sell developed projects or projects under development to system operators who wish to own generating facilities, such as utilities, or to investors who are looking for long-term investment vehicles that are expected to generate consistent returns.
	•		We provide EPC services to projects developed by our project development business, projects developed by independent solar power project developers, and directly to system owners such as utilities. The procurement component of our EPC services includes deployment of our modules as well as balance of system components that we procure from third parties.
	•		For solar power plants which we have developed and built, we may provide ongoing O&M services to the system owner under long-term service agreements. These O&M services may include overseeing the day-to-day operation of the system, safety and security, maximizing energy production, and management of reliability, site services, power purchase agreement and other contractual compliance, environmental and permit compliance, regulatory requirements, recordkeeping, forecasting, warranty, preventative and scheduled maintenance, and spare parts inventory and may also include certain additional guarantees relating to the project.
	•		Our project finance group is primarily responsible for negotiating and executing the sale of utility-scale power plant systems incorporating our modules which allows us to optimize the value of our project development portfolio. This group is experienced in structuring non-recourse project debt financing in the bank loan market and institutional debt capital markets and raising project equity capital from tax oriented and strategic industry equity investors.

          We believe that combining our reliable, low cost module manufacturing capability with our systems business enables us to more rapidly reduce the price of solar electricity, to accelerate the adoption of our technology in large scale systems and to further our mission to create enduring value by enabling a world powered by clean, affordable solar electricity.

Segment Information

          We operate our business in two segments. Our components segment designs, manufactures and sells solar modules to solar project developers and system integrators. Through our systems segment, we have the capability to provide a complete PV solar power system for utility-scale or large commercial systems, which includes project development, EPC, O&M services and, when required, project finance. We view the sale of solar modules from the components segment as the core driver of our profitability, return on net assets and cash throughput, and we view our systems segment as an enabler to drive module throughput.

          As of December 26, 2009, our systems segment had not met the quantitative criteria for disclosure as a separate reporting segment. See also Note 22. “Segment and Geographic Information” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

     Components Business

          Our components segment, which is our principal business, involves the design, manufacture and sale of solar modules which convert sunlight to electricity.

     Solar Modules

          Each solar module is approximately 2ft X 4ft (60cm X 120cm) and had an average rated power of approximately 75 watts, 73 watts, and 70 watts for 2009, 2008 and 2007, respectively. Our solar module is a single-junction polycrystalline thin film structure that uses cadmium telluride as the absorption layer and cadmium sulfide as the window layer. Cadmium telluride has absorption properties that are highly matched to the solar spectrum and has the potential to deliver competitive conversion efficiencies using only about 1% of the semiconductor material used by traditional crystalline silicon solar modules. Our thin film technology also has relatively high energy performance in low light and high temperature environments compared with traditional crystalline silicon solar modules.

     Manufacturing Process

          We have integrated our manufacturing processes into a continuous, integrated production line with the following three stages: the “deposition” stage, the “cell definition” stage, and the “assembly and test” stage. In the deposition stage, panels of treated glass are robotically loaded onto the production line where they are cleaned, heated and coated with a layer of cadmium sulfide followed by a layer of cadmium telluride using our proprietary vapor transport deposition technology, after which the semiconductor-coated plates are cooled rapidly to increase strength. In our cell definition stage, we use high speed lasers to transform the large single semiconductor-coated plate into a series of interconnected cells that deliver the desired current and voltage output. Our proprietary laser scribing technology is capable of accomplishing accurate and complex scribes at high speeds. Finally, in the assembly and test stage, we apply busbars, laminate, a rear glass cover sheet and termination wires, seal the joint box and subject each solar module to a solar simulator and current leakage test. The final assembly stage is the only stage in our production line that requires manual processing.

          Our manufacturing facilities in Perrysburg, Ohio, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany and Kulim, Malaysia have each received both an ISO 9001:2000 quality system certification and ISO 14001:2004 environmental system certification. We anticipate that our additional manufacturing facilities, planned for construction in France and Kulim, Malaysia, will also obtain these certifications in 2011. During 2009, our Perrysburg facility also received the Occupational Health and Safety Standards (OHSAS) 18001 certification, an international occupational health and safety management system specification.

Research, Development and Engineering

          We continue to devote a substantial amount of resources to research and development with the primary objective of lowering the per watt cost of electricity generated by photovoltaic systems using our solar modules. Within our components business, we focus our research and development activities on, among other areas, continuing to increase the conversion efficiency of our solar modules and improving manufacturing efficiencies (including volume ramp, throughput improvement and material cost reduction). We believe the most promising ways of increasing the conversion efficiency of our solar modules include maximizing the number of photons that reach the absorption layer of the semiconductor material to facilitate conversion into electrons, thereby maximizing the number of electrons that reach the surface of the semiconductor and minimizing the electrical losses between the semiconductor layer and the back metal conductor.

          In the course of our research and development activities, we continuously explore and research new technologies in our efforts to sustain competitive differentiation in our modules. We typically qualify process and product improvements for full production at our Ohio plant and then use our “Copy Smart” process to propagate them to our other production lines. We believe that this systematic approach to research and development will provide continuous improvements and ensure uniform adoption across our production lines. In addition, our production lines are replicas of each other using our “Copy Smart” process, and as a result, a process or production improvement on one line can be rapidly deployed to other production lines.

Customers

          With respect to our components business, during 2009, we sold most of our solar modules to solar project developers and system integrators headquartered in Germany, France, Spain and Italy. Our customers typically develop, construct, own and operate solar power plants or sell turnkey solar power plants to end-users that include owners of land, owners of agricultural buildings, owners of commercial warehouses, offices and industrial buildings, public agencies, municipal government authorities, utility companies and financial investors that desire to own large scale solar power plant projects.

          As of December 26, 2009, we had long-term supply contracts for the sale of solar modules with fourteen principal customers (Long-Term Supply Contracts) headquartered throughout the European Union. We also have a five-year agreement with a solar power system project developer and system integrator in the United States, which is a related party. Together, these contracts account for a significant portion of our planned module production over the period from 2010 through 2013 and therefore will significantly affect our overall financial performance. We have in the past amended pricing and other terms in our Long-Term Supply Contracts in order to remain competitive, as described below, and we may decide in the future to further amend such contracts in order to address the highly competitive environment. In addition, we enter into module sale agreements or standard purchase orders with customers for specific projects.

          During the first quarter of 2009, we amended our Long-Term Supply Contracts with certain customers to further reduce the sales price per watt under these contracts in 2009 and 2010 in exchange for increases in the volume of solar modules to be delivered under the contracts. We also extended the payment terms for certain customers under these contracts from net 10 days to net 45 days to increase liquidity in our sales channel and to reflect longer module shipment times from our manufacturing plants in Malaysia. During the third quarter of 2009, we amended our Long-Term Supply Contracts with certain of our customers to implement a program which extends a price rebate to certain of these customers for solar modules purchased from us and installed in Germany. The intent of this program is to enable our customers to successfully compete in our core segments in Germany. The rebate program applies a specified rebate rate to solar modules sold for solar power projects in Germany at the beginning of each quarter for the upcoming quarter. The rebate program is subject to periodic review and we adjust the rebate rate quarterly upward or downward as appropriate. The rebate period commenced during the third quarter of 2009 and terminates at the end of the fourth quarter of 2010. Customers need to meet certain requirements in order to be eligible for and benefit from this program.

          During 2009, principal customers of our components business were Blitzstrom GmbH, EDF EN Development, Gehrlicher Solar AG, Juwi Solar GmbH, and Phoenix Solar AG. During 2009, each of these five customers individually accounted for between 10% and 19% of our component segment’s net sales. All of our other customers

individually accounted for less than 10% of our net sales during 2009. The loss of any of our major customers could have an adverse effect on our business. As we expand our manufacturing capacity, we are seeking to develop additional customer relationships in other markets and regions, which would reduce our customer and geographic concentration and dependence.

          While our Long-Term Supply Contracts have certain firm purchase commitments, these contracts are subject to amendments made by us or requested by our customers, such as the above mentioned amendments entered into during 2009. These amendments decreased the expected revenue under our Long-Term Supply Contracts during 2009. In addition, our Long-Term Supply Contracts are substantially denominated in euros and therefore are subject to exchange rate fluctuations between the euro and U.S. dollar. The strengthening of the euro compared to the U.S. dollar during 2009 partially offset the decrease in the expected revenue under our Long-Term Contracts resulting from the 2009 amendments.

          As of December 26, 2009, the Long-Term Supply Contracts in the aggregate allowed for approximately $3.8 billion (3.3 billion denominated in euro at an assumed exchange rate of $1.15/A1.00 and 0.2 billion denominated in USD) in sales from 2010 to 2013. As of December 27, 2008, the Long-Term Supply Contracts in the aggregate allowed for approximately $5.8 billion (4.9 billion denominated in euro at an assumed exchange rate of $1.15/A1.00 and 0.2 billion denominated in USD) in sales from 2009 to 2013. The above-referenced dollar amounts relating to the Long-Term Supply Contracts declined from 2008 to 2009, primarily due to revenue recognized for contracted volumes sold in 2009, module pricing adjustments, the impact of the rebate program implemented in 2009 as described above, and pre-set price reductions under the terms of the Long-Term Supply Contracts.

          We anticipate that approximately 55% of the aggregate contracted revenue under the Long-Term Supply Contracts as of December 26, 2009, will not be fulfilled in 2010 because they are associated with deliveries to be made in 2011 and later periods. We believe that the aggregate dollar amount associated with the Long-Term Supply Contracts at any particular date is not necessarily a meaningful indicator of future revenue for any particular period because the fulfillment of such amount is subject to a variety of factors, including the factors described above.

     Competition

          The renewable energy, solar energy and solar module sectors are highly competitive and continually evolving as participants strive to distinguish themselves within their markets and compete within the larger electric power industry. We expect to face continued competition, which may result in price reductions, reduced margins or loss of market share. With respect to our components business, we believe that our main sources of competition are crystalline silicon solar module manufacturers, silicon and non-silicon based thin film module manufacturers and companies developing solar thermal and concentrated photovoltaic technologies. Among photovoltaic module and cell manufacturers, the principal methods of competition are price per watt, production capacity, conversion efficiency, reliability, warranty terms and finance ability. At December 26, 2009, the global photovoltaic industry consisted of more than 150 manufacturers of solar cells and modules.

          In addition, we expect to compete with future entrants to the photovoltaic industry that offer new technological solutions. We may also face competition from semiconductor manufacturers and semiconductor equipment manufacturers or their customers, several of which have already announced their intention to start production of photovoltaic cells, solar modules or turnkey production lines. Some of these competitors may be part of larger corporations and have greater financial resources and greater brand name recognition than we do and may, as a result, be better positioned to adapt to changes in the industry or the economy as a whole.

          We also face competition from companies that currently offer or are developing other renewable energy technologies (including wind, hydropower, geothermal, biomass and tidal technologies) and other power generation sources that burn conventional fossil fuels.

     Raw Materials

          Our manufacturing process uses approximately 20 types of raw materials and components to construct a complete solar module. One critical raw material in our production process is cadmium telluride. Of the other raw

materials and components, the following eight are also critical to our manufacturing process: front glass coated with thermal conductive oxide, cadmium sulfide, photo resist, laminate, tempered back glass, cord plate/cord plate cap, lead wire and solar connectors. Before we use these materials and components in our manufacturing process, a supplier must undergo a qualification process that can last up to 12 months, depending on the type of raw material or component. Although we continually evaluate new suppliers and currently are qualifying several new suppliers, a few of our critical materials or components are sole sourced and most others are supplied by a limited number of suppliers.

     Collection and Recycling Program

          Consistent with the environmental philosophy of extended producer responsibility, we have established the solar industry’s first comprehensive, prefunded module collection and recycling program. The program is designed to maximize the recovery of valuable materials for use in new modules or other new products and minimize the environmental impacts associated with our modules at the end of their useful life. Approximately 90% of each collected First Solar module is recycled into new products, including new modules. End-users can request collection and recycling of their solar modules by us at any time at no cost. We pre-fund the estimated collection and recycling cost at the time of sale, assuming for this purpose a minimum service life of approximately 25 years for our solar modules. In addition to achieving substantial environmental benefits, our solar module collection and recycling program may provide us the opportunity to resell or redistribute working modules or recover certain raw materials and components for reuse in our manufacturing process. We currently have recycling facilities operating at each manufacturing facility (for manufacturing scrap, warranty returns and modules collected at the end of their useful life) that produce glass suitable for use in the production of new glass products and extract metals that will be further processed by a third party supplier to produce semiconductor materials for reuse in our solar modules.

          To ensure that the pre-funded amounts are available regardless of our financial status in the future, a trust structure has been established; funds are put into custodial accounts in the name of a trustee. Only the trustee can distribute funds from the custodial accounts and these funds cannot be accessed for any purpose other than for administering module collection and recycling, either by us or a third party executing the collection and recycling services. To provide further assurance that sufficient funds will be available, our module collection and recycling program, including the financing arrangement, is audited periodically by an independent third-party auditor.

     Solar Module Warranty

          We provide a limited warranty against defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service conditions for five years following delivery to the owners of our solar modules. We also warrant to the owners of our solar modules that solar modules installed in accordance with agreed-upon specifications will produce at least 90% of their power output rating during the first 10 years following their installation and at least 80% of their power output rating during the following 15 years. In resolving claims under both the defects and power output warranties, we have the option of either repairing or replacing the covered solar module or, under the power output warranty, providing additional solar modules to remedy the power shortfall. Our warranties are automatically transferred from the original purchasers of our solar modules to subsequent purchasers. As of December 26, 2009, our accrued warranty liability was $22.6 million, of which $8.2 million was classified as current and $14.4 million was classified as noncurrent.

Systems Business

          Through our fully integrated systems business, we provide a complete PV solar power system solution, which includes project development, EPC services, O&M services and, when required, project finance.

          Our systems business has grown over the past several years through a combination of business acquisitions and organic growth. On November 30, 2007, we completed the acquisition of Turner Renewable Energy, LLC, a privately held company which provided EPC services for commercial solar power projects in the United States. On April 3, 2009, we completed the acquisition of the project development business of OptiSolar Inc., which included a multi-gigawatt project pipeline. In January 2010, we completed the acquisition of certain assets from Edison Mission Group’s solar project development pipeline consisting of utility-scale solar projects located primarily on private land in California and the Southwest.

     Project Development

          Our systems business is dependent upon successful completion of project development activities including: site selection and acquisition, obtaining in a timely manner the requisite interconnection and transmission studies, environmental and land use permits, maintaining effective site control, and entering into a power purchase agreement with an off-taker of the power to be generated by the project. These activities culminate in receiving the right to construct and operate a solar power system. Power purchase agreements define the price and terms the utility customer will pay for power produced from a project. Entering into a power purchase agreement generally provides the underlying economics needed to advance the construction, finance and eventual sale of the project to the long-term site owner and power producer subject to obtaining all necessary permits. Depending primarily on the location and other site attributes, the development cycle can range from one to five years or longer in some circumstances. We may be required to spend significant sums for preliminary engineering, permitting, legal and other expenses before we can determine whether a project is feasible, economically attractive, or capable of being built. If there is a delay in obtaining any required regulatory approvals, we may be forced to incur additional costs and/or the right of the off-taker under the power purchase agreement to terminate may be triggered.

          Our project development activities are currently focused on markets in North America, Europe and Asia.

          In North America, we have entered into approximately 1.25GW of power purchase agreements with utilities in the southwestern U.S. and have a pipeline of approximately 150 megawatts (MW) of projects in Canada governed under Ontario’s Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program (RESOP), for a total pipeline of 1.4GW of projects in North America that we expect to develop between 2010 and 2014.

          In Europe, we are engaged in project development activities with respect to certain projects in France and Italy that we acquired as part of the OptiSolar pipeline, and we are actively evaluating additional project opportunities in Europe.

          In Asia, our project development activities include our initiatives in China. In September 2009, we entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ordos, China City Government outlining a long-term strategic relationship between the parties pursuant to which we would, through an appropriate business model, develop and construct a 2000MW photovoltaic power plant located within the Ordos New Energy Industry Demonstration Zone in China. In November 2009, we entered into a Cooperation Framework Agreement with the Ordos government outlining additional project details, timing and local support for the 2000MW power plant. The Memorandum of Understanding and the Corporation Framework Agreements set forth the agreement in principle of the parties concerning the project and related activities, and final agreement between the parties is subject to the negotiation and execution of definitive agreements among the parties.

          In the fourth quarter of 2009, we sold our 20MW solar project in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada to Enbridge Inc. The power output of the Sarnia facility will be sold to the Ontario Power Authority pursuant to a 20-year power purchase agreement under the terms of the Ontario RESOP program. Later in the fourth quarter of 2009, we entered into an agreement with Enbridge Inc. to expand the Sarnia facility from 20MW to 80MW. When completed later in 2010, the Sarnia facility is expected to be the largest PV solar facility in North America. In the fourth quarter of 2009, we also sold our 21MW solar project in Blythe, California to NRG Energy, Inc. Electricity generated by the Blythe facility, which is currently California’s largest PV solar generation facility, is being sold to Southern California Edison under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

Customers

          With respect to our systems business, our customers consist of investor owned utilities, independent power developers and producers, commercial and industrial companies, and other system owners who purchase completed solar power plants, EPC services and/or operation and maintenance services from us.

Competition

          With respect to our systems business, we face competition from other providers of renewable energy solutions, including developers of photovoltaic, solar thermal and concentrated solar power systems and developers of other forms of renewable energy projects, including wind, hydropower, geothermal, biomass and tidal projects. To the

extent other solar module manufacturers become more vertically integrated, we expect to face increased competition from such companies as well. We also face competition from other EPC companies and joint ventures between EPC companies and solar companies.

Sales and Marketing

          Historically, the majority of our module sales have been for grid-connected ground or commercial roof mounted solar power systems in Germany and other European Union countries with feed-in tariff subsidies. These feed-in tariff subsidies have been critical for the development of the solar industry because they provided the demand visibility required for module manufacturers and other participants in the solar value chain to reduce costs and drive scale. In 2007, we began to identify and target certain key transition markets, such as the United States, that had the potential to bridge the gap from the existing feed-in tariff markets to sustainable markets. Within these transition markets, our strategy is to advocate for market structures and policies that drive demand for solar power systems and to identify and break constraints to the successful migration to sustainable solar markets. In furtherance of this objective, we have developed a fully integrated systems business to increase module throughput, drive cost reduction across the value chain, identify and break constraints to sustainable markets and to deliver the most compelling solutions to our customers and end- users.

     Economic Incentives

          Government subsidies, economic incentives and other support for solar electricity generation generally include feed-in tariffs, net metering programs, renewable portfolio standards, tax incentives, loan guarantees, grants, rebates, low interest loans and grid access initiatives.

          Under a feed-in tariff subsidy, the government sets prices that regulated utilities are required to pay for renewable electricity generated by end-users. The prices are set above market rates and may differ based on system size or application. Net metering programs enable end-users to sell excess solar electricity to their local utility in exchange for a credit against their utility bills. The policies governing net metering vary by state and utility. Some utilities pay the end-user upfront, while others credit the end-user’s bill.

          Under a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), the government requires regulated utilities to supply a portion of their total electricity in the form of renewable electricity. Some programs further specify that a portion of the renewable energy quota must be from solar electricity, while others provide no specific technology requirement for renewable electricity generation. RPS-type mechanisms have been adopted in a majority of U.S. states. Regulations vary from state to state, and currently there is no federal RPS mandate. The state of California’s RPS goal of 33% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020 is currently the most significant RPS program in the United States in magnitude, and it is contributing to the expansion of the utility-scale solar systems market in that state.

          Tax incentive programs exist in the United States at both the federal and state level and can take the form of investment and production tax credits, accelerated depreciation and sales and property tax exemptions. At the federal level, investment tax credits for business and residential solar systems have gone through several cycles of enactment and expiration since the 1980’s. In October 2008, the United States Congress extended the 30% federal investment tax credit (ITC) for both residential and commercial solar installations for eight years, through December 31, 2016. The ITC is a primary economic driver of solar installations in the United States. Its extension through 2016 has contributed to greater medium term demand visibility in the U.S.; however, its expiration at the end of 2016 (unless extended) underscores the need for the levelized cost of electricity from solar systems to continue to decline toward grid parity. In February 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was signed into law. In addition to adopting certain fiscal stimulus measures that could benefit on-grid solar electricity applications, ARRA created a new program, through the Department of the Treasury, which provides cash grants equal to 30% of the cost of the system for solar installations that are placed into service during 2009 and 2010 and for certain solar installations for which construction begins prior to December 31, 2010. This cash grant is available in lieu of receiving the 30% federal investment tax credit. The intent of this program was to ensure that investors who had historically supported the renewable energy programs would not be constrained from investing in these transactions by tax losses they may have suffered during the recent credit crisis. Other measures adopted by ARRA that could benefit on-grid solar electricity generation include the following: (1) a Department of

Energy loan guarantee program for renewable energy projects, renewable energy manufacturing facilities and electric power transmission projects and (2) a 50% bonus depreciation for solar installations placed in service during 2009. Various legislation has been proposed to extend and slightly modify the ITC incentives to continue to ensure short-term investor tax positions do not limit future investment in renewable energy projects. In addition, legislation is being proposed which could extend the bonus depreciation benefit for projects completed in 2010. However, enactment of the extension or enhancement of such incentives is highly uncertain.

          Rebate programs for solar installations in California and several other states have increased the quantity of solar energy from distributed photovoltaic systems (typically smaller non-utility scale PV systems co-located with residential or commercial rooftop end-users) and have contributed to demand for PV solar modules and systems.

          Regulations and policies relating to electricity pricing and interconnection also stimulate demand for distributed generation from photovoltaic systems. PV systems generate most of their electricity during mid-day and the early afternoon hours when the demand for and cost of electricity is highest. As a result, electricity generated by PV systems mainly competes with expensive peak hour electricity, rather than the lower average price of electricity. Modifications to the peak hour pricing policies of utilities, such as to a flat rate, would require PV systems to achieve lower prices in order to compete with the price of electricity.

          In Europe, renewable energy targets in conjunction with feed-in tariffs have contributed to the growth in PV solar markets. Renewable energy targets prescribe how much energy consumption must come from renewable sources, while FiT policies are intended to support new supply development by providing investor certainty. A 2001 European Union (EU) directive for promoting renewable energy use in electricity generation (Directive 2001/77/EC) had set varying national indicative targets for renewable energy production from individual member states. A 2009 EU directive on renewable energy (Directive 2009/28/EC), which replaces the 2001 directive, sets varying targets for all EU member states in support of the directive’s goal of a 20% share of energy from renewable sources in the EU by 2020 and requires national action plans that establish pathways for the development of renewable energy sources. The following is a description of FiT policies adopted in certain critical EU markets in support of renewable energy targets.

          Currently, Germany, which accounted for approximately 65% of our 2009 net sales, is the most significant market for our modules, and the recent proposed changes to German feed-in tariffs are likely to affect our results of operations. The German Renewable Energy Law, or the EEG, was last modified by the German government in 2008 with effect on January 1, 2009. At that time, feed-in tariffs were significantly reduced from earlier levels. Further, under the current legislation, Germany feed-in tariffs declined 9% for roof mounted applications and 11% for ground mounted applications on January 1, 2010 and will decline on January 1, 2011 a further 8% to 10% (based on the volume of PV modules deployed in Germany during the 12 months ending on September 30, 2010 and the type of PV system). This compares to an annual decline of between 5% and 6.5% under the prior legislation. The next review of feed-in tariffs for all types of renewable energy was scheduled for 2012. However, following the 2009 election of a new center-right-liberal government in Germany, a further reduction in the PV feed-in tariff is currently under discussion and will most likely come into effect in the second or third quarter of 2010. Such a reduction in the feed-in tariff, including any potential further reductions, could result in a significant decline in demand and price levels for photovoltaic products in Germany, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

          In France, which accounted for approximately 12% of our 2009 net sales and where we have announced plans to build a two-line manufacturing plant, the government amended its feed-in tariff on January 12, 2010. The new decree became effective January 14, 2010 and does not have an expiry date but can be amended at any time. The new feed-in tariff provides a lower rate than the prior feed-in tariff for all applications while introducing, among other things, a departmental bonus which makes free field projects in the northern regions of France more attractive. In addition, the inflation index that increases the feed-in tariff received by a PV project after its first year of operation was also reduced. The current feed-in tariff will have a 10% annual digression starting on January 1, 2012.

          In Italy, which accounted for approximately 6% of our 2009 net sales, the current legislation provides that the existing feed-in tariff will be in effect until the expiration of a 14 month transition period that will begin once 1.2GW of photovoltaic systems are installed under the existing feed-in tariff. Any photovoltaic system that is interconnected before the expiration of the transition period will also receive the feed-in tariff currently in effect. It

is expected that the 1.2GW threshold will be reached in 2010. It is further expected that the Italian government will propose and enact a new reduced feed-in tariff before the end of 2010.

          In Spain, which accounted for approximately 3% of our 2009 net sales, the government published the feed-in tariff currently in effect for PV systems in September 2008. This feed-in tariff introduced a mechanism that requires a PV system to be registered in a national registry in order to obtain the Spanish feed-in tariff. Critically, under the legislation, only a certain number of MWs of PV systems so registered are granted a feed-in tariff each quarter. Other PV systems applying for a feed-in tariff remain in a queue and will be awarded a feed-in tariff in accordance with their place in the queue. For 2010 and 2011, the legislation limits the number of MW of PV systems that are awarded a feed-in tariff to 560MWand 500MW, respectively. The current legislation is scheduled to be reviewed by January 1, 2012.

          In Ontario, Canada, a new feed-in tariff program was introduced in September 2009 and replaced the Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program (RESOP) as the primary subsidy program for future renewable energy projects. In order to participate in the Ontario feed-in tariff program, certain provisions relating to minimum required domestic content and land use restrictions for solar installations must be satisfied. The new domestic content and land restriction rules do not apply to our Sarnia solar projects and the other projects governed by RESOP contracts that we acquired in connection with our acquisition of the solar power project development business of OptiSolar Inc. in April 2009. However, PV solar power systems incorporating our modules would not satisfy the domestic content requirement under the new feed-in tariff program currently in effect.

          In Australia, which accounted for approximately 1% of our 2009 net sales, the solar industry is driven by several regulatory initiatives that support the installation of solar PV modules in both rooftop and free-field applications, including the nationwide Renewable Energy Target Scheme that has set a renewable energy goal for Australia of 20% by 2020. In July 2009, the Solar Homes and Communities Plan, which previously provided the primary incentive for rooftop installations, was replaced with the less lucrative Solar Credits Scheme.

          In China, governmental authorities have not adopted a feed-in tariff policy and currently award solar projects through either a project tendering process or bi-lateral negotiations. We did not have sales in China in 2009; however, in September 2009, we entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ordos, China City Government relating to the construction of a 2GW PV power plant located within the Ordos New Energy Industry Demonstration Zone in China. See “Item 1: Business — Segment Information — Systems Business — Project Development.”

          In 2009, India announced its National Solar Mission, which includes a goal of installing 20GW of solar by 2022. India is expected to announce a feed-in tariff for the first phase of the National Solar Mission in 2010. We did not have any sales in India in 2009.

          For more information about risks related to economic incentives, please see “Item 1A: Risk Factors —Reduced growth in or the reduction, elimination or expiration of government subsidies, economic incentives and other support for on-grid solar electricity applications, including the anticipated feed-in tariff reductions in Germany and certain other core markets, could reduce demand and/or price levels for our solar modules, limit our growth or lead to a reduction in our net sales, and adversely impact our operating results.”

Intellectual Property

          Our success depends, in part, on our ability to maintain and protect our proprietary technology and to conduct our business without infringing on the proprietary rights of others. We rely primarily on a combination of patents, trademarks and trade secrets, as well as associate and third party confidentiality agreements, to safeguard our intellectual property. As of December 26, 2009, we held 22 patents in the United States, which will expire at various times between 2012 and 2026, and had 96 patent applications pending. We also held 28 patents and had over 100 patent applications pending in foreign jurisdictions. Our patent applications and any future patent applications might not result in a patent being issued with the scope of the claims we seek, or at all, and any patents we may receive may be challenged, invalidated or declared unenforceable. We continually assess appropriate occasions for seeking patent protection for those aspects of our technology, designs and methodologies and processes that we believe provide significant competitive advantages.

          As of December 26, 2009, we used two trademarks, “First Solar” and “First Solar and Design,” in the United States and other countries.

          With respect to proprietary know-how that is not patentable and processes for which patents are difficult to enforce, we rely on, among other things, trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to safeguard our interests. We believe that many elements of our photovoltaic manufacturing process, including our unique materials sourcing, involve proprietary know-how, technology or data that are not covered by patents or patent applications, including technical processes, equipment designs, algorithms and procedures. We have taken security measures to protect these elements. All of our research and development personnel have entered into confidentiality and proprietary information agreements with us. These agreements address intellectual property protection issues and require our associates to assign to us all of the inventions, designs and technologies they develop during the course of employment with us. We also require our customers and business partners to enter into confidentiality agreements before we disclose any sensitive aspects of our modules, technology or business plans.

          We have not been subject to any material intellectual property claims.

Environmental Matters

          Our manufacturing operations include the use, handling, storage, transportation, generation and disposal of hazardous materials. We are subject to various federal, state, local and international laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment, including those governing the discharge of pollutants into the air and water, the use, management and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes, occupational health and safety, and the cleanup of contaminated sites. Therefore, we could incur substantial costs, including cleanup costs, fines and civil or criminal sanctions and costs arising from third party property damage or personal injury claims, as a result of violations of or liabilities under environmental laws or non-compliance with environmental permits required at our facilities. We believe we are currently in substantial compliance with applicable environmental requirements and do not expect to incur material capital expenditures for environmental controls in the foreseeable future. However, future developments such as more aggressive enforcement policies, the implementation of new, more stringent laws and regulations or the discovery of unknown environmental conditions may require expenditures that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and/or financial condition. See “Item 1A: Risk Factors — Environmental obligations and liabilities could have a substantial negative impact on our financial condition, cash flows and profitability.”

Corporate History

          In February 2006 we were incorporated as a Delaware corporation. Our common stock has been listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “FSLR” since our initial public offering in November 2006. In October 2009, our common stock was added to the S&P 500 Index, making First Solar the first, and currently only, pure-play renewable energy company in the index.

Associates

          As of February 12, 2010, we had approximately 4,700 associates (our term for full and part-time employees), including approximately 3,900 in manufacturing. The remainder of our associates are in research and development, sales and marketing and general and administrative positions, including associates who are engaged in or support our systems business. None of our associates are currently represented by labor unions or covered by a collective bargaining agreement. As we expand domestically and internationally, however, we may encounter associates who desire union representation or a collective bargaining agreement. We believe that our relations with our associates are good.

Information About Geographic Areas

          We have significant marketing, distribution and manufacturing operations both within and outside the United States. Currently, we manufacture our solar modules at our Perrysburg, Ohio, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany and Kulim, Malaysia manufacturing facilities (with additional manufacturing facilities planned for construction in Kulim, Malaysia and France beginning in 2010). In 2009, 86% of our net sales were generated from customers

headquartered in the European Union. We are in the process of expanding our operations, particularly with respect to our systems business, to numerous countries worldwide, including other European and Asian countries and Australia. As a result, we will be subject to the legal, tax, political, social and regulatory requirements and economic conditions of many jurisdictions. The international nature of our operations subject us to a number of risks, including fluctuations in exchange rates, adverse changes in foreign laws or regulatory requirements, and tariffs, taxes and other trade restrictions. See “Item 1A: Risk Factors — Our substantial international operations subject us to a number of risks, including unfavorable political, regulatory, labor and tax conditions in foreign countries.” See also Note 22. “Segment and Geographical Information” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for information about our net sales and long-lived assets by geographic region for the years ended December 26, 2009, December 27, 2008 and December 29, 2007. See also “Item 7: Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” for other information about our operations and activities in various geographic regions.

Available Information

          We maintain a website at http://www.firstsolar.com. We make available free of charge on our website our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file these materials with, or furnish them to, the SEC. The information contained in or connected to our website is not incorporated by reference into this report. We use our website as one means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under the SEC’s Regulation FD. Such disclosures will typically be included within the Investor Relations section of our website (http://investor.firstsolar.com). Accordingly, investors should monitor such portions of our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts.

          The public may also read and copy any materials that we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains an Internet website that contains reports and other information regarding issuers, such as First Solar, that file electronically with the SEC. The SEC’s Internet website is located at http://www.sec.gov.

Executive Officers of the Registrant

          Our executive officers and their ages and positions as of February 19, 2010, were as follows:

Name		Age				Position
Michael J. Ahearn			53			Executive Chairman
Robert J. Gillette			49			Chief Executive Officer
Bruce Sohn			48			President
Jens Meyerhoff			45			Chief Financial Officer
Mary Beth Gustafsson			50			Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
TK Kallenbach			50			Executive Vice President, Marketing and Product Management
David Eaglesham			48			Chief Technology Officer
Carol Campbell			58			Executive Vice President, Human Resources
James Zhu			48			Chief Accounting Officer

          Michael J. Ahearn serves as Executive Chairman of First Solar and served as CEO from August 2000 to September 2009. Prior to First Solar, he was Partner and President of the equity investment firm, JWMA (formerly True North Partners, L.L.C.). Prior to joining JWMA, Mr. Ahearn practiced law as a partner in the firm of Gallagher & Kennedy. Mr. Ahearn has served on the boards of Arizona Technology Enterprises, Arizona State University Research Park, Homeward Bound, the Arizona Science Museum and currently serves on the board of the

German Marshall Fund of the United States. Mr. Ahearn holds a B.A. in Finance and a J.D. from Arizona State University.

          Robert J. Gillette joined First Solar in October 2009 as Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining First Solar, Mr. Gillette served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell Aerospace since January 2005. Honeywell Aerospace, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, is Honeywell International’s largest business group with current sales of more than $12 billion annually. In this role, Mr. Gillette led Honeywell Aerospace’s three main businesses — Air Transport & Regional, Business & General Aviation, and Defense & Space — with more than 40,000 associates at nearly 100 worldwide manufacturing and service sites. Prior to this assignment, Mr. Gillette had served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell Transportation Systems since July 2001. Mr. Gillette holds a bachelor’s of science degree in Finance from Indiana University.

          Bruce Sohn has served as President of First Solar since March 2007. Mr. Sohn served as a director of First Solar from July 2003 until June 2009. Prior to joining First Solar as President, Mr. Sohn worked at Intel Corporation for 24 years. He is a senior member of IEEE and a certified Jonah. Mr. Sohn has been a guest lecturer at several universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. Mr. Sohn holds a degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

          Jens Meyerhoff joined First Solar in May 2006 as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining First Solar, Mr. Meyerhoff was the Chief Financial Officer of Virage Logic Corporation, a provider of embedded memory intellectual property for the design of integrated circuits, from January 2006 to May 2006. Mr. Meyerhoff was employed by FormFactor, Inc., a manufacturer of advanced wafer probe cards, as Chief Operating Officer from April 2004 to July 2005, Senior Vice President of Operations from January 2003 to April 2004 and Chief Financial Officer from August 2000 to March 2005. Mr. Meyerhoff holds a German Wirtschaftsinformatiker degree, which is the equivalent of a Finance and Information Technology degree, from Daimler Benz’s Executive Training Program.

          Mary Beth Gustafsson joined First Solar in October 2008 as Vice President, General Counsel. She was named Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary in November 2009. Prior to joining First Solar, Ms. Gustafsson was the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Trane Inc. (formerly American Standard Companies Inc.) from January 2005 through June 2008. From June 2008 through September 2008, Ms. Gustafsson was Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Ingersoll-Rand Ltd., following Ingersoll-Rand’s acquisition of Trane. From 2001 through 2005, Ms. Gustafsson held positions of increasing responsibility at American Standard Companies Inc., including Chief Corporate Counsel and General Counsel for the company’s global air conditioning business. Ms. Gustafsson holds a B.A. in English Literature from Boston University, and a J.D. from The University of Michigan Law School.

          TK Kallenbach joined First Solar in December 2009 as Executive Vice President of Marketing and Product Management. Prior to joining First Solar, Mr. Kallenbach was a senior executive at Honeywell Aerospace where he led strategic planning, product marketing, product management, mergers and acquisitions and marketing communications. His organization created and drove Honeywell Aerospace strategy through product portfolio integration and product line management. Mr. Kallenbach began his career at Honeywell (formerly AlliedSignal) in 1979, where he held a variety of senior technical leadership positions, including Vice President of Engineering and Technology for Aerospace Electronics, Defense & Space Electronic Systems, and Propulsion Engines and Systems, and senior business leadership positions including Vice President of Business Aviation, Director of HTF7000 Propulsion System, and Director of Helicopter Engines. Mr. Kallenbach holds both a B.S. in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and a Masters of Business Administration from Arizona State University.

          David Eaglesham joined First Solar in June 2006 as Vice President Technology and became Chief Technology Officer in November 2009. Prior to joining First Solar, he was Director of Advanced Technologies at Applied Materials. He also previously worked as Chief Technologist at Lawrence Livermore and as Director of Electronic Device Research at Bell Labs. He was Materials Research Society President in 2005. Mr. Eaglesham has a PhD in Physics from the University of Bristol.

          Carol Campbell joined First Solar in March 2006 as Director of Human Resources and was named Vice President of Human Resources in March 2007. She became the Company’s Executive Vice President of Human Resources in November 2009. Prior to joining First Solar, she was the Regional Director of Human Resources for

North America at the Dana Corporation, where she was responsible for all Dana plants in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Ms. Campbell was with Dana for 20 years, progressing through levels of greater responsibility in the Legal and Human Resource Departments. Ms. Campbell holds a Professional Human Resources certification through the Society of Human Resources Management and has extensive experience successfully developing and running highly effective HR organizations in complex and rapidly changing environments. Ms. Campbell holds a B.A. in Business from Heidelberg College.

          James Zhu serves as First Solar’s Chief Accounting Officer. Mr. Zhu joined the company as Vice President, Corporate Controller in June 2007. Prior to joining First Solar, Mr. Zhu served as Assistant Controller and then Vice President, Corporate Controller for Salesforce.com from May 2004 to May 2007. From July 1999 through April 2004, Mr. Zhu held positions of increasing responsibility at Chiron Corporation (acquired by Novartis International AG in April 2006), including Associate Director and Accounting Manager. Prior to joining Chiron Corporation, Mr. Zhu worked at KPMG, LLP. Mr. Zhu is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.A. in Economics from China and an M.B.A. in Accounting from Golden Gate University.

Item 1A: Risk Factors

          An investment in our stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following information, together with the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, before buying shares of our stock. If any of the following risks or uncertainties occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected and the trading price of our stock could decline.

Risks Related to Our Markets and Customers

If photovoltaic technology is not suitable for widespread adoption, or if sufficient demand for solar modules does not develop or takes longer to develop than we anticipate, our net sales and profit may flatten or decline and we may be unable to sustain profitability.

          The solar energy market is at a relatively early stage of development and the extent to which solar modules will be widely adopted is uncertain. If photovoltaic technology proves unsuitable for widespread adoption or if demand for solar modules fails to develop sufficiently, we may be unable to grow our business or generate sufficient net sales to sustain profitability. In addition, demand for solar modules in our targeted markets — including Germany, Italy, Spain, France, the United States, Canada, China and Australia — may not develop or may develop to a lesser extent than we anticipate. Many factors may affect the viability of widespread adoption of photovoltaic technology and demand for solar modules, including the following:

	•		cost-effectiveness of the electricity generated by photovoltaic power systems compared to conventional energy sources and products, including conventional energy sources, such as natural gas, and other non-solar renewable energy sources, such as wind;
	•		availability and substance of government subsidies, incentives and renewable portfolio standards to support the development of the solar energy industry;
	•		performance and reliability of PV systems and thin film technology compared to conventional and other non-solar renewable energy sources and products;
	•		success of other renewable energy generation technologies, such as hydroelectric, tidal, wind, geothermal, solar thermal, concentrated photovoltaic, and biomass;
	•		fluctuations in economic and market conditions that affect the price of, and demand for, conventional and non-solar renewable energy sources, such as increases or decreases in the price of oil, natural gas and other fossil fuels; and
	•		fluctuations in capital expenditures by end-users of solar modules, which tend to decrease when the economy slows and interest rates increase.

Reduced growth in or the reduction, elimination or expiration of government subsidies, economic incentives and other support for on-grid solar electricity applications, including the anticipated feed-in tariff reductions in Germany and certain other core markets, could reduce demand and/or price levels for our solar modules, and limit our growth or lead to a reduction in our net sales, and adversely impact our operating results.

          We believe that the near-term growth of the market for on-grid applications, where solar energy is used to supplement the electricity a consumer purchases from the utility network, depends significantly on the availability and size of government subsidies and economic incentives. Federal, state and local governmental bodies in many countries, most notably Germany, Italy, Spain, France, the United States, Canada, China, India, Australia, Greece and Portugal have provided subsidies in the form of feed-in tariffs, rebates, tax incentives and other incentives to end-users, distributors, systems integrators and manufacturers of photovoltaic products. Many of these jurisdictions, including the majority of U.S. states and numerous European Union countries, have adopted renewable portfolio standards in which the government requires jurisdictions or regulated utilities to supply a portion of their total electricity from specified sources of renewable energy, such as solar, wind and hydroelectric power. Many of these government incentives expire, phase out over time, require renewal by the applicable authority or may be amended. A summary of recent developments in the major government subsidy programs in our core markets follows. We expect the feed-in tariff in Germany and certain other core markets to be reduced earlier than previously expected, and such reductions could reduce demand and/or price levels for our solar modules, lead to a reduction in our net sales and adversely impact our operating results.

          German feed-in tariffs will be adjusted earlier than previously expected, and any downwards adjustment could reduce demand for our solar modules, lead to a reduction in our net sales and adversely impact our operating results. Currently, Germany, which accounted for approximately 65% of our net sales in 2009, is the largest market for our modules, and thus recently proposed changes to German feed-in tariffs could significantly impact our results of operations. A reduction in the PV feed-in tariff is currently under discussion and will most likely come into effect in the second or third quarter of 2010. The amount of the FiT reductions are expected to vary among roof-mounted applications, non-agricultural land free field applications and agricultural land free field applications. A significant reduction in the FiT for agricultural land free field applications in particular would likely cause a significant decline in demand for PV solar systems on agricultural land in Germany and contribute to a migration toward roof mounted applications and non-agricultural land free field applications. Overall, reductions in the German feed-in tariffs, including any potential further reductions, could result in a significant decline in demand and price levels for photovoltaic products in Germany, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

          In France, a new decree effective January 2010 provides for lower feed-in tariffs for all applications (including, as in Germany, varying reductions for rooftop applications and free field applications) while introducing, among other things, a departmental bonus which makes free field projects in the northern regions of France more attractive. The new decree does not have an expiry date, but can be amended at any time.

          In Italy, the current legislation provides that the existing feed-in tariff will be in effect until the expiration of a 14 month transition period that will begin once 1.2GWof photovoltaic systems are installed under the existing feed-in tariff. It is expected that the Italian government will propose and enact a new feed-in tariff before the end of 2010. Current proposals reflect significant FiT reductions, particularly for ground mounted applications. We cannot be certain of the level of such new feed-in tariff. If the level of such feed-in tariff is not adequate to promote the development of the PV industry or PV projects in Italy, our ability to pursue an expansion strategy in Italy would be adversely affected.

          In Spain, the current legislation is scheduled to be reviewed by January 1, 2012; however, an earlier FiT adjustment is possible.

          In the United States, California has been the state where the majority of solar installations and solar power module and system sales have taken place during the past five years. The state of California’s RPS goal of 33% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020, currently in the form of an executive order from the Governor’s office, is the most significant RPS program in the United States in magnitude and is contributing to the expansion of the utility-scale solar systems market in that state. However, the continued effectiveness of this RPS program could be negatively impacted if the RPS goal is not passed by the CA legislature and signed into law. See “Item 1A: Risk

Factors — Our ability to pursue an expansion strategy in California beyond existing projects may be adversely affected if California is unable to achieve a 33% renewable mandate through law” below.

          The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides for certain measures intended to benefit on-grid solar electricity generation and other renewable energy initiatives, including (1) a cash grant in lieu of the 30% federal investment tax credit for solar installations that are placed into service during 2009 and 2010 or that begin construction prior to December 31, 2010 and are placed into service by January 1, 2017, and (2) a 50% bonus depreciation for installations placed in service during 2009. Various legislation has been proposed to extend or enhance the 30% grant in lieu of the tax credit as well as bonus depreciation. However, enactment of the extension or enhancement of such incentives is highly uncertain. The failure to extend or enhance these programs may reduce tax equity availability (in the case of the grant expiration) which may adversely affect our ability to arrange financing for utility-scale projects and may otherwise adversely affect the attractiveness of the U.S. solar market.

          In Ontario, Canada, a new feed-in tariff program was introduced in September 2009 and replaced the Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program (RESOP) as the primary subsidy program for future renewable energy projects. In order to participate in the Ontario feed-in tariff program, certain provisions relating to minimum required domestic content and land use restrictions for solar installations must be satisfied. The new domestic content and land restriction rules do not apply to our Sarnia solar project and the other projects governed by RESOP contracts that we acquired in connection with our acquisition of the solar power project development business of OptiSolar Inc. in April 2009. However, our Ontario projects in earlier stages of development that are not governed by RESOP contracts, as well as any potential new projects in Ontario, will be subject to such domestic content and land restriction rules. As these rules are currently written, we will be unable to fully satisfy such rules (in particular the domestic content requirement rules), thus projects incorporating our modules will not qualify for the Ontario feed-in tariff. In the event the Ontario domestic content and land use restriction rules are not sufficiently modified, our ability to participate in the Ontario feed-in tariff program for future projects will be substantially reduced and possibly completely eliminated, and thus our ability to pursue an expansion strategy in Ontario, Canada beyond our existing RESOP projects would be adversely affected.

          In China, governmental authorities have not adopted a feed-in tariff policy and currently award solar projects through either a project tendering process or bi-lateral negotiations. While the solar industry generally anticipates that China will adopt a solar feed-in tariff, there is no guarantee this will occur in a timely manner or at all or that any feed-in tariff will be economically viable. Without a feed-in tariff, the size and attractiveness of China’s solar market may be limited and we may be unable to sell into China at an attractive price, limiting one of our anticipated growth markets.

          In Australia, the large-scale solar industry is in its infancy, and despite several encouraging government funded initiatives to promote large-scale solar generation, it is uncertain whether such programs can be successfully executed.

          In 2009, India announced its National Solar Mission, which includes a goal of installing 20GW of solar by 2022. India is expected to announce a feed-in tariff for the first phase of the National Solar Mission in 2010. There is no guarantee that India will maintain its current 20GW by 2022 goal or adopt the required policies to meet that goal, without which, the size and attractiveness of India’s solar market may be limited and we may be unable to sell modules or systems in India at an attractive price, limiting one of our anticipated growth markets.

          Emerging subsidy programs may require an extended period of time to attain effectiveness because the applicable permitting and grid connection processes associated with these programs can be lengthy and administratively burdensome.

          In addition, if any of these statutes or regulations is found to be unconstitutional, or is reduced or discontinued for other reasons, sales prices and/or volumes of our solar modules in these countries could decline significantly, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

          Electric utility companies or generators of electricity from fossil fuels or other renewable energy sources could also lobby for a change in the relevant legislation in their markets to protect their revenue streams.

          Reduced growth in or the reduction, elimination or expiration of government subsidies and economic incentives for on-grid solar energy applications, especially those in our target markets, could limit our growth or cause our net sales to decline and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our ability to pursue an expansion strategy in California beyond existing projects may be adversely affected if California is unable to achieve a 33% renewable mandate through law.

          California currently requires its investor-owned utilities (IOUs) to procure 20% of their electricity supplies through eligible renewable energy resources by 2010. In addition, California, through Executive Order has established a utility procurement goal of 33% renewable electricity by 2020. Due to the threat of penalties under the current law, investor-owned utilities have the incentive to comply and have therefore signed long-term contracts to meet the 20% procurement requirement. However, since the 33% procurement of renewable electricity by 2020 goal is not enforceable through law, it is conceivable that renewable energy procurement in California could peak around 20% of the IOU’s electricity retail sales in 2010. If the state legislature and Governor’s office are unable to adopt legislation that could be signed into law by the end of 2010, the viability of the 33% RPS program would remain at risk. California’s current financial difficulties could contribute to an environment in which the 33% RPS program could be questioned. In addition, any weakening or delay of the 33% RPS program could contribute to, or be accompanied by, increased project execution risks, delay, or costs relating to California authorities, such as the California Independent System Operator. Under such a scenario, our ability to execute a long-term expansion plan to develop additional large-scale PV projects in California could be adversely affected.

An increase in interest rates or lending rates or tightening of the supply of capital in the global financial markets (including a reduction in total tax equity availability) could make it difficult for end-users to finance the cost of a PV system and could reduce the demand for our solar modules and/or lead to a reduction in the average selling price for photovoltaic modules.

          Many of our customers and our systems business depend on debt financing to fund the initial capital expenditure required to develop, build and purchase a PV system. As a result, an increase in interest rates or lending rates could make it difficult for our customers or our systems business to secure the financing necessary to develop, build, purchase or install a PV system on favorable terms, or at all, and thus lower demand for our solar modules which could limit our growth or reduce our net sales. Due to the overall economic outlook, our end-users may change their decision or change the timing of their decision to develop, build, purchase or install a PV system. In addition, we believe that a significant percentage of our end-users install PV systems as an investment, funding the initial capital expenditure through a combination of equity and debt. An increase in interest rates and/or lending rates could lower an investor’s return on investment in a PV system, increase equity return requirements or make alternative investments more attractive relative to PV systems, and, in each case, could cause these end-users to seek alternative investments. A reduction in the supply of project debt financing or tax equity investments could reduce the number of solar projects that receive financing and thus lower demand for solar modules. As described above under “Item 1: Business — Sales and Marketing — Economic Incentives,” the 30% grant in lieu of the federal investment tax credit under the ARRA is set to expire and unless extended, will not be available for solar installations that begin construction on or after January 1, 2011. If such program is not extended, total tax equity availability could be reduced which may adversely affect our ability to arrange financing for utility-scale projects and may adversely affect the attractiveness of the U.S. solar market.

          We currently sell a substantial portion of our solar modules under Long-Term Supply Contracts, and we allocate a significant amount of our production to satisfy our obligations under these contracts. These customers buy our modules with the expectation that they will be able to resell them in connection with the development of PV systems. As discussed above, many of these projects depend on the availability of debt and equity financing. A prolonged, material disruption to the supply of project finance could adversely affect our customers’ ability to perform under these agreements. In the event of default by one or more of these customers, we may be unable to sell these modules at the prices specified in our Long-Term Supply Contracts, especially if demand for PV systems softens or supply of solar modules increases. Also, we may decide to lower our average selling price to certain customers in certain markets in response to changes in economic circumstances of our customers, their end markets

or the capital markets. See “Item 1: Business — Segment Information — Components Business — Customers” for a description of previous pricing adjustments under our Long-Term Supply Contracts.

We currently depend on a limited number of customers, with five customers accounting for a majority of our components business’ net sales last year. The loss of, or a significant reduction in orders from, any of these customers could significantly reduce our net sales and negatively impact our operating results.

          We currently sell substantially all of our solar modules to customers headquartered throughout the European Union. During 2009, our five largest customers for our components business each accounted for between 10% and 19% of our component business’ net sales. Our customer base within our components business is currently concentrated to a significant extent in Germany, and therefore the likely additional German feed-in tariff reductions currently under discussion could reduce demand and/or price levels for our modules sold to these customers. The loss of any of our large customers, their inability to perform under their contracts, or their default in payment could significantly reduce our net sales and adversely impact our operating results. Our customers face significant challenges under current economic conditions, including lack of capital to finance solar projects and rising costs associated with leasing or otherwise acquiring land and rooftops for solar projects. We believe that we can mitigate this risk by re-allocating modules to other customers if the need arises, but we may be unable, in whole or in part, to mitigate the reduced demand for our modules. In the event that we determine that our planned production of solar modules exceeds the demand we anticipate, we may decide to reduce or halt production of solar modules in our manufacturing facilities. However, we may be unable to anticipate and respond to the oversupply of solar modules because we have limited visibility into our customers’ inventories.

Risks Related to Regulations

Existing regulations and policies and changes to these regulations and policies may present technical, regulatory and economic barriers to the purchase and use of photovoltaic products, which may significantly reduce demand for our solar modules.

          The market for electricity generation products is heavily influenced by foreign, federal, state and local government regulations and policies concerning the electric utility industry, as well as policies promulgated by electric utilities. These regulations and policies often relate to electricity pricing and technical interconnection of customer-owned electricity generation. In the United States and in a number of other countries, these regulations and policies have been modified in the past and may be modified again in the future. These regulations and policies could deter end-user purchases of photovoltaic products and investment in the research and development of photovoltaic technology. For example, without a mandated regulatory exception for photovoltaic systems, utility customers are often charged interconnection or standby fees for putting distributed power generation on the electric utility grid. If these interconnection standby fees were applicable to PV systems, it is likely that they would increase the cost to our end-users of using PV systems which could make them less desirable, thereby harming our business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, electricity generated by PV systems mostly competes with expensive peak hour electricity, rather than the less expensive average price of electricity. Modifications to the peak hour pricing policies of utilities, such as to a flat rate for all times of the day, would require PV systems to achieve lower prices in order to compete with the price of electricity from other sources.

          We anticipate that our solar modules and their installation will be subject to oversight and regulation in accordance with national and local ordinances relating to building codes, safety, environmental protection, utility interconnection and metering and related matters. It is difficult to track the requirements of individual states and design equipment to comply with the varying standards. Any new government regulations or utility policies pertaining to our solar modules may result in significant additional expenses to us, our resellers and their customers and, as a result, could cause a significant reduction in demand for our solar modules.

Environmental obligations and liabilities could have a substantial negative impact on our financial condition, cash flows and profitability.

          Our operations involve the use, handling, generation, processing, storage, transportation and disposal of hazardous materials and are subject to extensive environmental laws and regulations at the national, state, local and

international level. These environmental laws and regulations include those governing the discharge of pollutants into the air and water, the use, management and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes, the cleanup of contaminated sites and occupational health and safety. We have incurred and will continue to incur significant costs and capital expenditures in complying with these laws and regulations. In addition, violations of, or liabilities under, environmental laws or permits may result in restrictions being imposed on our operating activities or in our being subjected to substantial fines, penalties, criminal proceedings, third party property damage or personal injury claims, cleanup costs or other costs. While we believe we are currently in substantial compliance with applicable environmental requirements, future developments such as more aggressive enforcement policies, the implementation of new, more stringent laws and regulations, or the discovery of presently unknown environmental conditions may require expenditures that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

          In addition, our products contain cadmium telluride and cadmium sulfide. Elemental cadmium and certain of its compounds are regulated as hazardous due to the adverse health effects that may arise from human exposure. Although the risks of exposure to cadmium telluride are not believed to be as serious as those relating to exposure to elemental cadmium, the chemical, physical and toxicological properties of cadmium telluride have not been thoroughly investigated and reported. We maintain engineering controls to minimize our associates’ exposure to cadmium or cadmium compounds and require our associates who handle cadmium compounds to follow certain safety procedures, including the use of personal protective equipment such as respirators, chemical goggles and protective clothing. In addition, we believe the risk of exposure to cadmium or cadmium compounds from our end-products is limited by the fully encapsulated nature of these materials in our products, the physical properties of cadmium compounds used in our products and the implementation in 2005 of our collection and recycling program for our solar modules. While we believe that these factors and procedures are sufficient to protect our associates, end-users and the general public from cadmium exposure, we cannot assure that human or environmental exposure to cadmium or cadmium compounds used in our products will not occur. Any such exposure could result in future third-party claims against us, as well as damage to our reputation and heightened regulatory scrutiny of our products, which could limit or impair our ability to sell and distribute our products. The occurrence of future events such as these could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

          The use of cadmium in various products is also coming under increasingly stringent governmental regulation. Future regulation in this area could impact the manufacture, sale, collection and recycling of solar modules and could require us to make unforeseen environmental expenditures or limit our ability to sell and distribute our products. For example, European Union Directive 2002/95/EC on the Restriction of the Use of Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS Directive), restricts the use of certain hazardous substances, including cadmium, in specified products. Other jurisdictions, such as China have adopted similar legislation or are considering doing so. Currently, PV solar modules are not subject to the RoHS Directive; however, the RoHS Directive allows for future amendments subjecting additional products to the requirements and the scope. Applicability and the products included in the Directive may also change. In December 2008, the European Commission issued its proposed revision of the RoHS Directive. This proposed revision did not include photovoltaic solar modules in the scope of RoHS, but is now being amended by both the European Parliament and the European Union Members States as part of the normal European Union legislative process. The European Council and the European Parliament are currently considering an “open scope” approach to the RoHS Directive under which all Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) products would be included in the scope of the RoHS Directive unless specifically excluded or exempted from coverage. As part of these discussions, exclusion for PV panels from the RoHS Directive is being considered. A final legislative agreement on the RoHS Directive is not expected until 2011 at the earliest. If PV modules are included in the scope of RoHS without an exemption or exclusion, we would be required to redesign our solar modules to eliminate cadmium in order to continue to offer them for sale within the European Union, which would be impractical. In such event, the European Union market would be in effect closed to us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In 2009, 86% of our total net sales were generated from module sales in the European Union. In addition, some of our competitors are increasingly focusing on our modules’ use of cadmium telluride in an attempt to gain a competitive advantage over us. If such actions are successful, they could result in a loss of sales and potentially limit our growth.

Risks Related to our Operations, Manufacturing and Technology

Our limited operating history may not serve as an adequate basis to judge our future prospects and results of operations.

          We have a limited operating history. Although we began developing our predecessor technology in 1987, we did not launch commercial operations until we qualified our pilot production line in January 2002. We qualified the first production line at our Ohio plant in November 2004, the second and third production lines at our Ohio plant in August 2006, our German plant in the third quarter of 2007, and our Malaysian plants in 2008 and 2009. Because these production lines have only been in operation for a limited period of time, our historical operating results may not provide a meaningful basis for evaluating our business, financial performance and prospects. While our net sales grew from $135.0 million in 2006 to $2.1 billion in 2009, we may be unable to achieve similar growth, or grow at all, in future periods. Our ability to achieve similar growth in future periods is also affected by current economic conditions. Our past results occurred in an environment where, among other things, capital was generally more accessible to our customers to finance the cost of developing solar projects and economic incentives for solar power in certain core markets (such as the German feed-in tariff) were more favorable. Accordingly, you should not rely on our results of operations for any prior period as an indication of our future performance. See “Item 1: Business — Segment Information — Components Business — Customers” for a description of previous pricing adjustments under our Long-Term Supply Contracts.

We face intense competition from manufacturers of crystalline silicon solar modules, thin film solar modules and solar thermal and concentrated photovoltaic systems; if global supply exceeds global demand, it could lead to a reduction in the average selling price for photovoltaic modules.

          The solar energy and renewable energy industries are both highly competitive and continually evolving as participants strive to distinguish themselves within their markets and compete with the larger electric power industry. Within the global photovoltaic industry, we face competition from crystalline silicon solar module manufacturers, other thin film solar module manufacturers and companies developing solar thermal and concentrated photovoltaic technologies.

          Even if demand for solar modules continues to grow, the rapid expansion plans of many solar cell and module manufacturers could create periods where supply exceeds demand. In addition, we believe the significant decrease in the cost of silicon feedstock will provide significant reductions in the manufacturing cost of crystalline silicon solar modules and lead to pricing pressure for solar modules and potentially the oversupply of solar modules, including in key markets such as Germany and Spain.

          During any such period, our competitors could decide to reduce their sales price in response to competition, even below their manufacturing cost, in order to generate sales. As a result, we may be unable to sell our solar modules at attractive prices, or for a profit, during any period of excess supply of solar modules, which would reduce our net sales and adversely affect our results of operations. Also, we may decide to lower our average selling price to certain customers in certain markets in response to competition.

Thin film technology has a short history and our thin film technology and solar modules may perform below expectations; problems with product quality or performance may cause us to incur warranty expenses, damage our market reputation and prevent us from maintaining or increasing our market share.

          Researchers began developing thin film semiconductor technology over 20 years ago, but were unable to integrate the technology into a solar module production line until recently. Our oldest active production line has been in operation since November 2004, and the oldest solar modules manufactured during the qualification of our pilot line have been in use since 2001. As a result, our thin film technology and solar modules do not have a sufficient operating history to confirm how our solar modules will perform over their estimated 25-year useful life. We perform a variety of quality and life tests under different conditions. However, if our thin film technology and solar modules perform below expectations, we could lose customers and face substantial warranty expense.

          Our solar modules are sold with a five-year materials and workmanship warranty for technical defects and a 25-year warranty against declines of more than 10% of their initial rated power in the first 10 years following their

installation and 20% of initial rated power in the following 15 years, respectively. As a result, we bear the risk of extensive warranty claims long after we have sold our solar modules and recognized net sales. As of December 26, 2009, our accrued warranty liability was $22.6 million, of which, $8.2 million was classified as current and $14.4 million was classified as noncurrent.

          While our power output warranty extends for 25 years, our oldest solar modules manufactured during the qualification of our pilot production line have only been in use since 2001. Because of the limited operating history of our solar modules, we have been required to make assumptions regarding the durability and reliability of our solar modules. Our assumptions could prove to be materially different from the actual performance of our solar modules, causing us to incur substantial expense to repair or replace defective solar modules in the future. For example, our glass-on-glass solar modules could break, delaminate or experience power degradation in excess of expectations, our manufacturing operations could be subject to process variations that could cause affected modules to underperform compared to our expectations. Any widespread product failures may damage our market reputation and cause our sales to decline and require us to repair or replace the defective modules, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

If our estimates regarding the future cost of collecting and recycling our solar modules are incorrect, we could be required to accrue additional expenses at and from the time we realize our estimates are incorrect and face a significant unplanned cash burden.

          We pre-fund our estimated future obligation for collecting and recycling our solar modules based on the present value of the expected future cost of collecting and recycling the modules, which includes the cost of packaging the solar modules for transport, the cost of freight from the solar module’s installation site to a recycling center, the material, labor and capital costs of the recycling process and an estimated third-party profit margin and return on risk for collection and recycling. We base our estimate on our experience collecting and recycling solar modules that do not pass our quality control tests and solar modules returned under our warranty and on our expectations about future developments in recycling technologies and processes and economic conditions at the time the solar modules will be collected and recycled. If our estimates prove incorrect, we could be required to accrue additional expenses at and from the time we realize our estimates are incorrect and also face a significant unplanned cash burden at the time we realize our estimates are incorrect or end-users return their solar modules, which could harm our operating results. In addition, our end-users can return their solar modules at any time. As a result, we could be required to collect and recycle our solar modules earlier than we expect and before recycling technologies and processes improve.

Our failure to further refine our technology and develop and introduce improved photovoltaic products could render our solar modules uncompetitive or obsolete and reduce our net sales and market share.

          We will need to invest significant financial resources in research and development to continue to improve our module conversion efficiency and to otherwise keep pace with technological advances in the solar energy industry. However, research and development activities are inherently uncertain and we could encounter practical difficulties in commercializing our research results. We seek to continuously improve our products and processes, and the resulting changes carry potential risks in the form of delays, additional costs or other unintended contingencies. In addition, our significant expenditures on research and development may not produce corresponding benefits. Other companies are developing a variety of competing photovoltaic technologies, including copper indium gallium diselenide and amorphous silicon, which could produce solar modules that prove more cost-effective or have better performance than our solar modules. In addition, other companies could potentially develop a highly reliable renewable energy system that mitigates the intermittent power production drawback of many renewable energy systems, or offers other value-added improvements from the perspective of utilities and other system owners, in which case such companies could compete with us even if the levelized cost of electricity associated with such new system is higher than that of our systems. As a result, our solar modules may be rendered obsolete by the technological advances of our competitors, which could reduce our net sales and market share.

          In addition, we often forward price our products and services (including through our Long-Term Supply Contracts and power purchase agreements) in anticipation of future cost reductions, and thus an inability to further

refine our technology and execute our long-term cost reduction objectives could adversely affect our margins and operating results.

Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights may undermine our competitive position and litigation to protect our intellectual property rights or defend against third-party allegations of infringement may be costly.

          Protection of our proprietary processes, methods and other technology is critical to our business. Failure to protect and monitor the use of our existing intellectual property rights could result in the loss of valuable technologies. We rely primarily on patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights and contractual restrictions to protect our intellectual property. As of December 26, 2009, we held 22 patents in the United States, which will expire at various times between 2012 and 2026, and had 96 patent applications pending. We also held 28 patents and had over 100 patent applications pending in foreign jurisdictions. Our existing patents and future patents could be challenged, invalidated, circumvented or rendered unenforceable. Our pending patent applications may not result in issued patents, or if patents are issued to us, such patents may not be sufficient to provide meaningful protection against competitors or against competitive technologies.

          We also rely upon unpatented proprietary manufacturing expertise, continuing technological innovation and other trade secrets to develop and maintain our competitive position. While we generally enter into confidentiality agreements with our associates and third parties to protect our intellectual property, such confidentiality agreements are limited in duration and could be breached and may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets or proprietary manufacturing expertise. Adequate remedies may not be available in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of our trade secrets and manufacturing expertise. In addition, others may obtain knowledge of our trade secrets through independent development or legal means. The failure of our patents or confidentiality agreements to protect our processes, equipment, technology, trade secrets and proprietary manufacturing expertise, methods and compounds could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, effective patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret protection may be unavailable or limited in some foreign countries, especially any developing countries into which we may expand our operations. In some countries we have not applied for patent, trademark or copyright protection.

          Third parties may infringe or misappropriate our proprietary technologies or other intellectual property rights, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. Policing unauthorized use of proprietary technology can be difficult and expensive. Also, litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets or determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. We cannot assure you that the outcome of such potential litigation will be in our favor. Such litigation may be costly and may divert management attention and other resources away from our business. An adverse determination in any such litigation may impair our intellectual property rights and may harm our business, prospects and reputation. In addition, we have no insurance coverage against litigation costs and would have to bear all costs arising from such litigation to the extent we are unable to recover them from other parties.

Many of our key raw materials and components are either sole-sourced or sourced by a limited number of third-party suppliers and their failure to perform could cause manufacturing delays and impair our ability to deliver solar modules to customers in the required quality and quantities and at a price that is profitable to us.

          Our failure to obtain raw materials and components that meet our quality, quantity and cost requirements in a timely manner could interrupt or impair our ability to manufacture our solar modules or increase our manufacturing cost. Many of our key raw materials and components are either sole-sourced or sourced by a limited number of third-party suppliers. As a result, the failure of any of our suppliers to perform could disrupt our supply chain and impair our operations. In addition, many of our suppliers are small companies that may be unable to supply our increasing demand for raw materials and components as we implement our planned rapid expansion. We may be unable to identify new suppliers or qualify their products for use on our production lines in a timely manner and on commercially reasonable terms. Raw materials and components from new suppliers may also be less suited for our technology and yield solar modules with lower conversion efficiencies, higher failure rates and higher rates of degradation than solar modules manufactured with the raw materials from our current suppliers. A constraint on our production may cause us to be unable to meet our obligations under our Long-Term Supply Contracts, which would have an adverse impact on our financial results.

A disruption in our supply chain for cadmium telluride, our semiconductor material, could interrupt or impair our ability to manufacture solar modules.

          A key raw material we use in our production process is a cadmium telluride compound. Tellurium is mainly produced as a by-product of copper refining, and its supply is therefore largely dependent upon demand for copper. Currently, we purchase these raw materials from a limited number of suppliers. If our current suppliers or any of our future suppliers are unable to perform under their contracts or purchase orders, our operations could be interrupted or impaired. In addition, because our suppliers must undergo a lengthy qualification process, we may be unable to replace a lost supplier in a timely manner and on commercially reasonable terms. Our supply of cadmium telluride could also be limited if any of our current suppliers or any of our future suppliers are unable to acquire an adequate supply of tellurium in a timely manner or at commercially reasonable prices. If our competitors begin to use or increase their demand for cadmium telluride, supply could be reduced and prices could increase. If our current suppliers or any of our future suppliers cannot obtain sufficient tellurium, they could substantially increase prices or be unable to perform under their contracts. We may be unable to pass increases in the cost of our raw materials through to our customers because our customer contracts do not adjust for raw material price increases and are generally for a longer term than our raw material supply contracts. A reduction in our production could result in our inability to meet our commitments under our Long-Term Supply Contracts, all of which would have an adverse impact on our financial results.

Our future success depends on our ability to build new manufacturing plants and add production lines in a cost-effective manner, both of which are subject to risks and uncertainties.

          Our future success depends on our ability to significantly increase both our manufacturing capacity and production throughput in a cost-effective and efficient manner. If we cannot do so, we may be unable to expand our business, decrease our cost per watt, maintain our competitive position, satisfy our contractual obligations or sustain profitability. Our ability to expand production capacity is subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including the following:

	•		making changes to our production process that are not properly qualified or that may cause problems with the quality of our solar modules;
	•		delays and cost overruns as a result of a number of factors, many of which may be beyond our control, such as our inability to secure successful contracts with equipment vendors;
	•		our custom-built equipment taking longer and costing more to manufacture than expected and not operating as designed;
	•		delays or denial of required approvals by relevant government authorities;
	•		being unable to hire qualified staff;
	•		failure to execute our expansion plans effectively; and
	•		manufacturing concentration risk resulting from an expected 24 out of 34 announced production lines worldwide by the end of 2012 being located in one geographic area, Malaysia.

If our future production lines are not built in line with our committed schedules it may impair our growth plans, if our future production lines do not achieve operating metrics similar to our existing production lines, our solar modules could perform below expectations and cause us to lose customers.

          Currently, our production lines have a limited history of operating at full capacity. Future production lines could produce solar modules that have lower efficiencies, higher failure rates and higher rates of degradation than solar modules from our existing production lines, and we could be unable to determine the cause of the lower operating metrics or develop and implement solutions to improve performance. Although we will be using the same systematic replication process to build our French manufacturing center and expand our Malaysian manufacturing center that we successfully used when building and expanding our existing German and Malaysian production facilities, our replication risk in connection with building production lines at our French manufacturing center and other future manufacturing plants could be higher than our replication risk was in building and expanding our

existing German and Malaysian production facilities because two of these new production lines are located in a new geographic area for us, which could entail other factors that may lower their operating metrics. If we are unable to systematically replicate our production lines to meet our committed schedules and achieve and sustain similar operating metrics in our future production lines as we have achieved at our existing production lines, our manufacturing capacity could be substantially constrained, our manufacturing costs per watt could increase, and this may impair our growth plans and/or cause us to lose customers, resulting in lower net sales, higher liabilities and lower net income than we anticipate. In addition, we might be unable to produce enough solar modules to satisfy our contractual requirements under our Long-Term Supply Contracts.

Some of our manufacturing equipment is customized and sole sourced. If our manufacturing equipment fails or if our equipment suppliers fail to perform under their contracts, we could experience production disruptions and be unable to satisfy our contractual requirements.

          Some of our manufacturing equipment is customized to our production lines based on designs or specifications that we provide to the equipment manufacturer, which then undertakes a specialized process to manufacture the custom equipment. As a result, the equipment is not readily available from multiple vendors and would be difficult to repair or replace if it were to become damaged or stop working. If any piece of equipment fails, production along the entire production line could be interrupted and we could be unable to produce enough solar modules to satisfy our contractual requirements under our Long-Term Supply Contracts. In addition, the failure of our equipment suppliers to supply equipment in a timely manner or on commercially reasonable terms could delay our expansion plans and otherwise disrupt our production schedule or increase our manufacturing costs, all of which would adversely impact our financial results.

If we are unable to further increase the number of sellable watts per solar module and reduce our manufacturing cost per watt, we will be in default under certain of our Long-Term Supply Contracts and our profitability could decline.

          Our Long-Term Supply Contracts either (1) require us to increase the minimum average number of watts per module over the term of the contract or (2) have a price adjustment for increases or decreases in the number of watts per module relative to a base number of watts per module. Our failure to achieve these metrics could reduce our profitability or allow some of our customers to terminate their contracts. In addition, all of our Long-Term Supply Contracts in Europe specify a sales price per watt that declines at the beginning of each year through the expiration date of each contract in 2012. Our profitability could decline if we are unable to reduce our manufacturing cost per watt by at least the same rate at which our contractual prices decrease. Furthermore, our failure to reduce cost per watt by increasing our efficiency may impair our ability to enter new markets that we believe will require lower cost per watt for us to be competitive and may impair our growth plans.

We may be unable to manage the expansion of our operations effectively.

          We expect to continue to expand our business in order to meet our contractual obligations, satisfy demand for our solar modules and maintain or increase market share. However, depending on the amount of additional contractual obligations we enter into and our ability to expand our manufacturing capabilities in accordance with our expectations, we might be unable to produce enough solar modules to satisfy our contractual requirements under our Long-Term Supply Contracts and other commitments, in which case we could be in default under such agreements and our operating results may be adversely affected.

          Following the completion of our expansion of our Ohio plant in 2010, we will have grown from one production line in Ohio in 2005 to 24 production lines with an annual global manufacturing capacity of approximately 1282MW (based on the fourth quarter of 2009 average per line run rate at our existing plants). Construction of our two-line French manufacturing facility is expected to begin in the second half of 2010 and a full annual production capacity of more than 100MW is expected to be reached in early 2012. Our eight-line Malaysian expansion is expected to start production in the first half of 2011.

          To manage the continued rapid expansion of our operations, we will be required to continue to improve our operational and financial systems, procedures and controls and expand, train and manage our growing associate

base. Our management will also be required to maintain and expand our relationships with customers, suppliers and other third parties and attract new customers and suppliers. In addition, our current and planned operations, personnel, systems and internal procedures and controls might be inadequate to support our future growth. If we cannot manage our growth effectively, we may be unable to take advantage of market opportunities, execute our business strategies or respond to competitive pressures.

Implementing a new enterprise resource planning system could interfere with our business or operations and could adversely impact our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

          We are in the process of implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. We expect to complete Phase 1 of this implementation in the second half of 2010. This project requires significant investment of capital and human resources, the re-engineering of many processes of our business, and the attention of many associates and managers who would otherwise be focused on other aspects of our business. Any disruptions, delays or deficiencies in the design and implementation of the new ERP system could result in potentially much higher costs than we had anticipated and could adversely affect our ability to process customer orders, ship products, provide services and support to customers, bill and track our customers, fulfill contractual obligations, file SEC reports in a timely manner and/or otherwise operate our business, or otherwise impact our controls environment, and any of these consequences could have an adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Our substantial international operations subject us to a number of risks, including unfavorable political, regulatory, labor and tax conditions in foreign countries.

          We have significant marketing, distribution and manufacturing operations both within and outside the United States. In 2009, 86% of our net sales were generated from customers headquartered in the European Union. In the future, we expect to expand our operations into China, India and other countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East and elsewhere; as a result, we will be subject to the legal, political, social and regulatory requirements and economic conditions of many jurisdictions. Risks inherent to international operations, include, but are not limited to, the following:

	•		difficulty in enforcing agreements in foreign legal systems;
	•		foreign countries may impose additional income and withholding taxes or otherwise tax our foreign operations, impose tariffs or adopt other restrictions on foreign trade and investment, including currency exchange controls;
	•		fluctuations in exchange rates may affect product demand and may adversely affect our profitability in U.S. dollars to the extent the price of our solar modules and cost of raw materials, labor and equipment is denominated in a foreign currency;
	•		inability to obtain, maintain or enforce intellectual property rights;
	•		risk of nationalization of private enterprises;
	•		changes in general economic and political conditions in the countries in which we operate, including changes in the government incentives we are relying on;
	•		unexpected adverse changes in foreign laws or regulatory requirements, including those with respect to environmental protection, export duties and quotas;
	•		opaque approval processes in which the lack of transparency may cause delays and increase the uncertainty of project approvals;
	•		difficulty in staffing and managing widespread operations;
	•		difficulty in repatriating earnings;
	•		difficulty in negotiating a successful collective bargaining agreement in France or other jurisdictions;

	•		trade barriers such as export requirements, tariffs, taxes, local content requirements and other restrictions and expenses, which could increase the price of our solar modules and make us less competitive in some countries; and
	•		difficulty of and costs relating to compliance with the different commercial and legal requirements of the overseas countries in which we offer and sell our solar modules.

          Our business in foreign markets requires us to respond to rapid changes in market conditions in these countries. Our overall success as a global business depends, in part, on our ability to succeed in differing legal, regulatory, economic, social and political conditions. We may not be able to develop and implement policies and strategies that will be effective in each location where we do business.

Risks Related to Our Systems Business

Project development or construction activities may not be successful and projects under development may not receive required permits or construction may not commence as scheduled, which could increase our costs and impair our ability to recover our investments.

          The development and construction of solar power electric generation facilities and other energy infrastructure projects involve numerous risks. We may be required to spend significant sums for preliminary engineering, permitting, legal, and other expenses before we can determine whether a project is feasible, economically attractive or capable of being built. Success in developing a particular project is contingent upon, among other things:

	•		negotiation of satisfactory engineering, procurement and construction agreements;
	•		receipt of required governmental permits and approvals, including the right to interconnect to the electric grid;
	•		payment of interconnection and other deposits (some of which are non-refundable);
	•		obtaining construction financing; and
	•		timely implementation and satisfactory completion of construction.
			Successful completion of a particular project may be adversely affected by numerous factors, including:
	•		delays in obtaining required governmental permits and approvals;
	•		uncertainties relating to land costs for projects on land subject to Bureau of Land Management procedures;
	•		unforeseen engineering problems;
	•		construction delays and contractor performance shortfalls;
	•		work stoppages;
	•		cost over-runs
	•		equipment and materials supply;
	•		adverse weather conditions; and
	•		environmental and geological conditions.

          If we are unable to complete the development of a solar power facility, or fail to meet one or more agreed target construction milestone dates, we may be subject to liquidated damages and/or penalties under the EPC agreement or other agreements relating to the project, and we typically will not be able to recover our investment in the project. Some of these investments are included as assets on our balance under the line item “project assets.” If we are unable to complete the development of a solar power project, we may write-down or write-off some or all of these capitalized investments, which would have an adverse impact on our net income in the period in which the loss is recognized. In 2010, we expect to invest a significant amount of capital to develop projects owned by us or third parties.

          We may enter into fixed price EPC contracts in which we act as the general contractor for our customers in connection with the installation of our solar power systems. All essential costs are estimated at the time of entering

into the EPC contract for a particular project, and these are reflected in the overall price that we charge our customers for the project. These cost estimates are preliminary and may or may not be covered by contracts between us or the subcontractors, suppliers and other parties to the project. In addition, we require qualified, licensed subcontractors to install most of our systems. Shortages of such skilled labor could significantly delay a project or otherwise increase our costs. Should miscalculations in planning a project or delays in execution occur and we are unable to increase commensurately the EPC sales price, we may not achieve our expected margins or we may be required to record a loss in the relevant fiscal period.

We may be unable to acquire or lease land and/or obtain the approvals, licenses and permits necessary to build and operate PV power plants in a timely and cost effective manner, and regulatory agencies, local communities or labor unions may delay, prevent or increase the cost of construction and operation of the PV plants we intend to build.

          In order to construct and operate our PV plants, we need to acquire or lease land and obtain all necessary local, county, state and federal approvals, licenses and permits. We may be unable to acquire the land or lease interests needed, may not receive or retain the requisite approvals, permits and licenses or may encounter other problems which could delay or prevent us from successfully constructing and operating PV plants. For instance, the California Independent System Operator has recently modified its transmission interconnection rules, phasing out a serial process in favor of a cluster process for new projects, and may further modify its rules in a manner that could negatively impact our favorable position in transmission queues. Certain of our California projects under development will remain subject to the serial process while other projects in earlier stages of development, as well as new projects on a going-forward basis, will be subject to the cluster process. Although the transition to the cluster process is still evolving and its ultimate impact is not yet fully known, our project transmission cost could be materially higher than previously estimated under the serial process and our projects could be delayed or subject to transmission planning timing uncertainties. We also may be required to post interconnection deposits (which may not be refundable) sooner than previously estimated under the serial process.

          Many of our proposed PV plants are located on or require access through public lands administered by federal and state agencies pursuant to competitive public leasing and right-of-way procedures and processes. The authorization for the use, construction and operation of PV plants and associated transmission facilities on federal, state and private lands will also require the assessment and evaluation of mineral rights, private rights-of-way and other easements; environmental, agricultural, cultural, recreational and aesthetic impacts; and the likely mitigation of adverse impacts to these and other resources and uses. The inability to obtain the required permits and, potentially, excessive delay in obtaining such permits due, for example, to litigation, could prevent us from successfully constructing and operating PV plants and could result in a potential forfeiture of any deposit we have made with respect to a given project. Moreover, project approvals subject to project modifications and conditions, including mitigation requirements and costs, could affect the financial success of a given project.

          In addition, local labor unions may increase the cost of, and/or lower the productivity of, project development in Canada and California.

          In China our projects are subject to a number of government approvals, including the approval of a pre-feasibility and feasibility study. Individually, the pre-feasibility and feasibility study require many different government approvals at the national, provincial and local levels, and the approval process is discretionary and not fully transparent.

Lack of transmission capacity availability, potential upgrade costs to the transmission grid and other systems constraints could significantly impact our ability to build PV plants and generate solar electricity power sales.

          In order to deliver electricity from our PV plants to our customers, our projects need to connect to the transmission grid. The lack of available capacity on the transmission grid could substantially impact our projects and cause reductions in project size, delays in project implementation, increases in costs from transmission upgrades and potential forfeitures of any deposit we have made with respect to a given project. These transmission issues, as well as issues relating to the availability of large systems such as transformers and switch gear, could significantly impact our ability to build PV plants and generate solar electricity sales.

Our systems business is largely dependent on us and third parties arranging financing from various sources, which may not be available or may only be available on unfavorable terms or in insufficient amounts.

          The construction of our large utility-scale solar power projects under development by us is expected in many cases to require project financing, including non-recourse project debt financing in the bank loan market and institutional debt capital markets. Uncertainties exist as to whether our projects will be able to access the debt markets in a sufficient magnitude to finance their construction. If we are unable to arrange such financing or if it is only available on unfavorable terms, we may be unable to fully execute our systems business plan. In addition, we generally expect to sell our projects by raising project equity capital from tax oriented, strategic industry and other equity investors. Such equity sources may not be available or may only be available in insufficient amounts, in which case our ability to sell our projects may be delayed or limited and our business, financial condition or results of operations may be adversely affected.

          In addition, for projects in which we provide EPC services but are not the project developer, our EPC activities are in many cases dependent on the ability of third parties to purchase our PV plant projects, which, in turn, is dependent on their ability to obtain financing for such purchases. Depending on prevailing conditions in the credit markets and other factors, such financing may not be available or may only be available on unfavorable terms or in insufficient amounts. If third parties are limited in their ability to access financing to support their purchase of PV power plant projects from us, we may not realize the cash flows that we expect from such sales, and this could adversely affect our ability to invest in our business and/or generate revenue. See also the risk factor above entitled “An increase in interest rates or lending rates or tightening of the supply of capital in the global financial markets (including a reduction in total tax equity availability) could make it difficult for end-users to finance the cost of a PV system and could reduce the demand for our solar modules and/or lead to a reduction in the average selling price for photovoltaic modules.”

Developing solar power projects may require significant upfront investment prior to the signing of a power purchase agreement or an EPC contract, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

          Our solar power project development cycles, which span the time between the identification of land and the commercial operation of a PV power plant project, vary substantially and can take many months or years to mature. As a result of these long project cycles, we may need to make significant upfront investments of resources (including, for example, large transmission deposits or other payments, which may be non-refundable) in advance of the signing of PPAs and EPC contracts and the receipt of any revenue, much of which is not recognized for several additional months or years following contract signing. Our potential inability to enter into sales contracts with potential customers after making such upfront investments could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

          Our liquidity may be adversely affected to the extent the project sale market weakens and we are unable to sell our solar projects on pricing, terms and timing commercially acceptable to us.

Other Risks

We may not realize the anticipated benefits of past or future acquisitions, and integration of these acquisitions may disrupt our business and management.

          In April 2009, we acquired the solar power project development business of OptiSolar Inc. and in the future, we may acquire additional companies, project pipelines, products or technologies or enter into joint ventures or other strategic initiatives. We may not realize the anticipated benefits of an acquisition and each acquisition has numerous risks. These risks include the following:

	•		difficulty in assimilating the operations and personnel of the acquired company;
	•		difficulty in effectively integrating the acquired technologies or products with our current products and technologies;
	•		difficulty in maintaining controls, procedures and policies during the transition and integration;

	•		disruption of our ongoing business and distraction of our management and associates from other opportunities and challenges due to integration issues;
	•		difficulty integrating the acquired company’s accounting, management information and other administrative systems;
	•		inability to retain key technical and managerial personnel of the acquired business;
	•		inability to retain key customers, vendors and other business partners of the acquired business;
	•		inability to achieve the financial and strategic goals for the acquired and combined businesses;
	•		incurring acquisition-related costs or amortization costs for acquired intangible assets that could impact our operating results;
	•		potential impairment of our relationships with our associates, customers, partners, distributors or third party providers of technology or products;
	•		potential failure of the due diligence processes to identify significant issues with product quality, architecture and development or legal and financial liabilities, among other things;
	•		potential inability to assert that internal controls over financial reporting are effective;
	•		potential inability to obtain, or obtain in a timely manner, approvals from governmental authorities, which could delay or prevent such acquisitions; and
	•		potential delay in customer purchasing decisions due to uncertainty about the direction of our product offerings.

          Mergers and acquisitions of companies are inherently risky, and ultimately, if we do not complete the integration of acquired businesses successfully and in a timely manner, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisitions to the extent anticipated, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our future success depends on our ability to retain our key associates and to successfully integrate them into our management team.

          We are dependent on the services of Michael J. Ahearn, our Executive Chairman, Robert J. Gillette, our Chief Executive Officer, Bruce Sohn, our President, Jens Meyerhoff, our Chief Financial Officer, Mary Beth Gustafsson, our Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Carol Campbell, our Executive Vice President, Human Resources, TK Kallenbach, our Executive Vice President, Marketing and Product Management, David Eaglesham, our Chief Technology Officer, and James Zhu, our Chief Accounting Officer and other members of our senior management team. The loss of Ahearn, Gillette, Sohn, Meyerhoff, Gustafsson, Campbell, Kallenbach, Eaglesham, Zhu or any other member of our senior management team could have a material adverse effect on us. There is a risk that we will not be able to retain or replace these key associates. Several of our current key associates, including Ahearn, Gillette, Sohn, Meyerhoff, Gustafsson, Campbell, Kallenbach, Eaglesham and Zhu are subject to employment conditions or arrangements that contain post-employment non-competition provisions. However, these arrangements permit the associates to terminate their employment with us upon little or no notice and the enforceability of the non-competition provisions is uncertain.

If we are unable to attract, train and retain key personnel, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

          Our future success depends, to a significant extent, on our ability to attract, train and retain management, operations and technical personnel. Recruiting and retaining capable personnel, particularly those with expertise in the photovoltaic industry and thin film technology, are vital to our success. There is substantial competition for qualified technical personnel and there can be no assurance that we will be able to attract or retain our technical personnel. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified associates, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

We may be exposed to infringement or misappropriation claims by third parties, which, if determined adversely to us, could cause us to pay significant damage awards or prohibit us from the manufacture and sale of our solar modules or the use of our technology.

          Our success depends largely on our ability to use and develop our technology and know-how without infringing or misappropriating the intellectual property rights of third parties. The validity and scope of claims relating to photovoltaic technology patents involve complex scientific, legal and factual considerations and analysis and, therefore, may be highly uncertain. We may be subject to litigation involving claims of patent infringement or violation of intellectual property rights of third parties. The defense and prosecution of intellectual property suits, patent opposition proceedings and related legal and administrative proceedings can be both costly and time consuming and may significantly divert the efforts and resources of our technical and management personnel. An adverse determination in any such litigation or proceedings to which we may become a party could subject us to significant liability to third parties, require us to seek licenses from third parties, which may not be available on reasonable terms, or at all, or pay ongoing royalties, require us to redesign our solar module, or subject us to injunctions prohibiting the manufacture and sale of our solar modules or the use of our technologies. Protracted litigation could also result in our customers or potential customers deferring or limiting their purchase or use of our solar modules until the resolution of such litigation.

Currency translation and transaction risk may negatively affect our net sales, cost of sales and gross margins and could result in exchange losses.

          Although our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar, we conduct our business and incur costs in the local currency of most countries in which we operate. As a result, we are subject to currency translation and transaction risk. For example, 86% and 95% of our net sales were denominated in euro for the years ended December 26, 2009 and December 27, 2008, respectively, and we expect a large percentage of our net sales to be outside the United States and denominated in foreign currencies in the future. In addition, our operating expenses for our plants located outside the U.S. (currently Germany and Malaysia) and our operations for our systems business in Canada and other European countries will be denominated in the local currency. Changes in exchange rates between foreign currencies and the U.S. dollar could affect our net sales and cost of sales and could result in exchange gains or losses. For example, the weakening of the euro reduced our net sales by $116.1 million during fiscal 2009 compared with fiscal 2008. In addition, we incur currency transaction risk whenever one of our operating subsidiaries enters into either a purchase or a sales transaction using a different currency from our reporting currency. For example, our European Long-Term Supply Contracts specify fixed pricing in euros through 2012 and do not adjust for changes in the U.S. dollar to euro exchange rate. We cannot accurately predict the impact of future exchange rate fluctuations on our results of operations.

          We could also expand our business into emerging markets, many of which have an uncertain regulatory environment relating to currency policy. Conducting business in such emerging markets could cause our exposure to changes in exchange rates to increase.

          Our ability to hedge foreign currency exposure is dependent on our credit profile with the banks that are willing and able to do business with us. Deterioration in our credit position or a significant tightening of the credit market conditions could limit our ability to hedge our foreign currency exposure; and therefore, result in exchange losses.

The Estate of John T. Walton and its affiliates have significant control over us and their interests may conflict with or differ from interests of other stockholders.

          Our largest stockholder, the Estate of John T. Walton and its affiliates, including JCL Holdings, LLC and JTW Trust No. 1 UAD 9/19/02 (collectively, the Estate), owned approximately 35% of our outstanding common stock at December 31, 2009. As a result, the Estate has substantial influence over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of our directors and the approval of significant corporate transactions such as mergers, tender offers and the sale of all or substantially all of our assets. The interests of the Estate could conflict with or differ from interests of other stockholders. For example, the concentration of ownership held by the Estate could delay, defer or prevent a change of control of our company or impede a merger, takeover or other business combination which a majority of stockholders may view favorably.

If our goodwill, investment in a related party or project assets become impaired, we may be required to record a significant charge to earnings.

          We may be required to record a significant charge to earnings in our financial statements should we determine that our goodwill, investment in a related party or project assets are impaired. Such a charge might have a significant impact on our financial position and results of operations.

          As required by accounting rules, we review our goodwill, investment in a related party and project assets for impairment when events or changes in our business or circumstances indicate that their fair value might be less than their carrying value. Factors that may be considered a change in circumstances indicating that the carrying value of our goodwill might not be recoverable include a significant decline in our stock price and market capitalization, a significant decline in projections of future cash flows and significantly slower growth rates in our industry. We are also required to test goodwill for impairment at least annually. We would write down project assets, which are capitalized on the balance sheet for certain solar power projects, should we determine that the project is not commercially viable.

Unanticipated changes in our tax provisions, the adoption of a new U.S. tax legislation or exposure to additional income tax liabilities could affect our profitability.

          We are subject to income taxes in the United States and the foreign jurisdictions in which we operate. Our tax liabilities are affected by the amounts we charge for inventory, services, licenses, funding and other items in intercompany transactions. We are subject to potential tax examinations in these various jurisdictions. Tax authorities may disagree with our intercompany charges, cross-jurisdictional transfer pricing or other tax positions and assess additional taxes. We regularly assess the likely outcomes of these examinations in order to determine the appropriateness of our tax provision. However, there can be no assurance that we will accurately predict the outcomes of these potential examinations, and the amounts ultimately paid upon resolution of examinations could be materially different from the amounts previously included in our income tax expense and therefore could have a material impact on our tax provision, net income and cash flows. In addition, our future effective tax rate could be adversely affected by changes to our operating structure, loss of our Malaysian tax holiday, changes in the mix of earnings in countries with tax holidays or differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in tax laws and the discovery of new information in the course of our tax return preparation process. In addition, President Obama’s administration has recently announced proposals for new U.S. tax legislation that, if adopted, could adversely affect our tax rate. Any of these changes could affect our results of operations.

Our credit agreements contain covenant restrictions that may limit our ability to operate our business.

          We may be unable to respond to changes in business and economic conditions, engage in transactions that might otherwise be beneficial to us, and obtain additional financing, if needed, because our revolving credit agreement with JPMorgan Chase and our Malaysian facility agreement contain, and any of our other future debt agreements may contain, covenant restrictions that limit our ability to, among other things:

	•		incur additional debt, assume obligations in connection with letters of credit, or issue guarantees;
	•		create liens;
	•		enter into certain transactions with our affiliates;
	•		sell certain assets; and
	•		declare or pay dividends, make other distributions to stockholders or make other restricted payments.

          Under our revolving credit facility with JPMorgan Chase and our Malaysian facility agreement, we are also subject to certain financial condition covenants. Our ability to comply with covenants under our credit agreements is dependent on our future performance, which will be subject to many factors, some of which are beyond our control, including prevailing economic conditions. In addition, our failure to comply with these covenants could result in a default under these agreements and any of our other future debt agreements, which could permit the holders thereof to accelerate such debt. If any of our debt is accelerated, we may in the future not have sufficient funds available to repay such debt, which could materially and negatively affect our financial condition and results of operation.

Item 1B: Unresolved Staff Comments

          None.

Item 2: Properties

          As of February 12, 2010, our principal properties consisted of the following:

		Number of
		Production
Nature		Lines				Location		Held		Major Encumbrances
Manufacturing Plant			3			Perrysburg, Ohio,				State of
						United States		Own		Ohio Loan(1)
Manufacturing Plant			4			Frankfurt/Oder, Germany		Own		None
Manufacturing Plants			16			Kulim, Kedah, Malaysia		Lease Land/
								Own Buildings		n/a
Corporate Headquarters			n/a			Tempe, Arizona,
						United States		Lease		n/a
Administrative Office			n/a			Oakland, California,
						United States		Lease		n/a
Administrative Office			n/a			Bridgewater, New Jersey,
						United States		Lease		n/a
Administrative Office			n/a			New York, New York,
						United States		Lease		n/a
Administrative Office			n/a			Mainz, Germany		Lease		n/a

          In addition, we lease office space in several other U.S. and international locations.

          As of February 12, 2010, all of our manufacturing plants are at full productive capacity and operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In the first quarter of 2010, we expect to complete the addition of one production line to our Perrysburg, Ohio manufacturing facility, after which time our 24 production lines will have an annual global manufacturing capacity of 1.3GW, assuming the fourth quarter of 2009 average per line run rate. We can increase annual production by increasing current factory throughput and expanding or adding new factories. On July 23, 2009, we announced a venture to build France’s largest solar panel manufacturing plant. The plant will have an initial annual capacity of more than 100MWp and is projected to be at full production by the first quarter of 2012. On December 16, 2009, we announced plans to invest $365.0 million to add eight production lines at our manufacturing center in Kulim, Malaysia, starting production in the first half of 2011. These expansions, once completed will increase our manufacturing capacity to 34 production lines, or 1.8GW of annual capacity at the fourth quarter of 2009 average per line run rate at our existing plants.

Item 3: Legal Proceedings

     General

          In the ordinary conduct of our business, we are subject to periodic lawsuits, investigations and claims, including, but not limited to, routine employment matters. Although we cannot predict with certainty the ultimate resolution of lawsuits, investigations and claims asserted against us, we do not believe that any currently pending legal proceeding to which we are a party will have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

Item 4: Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders

          None.

PART II

Item 5:		Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Price Range of Common Stock

          Our common stock has been listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “FSLR” since November 17, 2006. Prior to this time, there was no public market for our common stock. The following table sets forth the range of high and low sales prices per share as reported on The NASDAQ Global Select Market for the periods indicated.

		High				Low
Fiscal Year 2009
First Quarter		$	165.20			$	100.90
Second Quarter			207.51				129.78
Third Quarter			176.05				112.09
Fourth Quarter			162.20				115.09
Fiscal Year 2008
First Quarter		$	273.73			$	143.31
Second Quarter			317.00				225.82
Third Quarter			301.30				186.82
Fourth Quarter			202.93				85.28

          The closing sales price of our common stock on The NASDAQ Global Select Market was $115.10 per share on February 12, 2010. As of February 12, 2010 there were 60 record holders of our common stock. This figure does not reflect the beneficial ownership of shares held in nominee names.

Dividend Policy

          We have never paid, and it is our present intention for the foreseeable future not to pay, dividends on our common stock. Our revolving credit facility imposes restrictions on our ability to declare or pay dividends. The declaration and payment of dividends is subject to the discretion of our board of directors and depends on various factors, including the continued applicability of the above-referenced restrictions under our revolving credit facility, our net income, financial condition, cash requirements, future prospects and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors.

Equity Compensation Plans

     The following table sets forth certain information, as of December 26, 2009, concerning securities authorized for issuance under all equity compensation plans of our company:

Number of Securities

Remaining Available

Number of Securities

for Future Issuance

to be Issued

Weighted-Average

Under Equity

Upon Exercise of

Exercise Price of

Compensation

Outstanding Options

Outstanding Options

Plans (Excluding Securities

Plan Category

and Rights(a)(1)

and Rights(b)(2)

Reflected in Column(a))(c)

Equity compensation plans approved by our stockholders(3)

2,104,939

$

60.63

4,705,302

Equity compensation plans not approved by our stockholders

—

—

—

Total

2,104,939

$

60.63

4,705,302

Stock Price Performance Graph

     The following graph compares the cumulative 37-month total return on our common stock with the cumulative total returns of the S&P 500 Index and a peer group consisting of six comparable issuers: SunPower Corporation, Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., Trina Solar Ltd., Yingli Green Energy Hold. Co. Ltd., SolarWorld AG and Q-Cells AG. We believe that a peer group consisting of comparable issuers is more representative of the solar industry as a whole, and we will therefore discontinue comparison against the NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy U.S. Index in future filings (formerly known as the NASDAQ Clean Edge U.S. Liquid Series Index). Also, in light of our addition to the S&P 500 Index during 2009, our exclusive comparative broad market index will be the S&P 500 Index, and we will therefore discontinue comparison against the Russell 2000 Index in future filings. In the stock price performance graph included below, an investment of $100 (with reinvestment of all dividends) is assumed to have been made in our common stock and in each index on November 17, 2006 and its relative performance is tracked through December 26, 2009. No cash dividends have been declared on shares of our common stock. This performance graph is not “soliciting material,” is not deemed filed with the SEC and is not to be incorporated by reference in any filing by us under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), or the Exchange Act, whether made before or after the date hereof and irrespective of any general incorporation language in any such filing. The stock price performance shown on the graph represents past performance and should not be considered an indication of future price performance.

COMPARISON OF 37 MONTH CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN*
Among First Solar, Inc., S&P 500 Index,
Russell 2000 Index, NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy U.S. Index
and a Peer Group

				11/06					12/06					3/07					6/07					9/07					12/07					3/08					6/08					9/08					12/08					3/09					6/09					9/09					12/09
	First Solar, Inc.				100.00					120.61					210.23					360.91					475.91					1079.79					934.28					1102.75					763.58					545.72					536.38					655.30					617.87					540.82
	S&P 500				100.00					101.40					102.05					108.46					110.66					106.97					96.87					94.23					86.34					67.40					59.97					69.53					80.38					85.23
	Russell 2000				100.00					100.33					102.29					106.80					103.50					98.76					88.99					89.51					88.51					65.39					55.62					67.12					80.06					83.16
	NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy				100.00					96.90					114.68					132.73					149.31					180.39					139.71					154.07					113.28					70.75					67.77					85.64					91.69					94.33
	Peer Group				100.00					116.03					142.79					172.08					212.03					337.73					191.78					185.18					161.13					61.63					59.43					83.75					74.93					79.33

     The stock price performance included in this graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

     As previously reported in a Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 9, 2009, on April 3, 2009, we completed the acquisition of the solar power project development business (the Project Business) of OptiSolar Inc., a Delaware corporation (OptiSolar). Pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the Merger Agreement) dated as of March 2, 2009 by and among First Solar, First Solar Acquisition Corp., a Delaware corporation (Merger Sub), OptiSolar and OptiSolar Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (OptiSolar Holdings), Merger Sub merged with and into OptiSolar, with OptiSolar surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Solar (the Merger). Pursuant to the Merger, all the outstanding shares of common stock of OptiSolar held by OptiSolar Holdings were exchanged for the Merger Shares. The Merger Shares consisted of 2,972,420 shares of First Solar common stock, par value $0.001 per share, including (i) 732,789 shares that have been issued and deposited with an escrow agent to support certain indemnification obligations of OptiSolar Holdings, and (ii) 355,096 shares that were issuable upon satisfaction of conditions relating to the satisfaction of certain then existing liabilities of OptiSolar (the Holdback Shares). The Merger Shares and certain Holdback Shares were issued, and any remaining Holdback Shares will be issued in a private placement exempt from registration pursuant to Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. First Solar has prepared and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the resale of 2,801,435 of the Merger Shares.

     As of December 26, 2009, 333,932 Holdback Shares had been issued to OptiSolar Holdings and a total of 2,951,256 Merger Shares had been issued. The period during which claims for indemnification from the escrow fund may be initiated commenced on April 3, 2009, and will end on April 3, 2011.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliate Purchases

     None.

Item 6: Selected Consolidated Financial Data

     The following table sets forth our selected consolidated financial data for the periods and at the dates indicated.

     The selected consolidated financial information for the fiscal years ended December 26, 2009, December 27, 2008, and December 29, 2007 have been derived from the audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The selected consolidated financial data for the fiscal years ended December 30, 2006 and December 31, 2005 have been derived from audited consolidated financial statements not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The information presented below should be read in conjunction with “Item 7: Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes.

		Years Ended
		Dec 26,				Dec 27,				Dec 29,				Dec 30,				Dec 31,
		2009				2008				2007				2006				2005
		(In thousands, except per share amounts)
Statement of Operations:
Net sales		$	2,066,200			$	1,246,301			$	503,976			$	134,974			$	48,063
Cost of sales			1,021,618				567,908				252,573				80,730				31,483
Gross profit			1,044,582				678,393				251,403				54,244				16,580
Research and development			78,161				33,517				15,107				6,361				2,372
Selling, general and administrative			272,898				174,039				82,248				33,348				15,825
Production start-up			13,908				32,498				16,867				11,725				3,173
Operating income (loss)			679,615				438,339				137,181				2,810				(4,790	)
Foreign currency gain (loss)			5,207				5,722				1,881				5,544				(1,715	)
Interest income			9,735				21,158				20,413				2,648				316
Interest expense, net			(5,258	)			(509	)			(2,294	)			(1,023	)			(418	)
Other expense, net			(2,985	)			(934	)			(1,219	)			(799	)			56
Income tax expense (benefit)			46,176				115,446				(2,392	)			5,206				—
Income (loss) before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle			640,138				348,330				158,354				3,974				(6,551	)
Cumulative effect of change in accounting for share-based compensation			—				—				—				—				89
Net income (loss)		$	640,138			$	348,330			$	158,354			$	3,974			$	(6,462	)
Net income (loss) per share data:
Basic net income (loss) per share:
Net income (loss) per share		$	7.67			$	4.34			$	2.12			$	0.07			$	(0.13	)
Weighted average shares			83,500				80,178				74,701				56,310				48,846
Diluted net income (loss) per share:
Net income (loss) per share		$	7.53			$	4.24			$	2.03			$	0.07			$	(0.13	)
Weighted average shares			85,044				82,124				77,971				58,255				48,846
Cash dividends declared per common share		$	—			$	—			$	—			$	—			$	—

		Years Ended
		Dec 26,				Dec 27,				Dec 29,				Dec 30,				Dec 31,
		2009				2008				2007				2006				2005
		(In thousands)
Cash Flow Data:
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities		$	675,193			$	463,067			$	205,951			$	(576	)		$	5,040
Net cash used in investing activities			(701,690	)			(308,441	)			(547,250	)			(159,994	)			(43,832	)
Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities			(22,021	)			177,549				430,421				451,550				51,663

		Years Ended
		Dec 26,				Dec 27,				Dec 29,				Dec 30,				Dec 31,
		2009				2008				2007				2006				2005
		(In thousands)
Balance Sheet Data:
Cash and cash equivalents		$	664,499			$	716,218			$	404,264			$	308,092			$	16,721
Marketable securities, current and noncurrent			449,844				105,601				265,399				323				312
Accounts receivable, net			226,826				61,703				18,165				27,123				882
Inventories, current and noncurrent			174,516				121,554				40,204				16,510				6,917
Property, plant and equipment, net			988,782				842,622				430,104				178,868				73,778
Project assets, current and noncurrent			132,496				—				—				—				—
Deferred tax assets, current and noncurrent			152,194				71,247				55,701				—				—
Total assets			3,349,512				2,114,502				1,371,312				578,510				101,884
Long-term debt			174,958				198,470				108,165				80,697				48,723
Accrued collection and recycling liabilities			92,799				35,238				13,079				3,724				917
Total liabilities			696,725				601,460				274,045				116,844				63,490
Total stockholders’ equity			2,652,787				1,513,042				1,097,267				411,440				13,129

Item 7: Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

     The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as described under the “Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” that appears earlier in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those discussed under “Item 1A: Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Overview

     We manufacture and sell solar modules with an advanced thin film semiconductor technology, and we design, construct and sell photovoltaic (PV) solar power systems.

     In furtherance of our goal of delivering the lowest cost of solar energy and achieving price parity with conventional fossil-fuel based peak electricity generation, we are continually focused on reducing PV system costs in three primary areas: module manufacturing, Balance of System (BoS) costs (consisting of costs of components of a solar power system other than the solar modules, including inverters, mounting hardware, grid interconnection equipment, wiring and other devices, and installation labor costs), and cost of capital. First, with respect to our

module manufacturing costs, our advanced technology has allowed us to reduce our average module manufacturing costs to the lowest in the world, based on publicly available information. In 2009, our total average manufacturing costs were $0.87 per watt, which we believe is significantly less than those of traditional crystalline silicon solar module manufacturers. By continuing to improve conversion efficiency and line throughput, lower material cost and drive volume scale to further decrease overhead costs, we believe that we can further reduce our manufacturing costs per watt and maintain our cost advantage over traditional crystalline silicon solar module manufacturers. Second, by continuing to improve conversion efficiency, leverage volume procurement around standardized hardware platforms, and accelerate installation time, we believe we can continue to make substantial reductions in BoS costs, which represent over half of all costs associated with a typical utility-scale PV solar power system. Finally, we believe that continuing to strengthen our financial position, including our balance sheet and credit profile, will enable us to continue to lower the cost of capital associated with our solar power systems, thereby further enhancing the economic viability of our projects and lowering the cost of electricity generated by solar power systems, which incorporate our modules and technology.

     We believe that combining our reliable, low cost module manufacturing capability with our systems business enables us to more rapidly reduce the price of solar electricity, to accelerate the adoption of our technology in large scale systems and to further our mission to create enduring value by enabling a world powered by clean, affordable solar electricity.

     On February 22, 2006, we were incorporated as a Delaware corporation. Prior to that date, we operated as a Delaware limited liability company.

     Our fiscal year ends on the Saturday on or before December 31. All references to fiscal year 2009 relate to the 52 weeks ended December 26, 2009; all references to fiscal year 2008 relate to the 52 weeks ended December 27, 2008; and all references to fiscal year 2007 relate to the 52 weeks ended December 29, 2007. We use a 13 week fiscal quarter.

Manufacturing Capacity

     As of December 26, 2009, we operated 23 production lines with an annual global manufacturing capacity of approximately 1228MW (based on the fourth quarter of 2009 average per line run rate at our existing plants) at our manufacturing plants in Perrysburg, Ohio, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany and Kulim, Malaysia. We expect to add an additional production line to our Perrysburg, Ohio manufacturing facility in 2010, resulting in a 53.4MW increase in manufacturing capacity (based on the fourth quarter of 2009 average per line run rate at our existing plants). We expect to increase our manufacturing capacity to 34 production lines by 2012, with an annual global manufacturing capacity of approximately 1.8GW (based on the fourth quarter of 2009 average per line run rate at our existing plants).

Market Overview

     We project the global market for PV solar modules to have a 35% compound annual growth rate through 2012, increasing demand to approximately 12GW worldwide. We expect approximately 7.5GW of global demand in 2010. In addressing a growing global need for PV solar electricity, we target markets with varying approaches depending on the underlying economics, market requirements and distribution channels. In subsidized feed-in tariff markets, such as Germany, we have historically sold most of solar modules to solar project developers, system integrators and independent power producers. In other markets, such as the United States, the demand for solar has been primarily driven by renewable portfolio standards requiring regulated utilities to supply a portion of their total electricity from renewable energy sources such as solar power. To meet the needs of these markets and enable balance of system cost reductions, we have developed a fully integrated systems business that can provide a low-cost turn-key utility-scale PV system solution for system owners and low cost electricity to utility end-users. By building a fully integrated systems business, we believe we are in position to expand our business in transitional, and eventually economically sustainable markets (in which subsidies or incentives are minimal), that are expected to develop in areas with abundant solar resources and sizable electricity demand, such as the United States, China, India and parts of Europe. In the long-term, we plan on competing on an economic basis with conventional fossil fuel-based peaking power generation.

     In 2009, the solar industry moved from a supply driven to a demand driven environment, with increasing competitive pressure as the photovoltaic industry’s total manufacturing capacity to produce solar modules exceeded demand for those products. We expect that the photovoltaic industry’s total manufacturing capacity to produce solar modules will continue to exceed demand in 2010. Our customers faced significant challenges under the prevailing economic conditions, including tight liquidity and extended cash realization cycles, weakened balance sheets, constrained working capital, a volatile pricing environment leading to deferred project equity investments, constrained project finance outside of Germany and capital preservation within U.S. utilities during the year. We extended our payment terms with certain customers from 10 days to 45 days from the date of invoice and reduced prices under our Long-Term Contracts in response to the economic conditions.

     During the second half of 2009, German installation activity was stronger than in the first half of 2009, driven by a combination of anticipation of reduced 2010 German feed-in tariffs, seasonal demand, customer participation in our rebate program and improving project finance, tax equity and corporate finance conditions. The first half of 2009 in comparison had been characterized by project and channel competition with aggressive crystalline silicon module pricing, deferred project equity investment based on anticipation of further reductions, project debt constraints and delays and construction financing delays.

     To the extent the challenging conditions mentioned above return as seasonal strength subsides, our results of operations could be adversely affected by declines in the selling prices of our modules, decreases in sales volumes of our modules and/or increases in our solar module inventories. We expect that demand for our solar modules in Germany in the first half of 2010 will increase due to the uncertainty around the German subsidies. The German feed-in tariffs are currently under review by the government and certain proposals under discussion would further reduce these tariffs in the second quarter and later dates in 2010.

     In 2009, we continued to expand into certain key transition markets, such as the United States, within which affordable solar electricity solutions could be developed and ultimately evolve into economically sustainable markets. Our acquisition of the project development business of OptiSolar Inc. in April 2009 furthered our development of solar electricity solutions for utility companies in the United States that are seeking cost-effective renewable energy solutions for the purpose of meeting renewable portfolio standard requirements. In January 2010, we completed the acquisition of certain assets from Edison Mission Group’s solar project development pipeline consisting of utility-scale solar projects located primarily on private land in California and the southwestern United States.

     In the PV module segment, we face intense competition from manufacturers of crystalline silicon solar modules and other types of solar modules and photovoltaic systems. Solar module manufacturers compete with one another in several product performance attributes, including reliability, module cost per watt and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), meaning the net present value of total life cycle costs of the solar power project divided by the quantity of energy which is expected to be produced over the system’s life. We are the lowest cost PV module manufacturer in the solar industry, based on publicly available information, as evidenced by the further reduction in our average manufacturing cost per watt from $1.23 during 2007 to $0.87 during 2009. This cost advantage is reflected in the price at which we sell our modules or fully integrated systems and enables our systems to compete favorably in respect of their LCOE. Our cost competitiveness is based in large part on our proprietary technology (which enables conversion efficiency improvements and permits a continuous highly automated industrial manufacturing process), our scale and our operational excellence. In addition, our modules use approximately 1% of the amount of semiconductor material that is used to manufacture traditional crystalline silicon solar modules. The cost of polysilicon is a significant driver of the manufacturing cost of crystalline silicon solar modules. The current spot market price of polysilicon of approximately between $55 and $63 per kilogram (Kg) enables us to remain one of the lowest cost module manufacturers in the solar industry. However, the timing and rate of decrease in the cost of silicon feedstock could lead to pricing pressure for solar modules. Although we are not a crystalline silicon module manufacturer, we estimate based on industry research and public disclosures of our competitors, that a $10 per Kg increase or decrease in the price of polysilicon could increase or decrease, respectively, our competitors’ manufacturing cost per watt by approximately $0.07. Given the lower conversion efficiency of our modules compared to crystalline silicon modules, there are higher balance-of-system costs associated with systems using our modules. Thus, to compete effectively on the basis of LCOE our modules need to maintain a certain cost advantage per watt compared to crystalline silicon based modules. Our cost reduction roadmap anticipates manufacturing cost

per watt reductions for our modules of 10% per year. During the twelve months ended December 26, 2009, we reduced our manufacturing cost per watt by 19% from our cost per watt in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008.

     While our modules currently enjoy competitive advantages in these product performance attributes, there can be no guarantee that these advantages will continue to exist in the future to the same extent or at all. Any declines in the competitiveness of our products could result in margin compression, a decline in average selling prices of our solar modules, erosion in our market share for modules, a decrease in the rate of revenue growth and/or a decline in overall revenues. We have taken, and continue to take, several actions to mitigate the potential impact resulting from competitive pressures, including adjusting our pricing policies as necessary in core markets to drive module volumes, continuously making progress along our cost reduction roadmap and focusing our research and development on increasing the conversion efficiency of our solar modules.

     As we expand our systems business into transition and sustainable markets, we can offer value beyond the PV module, reduce our exposure to module-only competition and provide comprehensive utility-scale photovoltaic systems solutions that significantly reduce solar electricity costs. Thus, our systems business allows us to play a more active role than many of our competitors in managing the demand for, and manufacturing throughput of our solar modules. Finally, we seek to form and develop strong partner relationships with our customers and continue to develop our range of offerings, including EPC capabilities and operating and maintenance services, in order to enhance the competitiveness of systems using our solar modules.

Financial Operations Overview

     The following describes certain line items in our statement of operations and some of the factors that affect our operating results.

Net Sales

Components Business

     Currently, the majority of our net sales is generated from the sale of solar modules. We currently price and sell our solar modules per watt of power. As a result, our net sales can fluctuate based on our output of sellable watts or price. During 2009, we sold almost all of our solar modules to solar power system project developers, system integrators and operators headquartered in Germany, France, Spain and Italy, which either resell our solar modules to end-users or integrate them into power plants that they own or operate or sell.

     As of December 26, 2009, we had Long-Term Supply Contracts for the sale of solar modules expiring at the end of 2012 with fourteen European solar power system project developers and system integrators. We also have an agreement expiring in 2013 with a solar power system project developer and system integrator in the United States, which is a related party. These contracts account for a significant portion of our planned production over the period from 2010 through 2012, and therefore, will significantly affect our overall financial performance. We have the right to terminate certain Long-Term Supply Contracts upon 12 months notice and the payment of a termination fee if we determine that certain material adverse changes have occurred. In addition, our customers are entitled to certain remedies in the event of missed deliveries of kilowatt volume. These delivery commitments are established through rolling four quarter forecasts that are agreed to with each of the customers within the parameters established in the Long-Term Supply Contracts and define the specific quantities to be purchased on a quarterly basis and the schedules of the individual shipments to be made to the customers. In the case of a late delivery, certain of our customers are entitled to a maximum charge representing a percentage of the delinquent revenue. If we do not meet our annual minimum volume shipments, our customers also have the right to terminate these contracts on a prospective basis.

     Certain of our Long-Term Supply Contracts require us to deliver solar modules that, in total, meet or exceed specified minimum average number of watts per module for the year or specify an annual decline in the sales price per watt under these contracts. As a result, our profitability could decline if we are unable to reduce our manufacturing cost per watt by at least the same rate as the contractual sales prices decrease. Because the sales prices under our Long-Term Supply Contracts are fixed and have the built-in decline each year, we cannot pass along any increases in manufacturing costs to these customers. Although we believe that our total manufacturing

costs per watt will decline at the same rate or more rapidly than our prices under the Long-Term Supply Contracts, our failure to achieve our manufacturing cost per watt targets could result in a reduction of our gross profit.

     Our sales prices under the Long-Term Supply Contracts are denominated in euro, exposing us to risks from currency exchange rate fluctuations. During the year ended December 26, 2009, 86% of our sales were denominated in euro and subject to fluctuation in the exchange rate between the euro and U.S. dollar.

     We have in the past amended pricing and other terms in our Long-Term Supply Contracts in order to remain competitive, as described below, and we may decide in the future to further amend these contracts in order to address the highly competitive environment. For example, during the three months ended March 28, 2009, we amended our Long-Term Supply Contracts with certain customers to further reduce the sales price per watt under these contracts in 2009 and 2010 in exchange for increases in the volume of solar modules to be delivered under the contracts. We also extended the payment terms for certain customers under these contracts from net 10 days to net 45 days to increase liquidity in our sales channel and to reflect longer module shipment times from our manufacturing plants in Malaysia.

     During the third quarter of 2009, we amended our Long-Term Supply Contracts with certain of our customers to implement a program which provides a price rebate to certain of these customers for solar modules purchased from us. The intent of this program is to enable our customers to successfully compete in our core segments in Germany. The rebate program applies a specified rebate rate to solar modules sold for solar power projects in Germany at the beginning of each quarter for the upcoming quarter. The rebate program is subject to periodic review, and we will adjust the rebate rate quarterly upward or downward as appropriate. The rebate period commenced during the third quarter of 2009 and terminates at the end of the fourth quarter of 2010. Customers need to meet certain requirements in order to be eligible for and benefit from this program.

     We account for rebates as a reduction to the selling price of our solar modules and therefore as a reduction in revenue. No rebates granted under this program can be claimed in cash, and all rebates will be applied to reduce outstanding accounts receivable balances. During the year ended December 26, 2009, we extended rebates to customers in the amount of €87.1 million ($128.9 million at an average exchange rate of $1.48/€1.00).

     We also enter into one-time module sale agreements with customers for specific projects.

     Under our customer contracts we transfer title and risk of loss to the customer and recognize revenue upon shipment. Our customers do not have extended payment terms or rights of return under these contracts.

     During 2009, principal customers of our components business were Blitzstrom GmbH, EDF EN Development, Gehrlicher Solar AG, Juwi Solar GmbH, and Phoenix Solar AG. During 2009, each of these five customers individually accounted for between 10% and 19% of our component segment’s net sales. All of our other customers individually accounted for less than 10% of our component business net sales during the year ended December 26, 2009.

Systems Business

     Through our fully integrated systems business we provide a complete solar power system solution, which includes project development, EPC services, O&M services and, when required, project finance.

     Net sales from our systems segment are comprised of the following types of transactions:

Transaction		Description
Engineer and Procure (EP) Contract		Design of a solar electricity generation system for a customer that uses our solar modules; includes the procurement of all other required balance of system (BOS) components from third party suppliers.
Engineer, Procure and Construct (EPC) Contract		Design and construction for a customer of a turnkey solar electricity generation system that uses our solar modules; includes the procurement of all other BOS components from third party suppliers.
Sale of Project Assets		Sale of project assets to a customer at various stages of development. This generally includes a single project consisting of costs incurred for permits, land or land rights or power off-take agreements.
Operating and Maintenance (O&M) Agreement		Typically a fixed-priced long-term services agreement.

     During the year ended December 26, 2009, net sales from our systems business resulted primarily from the sale of two utility scale solar power systems in the fourth fiscal quarter to utilities in the United States and Canada. Our systems business does not currently meet the quantitative criteria for disclosures as a separate reporting segment. On April 3, 2009, we completed the acquisition of the solar power project development business of OptiSolar Inc. and we have integrated this business into our systems business.

     Net sales from our systems segment are impacted by numerous factors, including the magnitude and effectiveness of renewable portfolio standards, economic incentives (such as European feed-in tariffs or the federal investment tax credit in the United States) and other PV system demand drivers.

     For a given solar power project, we recognize revenue for our systems business either after execution of an EPC agreement with a third party, specifying the terms and conditions of the construction of the solar power plant; by applying the provisions for real estate accounting; by applying the percentage-of-completion method of accounting; or upon the sale of the complete system solution, as appropriate for the particular facts and circumstances related to the project and its sale.

     At any given point in time, aggregate contracted sales amounts with respect to the systems segment generally consist of the uncompleted portion of contracted projects where we have entered into a definitive EPC agreement with the customer.

Cost of sales

Components Business

     Our cost of sales includes the cost of raw materials and components for manufacturing solar modules, such as tempered back glass, transparent conductive oxide coated front glass, cadmium telluride, laminate, connector assemblies, laminate edge seal, and other items. Our cost of sales also includes direct labor for the manufacturing of solar modules and manufacturing overhead such as engineering expense, equipment maintenance, environmental health and safety expenses, quality and production control and procurement. Cost of sales also includes depreciation of manufacturing plants and equipment and facility-related expenses. In addition, we accrue warranty and solar module collection and recycling costs to our cost of sales.

     We implemented a program in 2005 to collect and recycle our solar modules after their use. Under our solar module collection and recycling program, we enter into an agreement with the end-users of the solar power systems that use our solar modules. In the agreement, we commit, at our expense, to collect the solar modules from the installation site at the end of their useful life and transport them to a processing center where the solar module materials and components will be either refurbished and resold as used solar modules or recycled to recover some of the raw materials. In return, the owner agrees not to dispose of the solar modules except through our module collection and recycling program or any other program that we might approve of. The owner is also responsible for

disassembling the solar modules and packaging them in containers that we provide. At the time we sell a solar module, we record an expense in cost of sales equal to the fair value of the estimated future module collection and recycling obligation. We subsequently record accretion expense on this future obligation, which we classify within selling, general and administrative expense.

     Overall, we expect our cost of sales per watt to decrease over the next several years due to an increase of sellable watts per solar module, an increase in unit output per production line, continued geographic expansion into lower-cost manufacturing regions and more efficient absorption of fixed costs driven by economies of scale.

Systems Business

     Within our systems business, project-related costs include standard EPC costs (consisting primarily of balance of system costs for inverters, electrical and mounting hardware, project management and engineering costs, and installation labor costs), site specific costs, and development costs (including transmission upgrade costs, interconnection fees and permitting costs). As further described in Note 22. “Segment Reporting,” at the time when the revenue recognition criteria are met, we include the sale of our solar modules manufactured by our components business and used by our systems business as net sales of our components business. Therefore, the related cost of sales will also be included within our components business.

     Deferred project costs represent capitalized costs related to the deferred revenue for project development or project construction activities sold to a third party typically under an EPC agreement, for which the revenue recognition criteria have not been met. We recognize these costs as we recognize the revenue for these projects. Deferred project costs at December 26, 2009 and December 27, 2008 were $36.7 million and $0.7 million, respectively.

Gross profit

     Gross profit is affected by numerous factors, including our average selling prices, foreign exchange rates, our manufacturing costs and the effective utilization of our production facilities. Gross profit is also subject to competitive pressures, and we have in the past and may in the future decide to amend our Long-Term Supply Contracts, which specify our sales price per watt. Other factors impacting gross profits are the ramp of production on new plants due to a reduced ability to absorb fixed costs until full production volumes are reached, the mix of net sales generated by our components and systems businesses coupled with a geographic factor. Gross profit margin is affected by our systems business, which generally operates at a lower gross profit margin due to the pass-through nature of certain balance of system components procured from third parties. Gross profit for our systems business excludes cost of sales for solar modules, that are included in the gross profit of our components business.

Research and development

     Research and development expense consists primarily of salaries and personnel-related costs and the cost of products, materials and outside services used in our process and product research and development activities. We acquire equipment for general use in further process developments and record the depreciation of this equipment as research and development expense.

     We maintain a number of programs and activities to improve our technology and processes in order to enhance the performance and reduce the costs of our solar modules and PV systems using our modules. We maintain active collaborations with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (a division of the United States Department of Energy), Brookhaven National Laboratory and several universities. We report our research and development expense net of grant funding. We received $0.9 million and $1.8 million of grant funding during the years ended December 27, 2008 and December 29, 2007, respectively, that we applied towards our research and development programs. We did not receive any grant funding during the year ended December 26, 2009. We expect our research and development expense to increase in absolute terms in the future as we increase personnel and research and development activity. Over time, we expect research and development expense to decline as a percentage of net sales and on a cost per watt basis as a result of economies of scale.

Selling, general and administrative

     Selling, general and administrative expense consists primarily of salaries and other personnel-related costs, professional fees, insurance costs, travel expense and other selling expenses. We expect these expenses to increase in the near term, both in absolute dollars and as a percentage of net sales, in order to support the growth of our business as we expand our sales and marketing efforts, improve our information processes and systems and implement the financial reporting, compliance and other infrastructure required for an expanding public company. Over time, we expect selling, general and administrative expense to decline as a percentage of net sales and on a cost per watt basis as our net sales and our total watts produced increase.

Production start-up

     Production start-up expense consists primarily of salaries and personnel-related costs and the cost of operating a production line before it has been qualified for full production, including the cost of raw materials for solar modules run through the production line during the qualification phase. It also includes all expenses related to the selection of a new site and the related legal and regulatory costs and the costs to maintain our plant replication program, to the extent we cannot capitalize these expenditures. We incurred production start-up expense of $16.9 million during the year ended December 29, 2007 in connection with the qualification of our German plant and the planning and preparation of our plants at our Malaysian manufacturing center. We incurred production start-up expense of $32.5 million during the year ended December 27, 2008 in connection with the planning and preparation of our plants at the Malaysian manufacturing center. Production start-up expense for the year ended December 26, 2009 was $13.9 million and related to plant four of our Malaysian manufacturing center and our Ohio plant expansion. In general, we expect production start-up expense per production line to be higher when we build an entirely new manufacturing facility compared with the addition of new production lines at an existing manufacturing facility, primarily due to the additional infrastructure investment required when building an entirely new facility. Over time, we expect production start-up expense to decline as a percentage of net sales and on a cost per watt basis as a result of economies of scale.

Foreign currency gain (loss)

     Foreign currency gain (loss) consists of gains and losses resulting from holding assets and liabilities and conducting transactions denominated in currencies other than our functional currencies.

Interest income

     Interest income is earned on our cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities and restricted cash and investments.

Interest expense, net

     Interest expense, net of amounts capitalized, is incurred on various debt financings.

Income Tax Expense

     Income taxes are imposed on our income by the taxing authorities in the various jurisdictions in which we operate, principally the United States, Germany and Malaysia. The statutory federal tax rate in the United States is 35% while the tax rate in Germany and Malaysia is approximately 28.5% and 25%, respectively. In Malaysia we have been granted a long-term tax holiday, pursuant to which substantially all our income earned in Malaysia is exempt from income tax.

Critical Accounting Estimates

     In preparing our financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (GAAP), we make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect the amounts of reported assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, as well as the disclosure of contingent liabilities in our financial statements and the related notes thereto. Some of our accounting policies require the application of significant

judgment by management in the selection of appropriate assumptions for making these estimates. By their nature, these judgments are subject to an inherent degree of uncertainty. We base our judgments and estimates on our historical experience, on our forecasts and on other available information, as appropriate. Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 2. “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 26, 2009 included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

     Our critical accounting estimates, which require the most significant management estimates and judgment in determining amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, are as follows:

     Solar module collection and recycling. At the time of sale, we recognize an expense for the estimated fair value of our future obligation for collecting and recycling the solar modules that we have sold when they have reached the end of their useful lives. We base our estimate of the fair value of our collection and recycling obligations on the present value of the expected future cost of collecting and recycling the solar modules, which includes the cost of packaging the solar modules for transport, the cost of freight from the solar modules’ installation sites to a recycling center, the material, labor and capital costs of the recycling process and an estimated third-party profit margin and return on risk for collection and recycling services. We base this estimate on our experience collecting and recycling our solar modules and on our expectations about future developments in recycling technologies and processes, about economic conditions at the time the solar modules will be collected and recycled and about the timing of solar modules returns for recycling. In the periods between the time of our sales and our settlement of the collection and recycling obligations, we accrete the carrying amount of the associated liability by applying the discount rate used for its initial measurement. At December 26, 2009, our estimate of the fair value of our liability for collecting and recycling solar modules was $92.8 million. A 10% decrease in our estimate of the future cost of collecting and recycling a solar module would reduce this estimated liability by $9.0 million, to $83.8 million; a 10% increase in our estimate of the future cost of collecting and recycling a solar module would increase this estimated liability by $9.1 million, to $101.9 million.

     Product warranties. We provide a limited warranty for defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service conditions for five years following delivery to the owner of our solar modules. We also warrant to the owner of our solar modules that solar modules installed in accordance with agreed-upon specifications will produce at least 90% of their initial power output rating during the first 10 years following their installation and at least 80% of their initial power output rating during the following 15 years. Our warranties are automatically transferred from the original purchaser of our solar modules to a subsequent purchaser. We accrue warranty costs when we recognize sales, using amounts estimated based on our historical experience with warranty claims, our monitoring of field installation sites and in-house testing.

     Accounting for Income Taxes. We are subject to the income tax laws of the United States, its states and municipalities and those of the foreign jurisdictions in which we have significant business operations. These tax laws are complex and subject to different interpretations by the taxpayer and the relevant governmental taxing authorities. We must make judgments and interpretations about the application of these inherently complex tax laws when determining our provision for income taxes and must also make estimates about when in the future certain items affect taxable income in the various tax jurisdictions. Disputes over interpretations of the tax laws may be settled with the taxing authority upon examination or audit. We regularly assess the likelihood of assessments in each of the taxing jurisdictions resulting from current and subsequent years’ examinations, and we record tax liabilities as appropriate.

     We establish liabilities for potential additional taxes that may arise out of tax audits in accordance with ASC 740, Income Taxes. Once established, we adjust the liabilities when additional information becomes available or when an event occurs requiring an adjustment. Significant judgment is required in making these estimates, and the actual cost of a legal claim, tax assessment or regulatory fine or penalty may ultimately be materially different from our recorded liabilities, if any.

     In preparing our consolidated financial statements, we calculate our income tax expense based on our interpretation of the tax laws in the various jurisdictions where we conduct business. This requires us to estimate our current tax obligations and the realizability of uncertain tax positions and to assess temporary differences between the financial statement carrying amounts and the tax bases of assets and liabilities. These temporary differences

result in deferred tax assets and liabilities, the net current amount of which we show as a component of current assets or current liabilities and the net noncurrent amount of which we show as other assets or other liabilities on our consolidated balance sheet.

     We must also assess the likelihood that each of our deferred tax assets will be realized. To the extent we believe that realization of any of our deferred tax assets is not more likely than not, we establish a valuation allowance. When we establish a valuation allowance or increase this allowance in a reporting period, we generally record a corresponding tax expense in our consolidated statement of operations. Conversely, to the extent circumstances indicate that a valuation allowance is no longer necessary, that portion of the valuation allowance is reversed, which generally reduces our overall income tax expense.

     We also consider the earnings of our foreign subsidiaries and determine whether such amounts are indefinitely reinvested outside the United States. We have concluded that all such accumulated earnings are currently indefinitely reinvested. Accordingly, no additional taxes have been accrued that might be incurred if such amounts were repatriated to the United States. If our intention to permanently reinvest the earnings of our foreign subsidiaries changes, additional taxes may be required to be accrued. See Note 18. “Income Taxes” to our consolidated financial statements for additional information.

     Goodwill. Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price of acquired companies over the estimated fair value assigned to the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed. We do not amortize goodwill, but instead test goodwill for impairment at least annually in the fourth quarter and, if necessary, we would record any impairment in accordance with ASC 350, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other. We will perform an impairment review between scheduled annual tests if facts and circumstances indicate that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit that has goodwill is less than its carrying value. In the process of our annual impairment review, we primarily use the income approach of valuation, which includes the discounted cash flow method, and the market approach of valuation, which considers values of comparable businesses, to determine the fair value of our goodwill. Significant management judgment is required in the forecasts of future operating results and the discount rates that we used in the discounted cash flow method of valuation and in the selection of comparable businesses that we used in the market approach.

     We reported $286.5 million of goodwill at December 26, 2009, which represents the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the identifiable net tangible and intangible assets that we acquired from Turner Renewable Energy, LLC and OptiSolar Inc. In accordance with ASC 350, Intangibles — Goodwill and Other, we performed our annual test of our goodwill for impairment in the fourth quarter of the year ended December 26, 2009 and concluded that it was not impaired. Testing goodwill for impairment involves two steps. The first step is comparing the fair value of a reporting unit containing goodwill to its carrying value. If the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying value, impairment is indicated and step two of the test must be performed. That step involves determining the implied fair value of the reporting unit’s goodwill by allocating the fair value of the reporting unit to the fair values of its identifiable assets and liabilities. Any excess of the fair value of the reporting unit over the net fair values of its identifiable assets and liabilities is attributed to goodwill, and any amount by which the carrying value of goodwill exceeds this implied fair value is written off as an impairment loss. The fair value of our goodwill substantially exceeded the carrying value and therefore we concluded that there was no indication that our goodwill was impaired and that performing step two of the goodwill impairment test was not applicable.

Results of Operations

     The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations as a percentage of net sales for the years ended December 26, 2009, December 27, 2008 and December 29, 2007:

		Years Ended
		December 26,				December 27,				December 29,
		2009				2008				2007
Net sales			100.0	%			100.0	%			100.0	%
Cost of sales			49.4	%			45.6	%			50.1	%
Gross profit			50.6	%			54.4	%			49.9	%
Research and development			3.8	%			2.7	%			3.0	%
Selling, general and administrative			13.2	%			14.0	%			16.4	%
Production start-up			0.7	%			2.6	%			3.3	%
Operating income			32.9	%			35.1	%			27.2	%
Foreign currency gain			0.3	%			0.5	%			0.4	%
Interest income			0.5	%			1.7	%			4.1	%
Interest expense, net			(0.3	)%			0.0	%			(0.5	)%
Other expense, net			(0.1	)%			(0.1	)%			(0.3	)%
Income tax expense (benefit)			2.2	%			9.3	%			(0.5	)%
Net income			31.1	%			27.9	%			31.4	%

Fiscal Years Ended December 26, 2009 and December 27, 2008

Net sales

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2009				2008				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Net sales		$	2,066,200			$	1,246,301			$	819,899				66	%

     The increase in our net sales was primarily driven by price elasticity that resulted in strong demand for our solar modules as prices declined, resulting in a 114% increase in the MW volume of solar modules sold during 2009 compared with 2008, and from an increase in business activity associated with our systems segment business, partially offset by a decrease in our module average selling price. Revenue recognized for our systems business during 2009 was $115.0 million and resulted primarily from the sale of two utility scale solar power systems to utilities in the United States and Canada. The increase in MW volume of solar modules sold is attributable to the full production ramp of all four plants at our Malaysian manufacturing center, continued improvements to our manufacturing process and the growth in our systems business. In addition, we increased the average conversion efficiency by approximately 3% during 2009 compared with 2008. Our average selling price decreased by approximately 25% during 2009 compared with 2008. Approximately 20% of the decline in our average selling price was primarily due to competitive pressure, including the commencement of a customer rebate program in the third quarter of 2009. Additionally, our average selling price was adversely impacted by approximately 4% due to a decrease in the foreign exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the euro and by approximately 1% due to a shift in customer mix. During 2009 and 2008, 65% and 74%, respectively, of our net sales resulted from sales of solar modules to customers headquartered in Germany.

Cost of sales

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2009				2008				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Cost of sales		$	1,021,618			$	567,908			$	453,710				80	%
% of net sales			49.4	%			45.6	%

     The increase in our cost of sales was due to higher production and sales volumes, which resulted from the commencement of production at all of our four plants at our Malaysian manufacturing center, production ramp of our Perrysburg, Ohio expansion, and an increase in business activity associated with our systems segment business. The increased production and sales volumes in our components business and increased volume sold through our systems business had the following effects: a $278.7 million increase in direct material expense (including an $8.2 million amortization of project assets acquired through our OptiSolar acquisition), a $41.0 million increase in warranty expense and accruals for the estimated future costs associated with the collection and recycling of our solar modules due to increased sales, a $13.8 million increase in sales freight and other costs, and a $120.2 million increase in manufacturing overhead costs. The increase in manufacturing overhead costs was due to a $35.3 million increase in salaries and personnel related expenses (including a $4.9 million increase in share-based compensation expense), a $32.9 million increase in facility and related expenses and a $52.0 million increase in depreciation expense. Each of these manufacturing overhead cost increases primarily resulted from increased infrastructure associated with the build out of our Malaysian manufacturing center and start-up of our systems business. Our average manufacturing cost per watt declined by $0.21 per watt, or 19%, from $1.08 in 2008 to $0.87 in 2009 and included $0.01 of ramp penalty associated with the ramp and qualification of our Malaysian and Perrysburg manufacturing facilities and $0.01 of non-cash stock based compensation.

Gross profit

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2009				2008				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Gross profit		$	1,044,582			$	678,393			$	366,189				54	%
% of net sales			50.6	%			54.4	%

     Gross profit as a percentage of net sales decreased by 3.8% percentage points in 2009 compared with 2008 due to a decline in our average selling prices by approximately 21%, partially offset by continued manufacturing cost per watt reduction of 19.4%. The decline in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the euro adversely impacted our gross profit by 2.2%. We expect that gross profit will be impacted in future periods by the volatility of the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the euro and product mix between our components and systems businesses.

Research and development

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2009				2008				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Research and development		$	78,161			$	33,517			$	44,644				133	%
% of net sales			3.8	%			2.7	%

     The increase in our research and development expense was due to a $14.2 million increase in personnel related expense (including a $2.3 million increase in share-based compensation expense) resulting from increased headcount. In addition, testing and qualification material costs increased by $18.0 million, consulting and other expenses increased by $11.5 million and grants received decreased by $0.9 million during 2009 compared with 2008. During fiscal 2009, we continued the development of solar modules with increased efficiencies at converting sunlight into electricity and we increased the conversion efficiency of our modules by approximately 3% in comparison to fiscal 2008.

Selling, general and administrative

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2009				2008				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Selling, general and administrative		$	272,898			$	174,039			$	98,859				57	%
% of net sales			13.2	%			14.0	%

     The increase in selling, general and administrative expense was due to a $66.0 million increase in salaries and personnel-related expenses (including a $23.0 million increase in share-based compensation expense, of which, $15.7 million were one-time charges associated with our executive management team). In addition, legal and professional service fees increased by $13.3 million; and other expenses increased by $19.6 million and included $6.9 million of one-time charges, of which, $5.5 million of costs related to the acquisition, integration and operation of the solar power project development business of OptiSolar, which we acquired on April 3, 2009.

Production start-up

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2009				2008				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Production start-up		$	13,908			$	32,498			$	(18,590	)			(57	)%
% of net sales			0.7	%			2.6	%

     During 2009, we incurred $13.9 million of production start-up expenses for our Malaysian and Perrysburg manufacturing expansions, including legal, regulatory and personnel costs, compared with $32.5 million of production start-up expenses for our Malaysian manufacturing expansion during 2008. Production start-up expenses are comprised of the cost of labor and material and depreciation expense to run and qualify the production lines, related facility expenses, management of our replication process and legal and regulatory costs.

Foreign currency gain

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2009				2008				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Foreign currency gain		$	5,207			$	5,722			$	(515	)			(9	)%

     Foreign currency gain decreased primarily due to a decrease in our net foreign currency denominated assets and liabilities.

Interest income

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2009				2008				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Interest income		$	9,735			$	21,158			$	(11,423	)			(54	)%

     Interest income decreased primarily due to a substantial decline in interest rates.

Interest expense, net

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2009				2008				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Interest expense, net		$	5,258			$	509			$	4,749				933	%

     Interest expense, net of amounts capitalized, increased primarily due to lower amounts of interest expense capitalized during 2009. In addition, interest expense, net for 2009 includes a $2.4 million expense related to the termination of the interest rate swaps for our German debt facility. We fully repaid this facility on June 30, 2009.

Other expense, net

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2009				2008				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Other expense, net		$	2,985			$	934			$	2,051				220	%

     Other expense, net, increased primarily due to expenses associated with our credit default swaps, which expired in the second quarter of 2009.

Income tax expense

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2009				2008				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Income tax expense		$	46,176			$	115,446			$	(69,270	)			(60	)%
Effective tax rate			6.7	%			24.9	%

     Income tax expense decreased primarily due to the effect of our tax holiday in Malaysia. During 2009, a significant amount of our pre-tax income was generated in Malaysia where we have a 16.5 year tax holiday. In addition, we recognized an $11.5 million tax benefit during 2009 related to the reversal of 2008 Malaysian tax due to the pull-forward of the tax holiday to 2008, which was granted in 2009. See also Note 18. “Income Taxes” to our condensed consolidated financial statements for more information.

Fiscal Years Ended December 27, 2008 and December 29, 2007

Net sales

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2008				2007				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Net sales		$	1,246,301			$	503,976			$	742,325				147	%

     The increase in our net sales was due primarily to a 148% increase in the MW volume of solar modules sold during 2008 compared with 2007 due to strong demand for our solar modules in Europe. The increase in MW volume of solar modules sold was attributable to the full production ramp of our German plant, commencement of product shipments at the first two plants at our Malaysian manufacturing center and continued improvements to our manufacturing process. In addition, we increased the average number of sellable watts per solar module by approximately 4% during 2008 compared with 2007. Our average selling price decreased by approximately 1% during 2008 compared with 2007, mainly due to a 6.5% contractual price decline, partially offset by a 6% increase related to a favorable foreign exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the euro. Approximately 74% of our net sales during 2008 resulted from sales of solar modules to customers headquartered in Germany.

Cost of sales

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2008				2007				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Cost of sales		$	567,908			$	252,573			$	315,335				125	%
% of net sales			45.6	%			50.1	%

     The increase in our cost of sales was due to higher production and sales volumes, which resulted from the full production ramp of our German facility and commencement of production at our first three plants at our Malaysian manufacturing center. These factors caused a $191.1 million increase in direct material expense, a $13.8 million increase in warranty and accruals for the estimated future costs associated with the collection and recycling of our solar modules, a $9.4 million increase in sales freight and other costs and a $101.0 million increase in manufacturing overhead costs. The increase in manufacturing overhead costs was due to a $40.5 million increase in salaries and personnel related expenses, including a $2.4 million increase in share-based compensation expense, a $30.7 million increase in facility and related expenses and a $29.8 million increase in depreciation expense, in each case primarily resulting from increased infrastructure associated with our German and Malaysian expansions.

Gross profit

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2008				2007				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Gross profit		$	678,393			$	251,403			$	426,990				170	%
% of net sales			54.4	%			49.9	%

     As a percentage of sales, gross profit increased 4.5 percentage points from 2007 to 2008, representing increased leverage of our fixed cost infrastructure and scalability associated with our German and Malaysian expansions, which drove a 148% increase in the number of megawatts sold. Our average manufacturing cost per watt decreased by 9% during 2008, while our average selling prices decreased by 1%. During 2008, foreign currency gains due to a favorable exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the euro and increased leverage of our fixed cost infrastructure contributed approximately 1.9% and 5.6%, respectively, to our gross profit, partially offset by a 3.0% decline in our average selling prices.

Research and development

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2008				2007				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Research and development		$	33,517			$	15,107			$	18,410				122	%
% of net sales			2.7	%			3.0	%

     The increase in our research and development expense was due to a $13.7 million increase in personnel related expense (including a $1.2 million increase in share-based compensation expense) due to increased headcount and additional share-based compensation awards. In addition, consulting and other expenses increased by $3.8 million and grant revenue increased by $0.9 million during 2008 compared with 2007.

Selling, general and administrative

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2008				2007				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Selling, general and administrative		$	174,039			$	82,248			$	91,791				112	%
% of net sales			14.0	%			16.4	%

     The increase in selling, general and administrative expense was due to a $62.0 million increase in salaries and personnel-related expenses (including a $15.5 million increase in share-based compensation). In addition, legal and professional service fees increased by $13.0 million and other expenses increased by $16.8 million during 2008. The increase resulted primarily from the expansion of our solar power system and project development business as well as operating a global manufacturing business.

Production start-up

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2008				2007				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Production start-up		$	32,498			$	16,867			$	15,631				93	%
% of net sales			2.6	%			3.3	%

     During 2008, we incurred $32.5 million of production start-up expenses for our Ohio and Malaysian manufacturing expansion, including legal, regulatory and personnel costs, compared with $16.9 million of production start-up expenses for our German and Malaysian plant expansions during 2007. Production start-up expenses are primarily the cost of labor and material and depreciation expense to run and qualify the production lines, related facility expenses, management of our replication process and legal and regulatory costs.

Foreign currency gain

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2008				2007				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Foreign currency gain		$	5,722			$	1,881			$	3,841				204	%

     Foreign exchange gain increased by $3.8 million during 2008 due to a substantial increase in our foreign currency denominated assets and liabilities and the high volatility of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies, in particular the euro.

Interest income

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2008				2007				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Interest income		$	21,158			$	20,413			$	745				4	%

     Interest income remained relatively flat primarily as a result of higher cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities balances during 2008, offset by a decline in interest rates.

Interest expense, net

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2008				2007				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Interest expense, net		$	509			$	2,294			$	(1,785	)			(78	)%

     Interest expense, net of amounts capitalized, decreased primarily as a result of higher amounts of interest expense capitalized due to the construction of our Malaysian manufacturing center.

Other expense, net

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2008				2007				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Other expense, net		$	934			$	1,219			$	(285	)			(23	)%

     Other expense, net consisted mainly of financing fees related to our credit facilities. During 2008, other expense was reduced by a mark-to-market gain of $0.6 million associated with our credit default swap.

Income tax expense (benefit)

		Years Ended								Year Over
		2008				2007				Year Change
		(Dollars in thousands)
Income tax expense (benefit)		$	115,446			$	(2,392	)		$	117,838				N.M.
Effective tax rate			24.9	%			(1.5	)%

     Income tax expense increased by $117.8 million, primarily due to the increase in pre-tax income of $307.8 million, as well as the reversal of a valuation allowance in 2007 of $54.9 million.

     Our Malaysian subsidiary has been granted a tax holiday for a period of 16.5 years, which was originally scheduled to commence on January 1, 2009, which generally provides for a 100% exemption from Malaysian income tax. Subsequent to year end, we received formal approval granting our request to pull forward this previously approved tax holiday by one year. Due to the fact that this approval was granted subsequent to the end of 2008, we concluded that the financial impact should be reflected in our 2009 financial results.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

     As of December 26, 2009, we had $1,114.3 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, compared with $821.8 million as of December 27, 2008. We believe that our current cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities, cash flows from operating activities and our revolving credit facility will be sufficient to meet our working capital and capital expenditure needs for at least the next 12 months. However, if our financial results or operating plans change from our current assumptions, we may not have sufficient resources to support our business plan.

     Our expanding systems business is expected to have increasing liquidity requirements in the future. Solar power project development cycles, which span the time between the identification of land and the commercial operation of a photovoltaic power plant project, vary substantially and can take many months or years to mature. As a result of these long project cycles, we may need to make significant up front investments of resources in advance of the signing of power purchase agreements and EPC contracts and the receipt of any revenue. We have historically financed these up front investments primarily using working capital and cash on hand. In the future, we may also engage in one or more debt or equity financings. Such financings could result in increased expenses or dilution to our existing stockholders. If we are unable to obtain debt or equity financing on reasonable terms, we may be unable to execute our expansion strategy.

     The unprecedented disruption in the credit markets over the past two years has had a significant adverse impact on a number of financial institutions. As of December 26, 2009, our liquidity and investments have not been materially adversely impacted by the current credit environment and we believe that they will not be materially adversely impacted in the near future. We will continue to closely monitor our liquidity and the credit markets. However, we cannot predict with any certainty the impact to us of any further disruption in the credit environment.

Cash Flows

     The following table summarizes the key cash flow metrics for the years ended December 26, 2009, December 27, 2008 and December 29, 2007 (in thousands):

		Years Ended
		2009				2008				2007
Net cash provided by operating activities		$	675,193			$	463,067			$	205,951
Net cash used in investing activities			(701,690	)			(308,441	)			(547,250	)
Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities			(22,021	)			177,549				430,421
Effect of exchange rates on cash flows			(3,201	)			(20,221	)			7,050
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents		$	(51,719	)		$	311,954			$	96,172

Operating activities

     Cash provided by operating activities was $675.2 million during 2009 compared with $463.1 million during 2008. Net cash provided by operating activities during 2009 resulted primarily from an increase in net income and the impact of non-cash items that were recorded on our statements of operations, primarily depreciation and amortization expense and stock-based compensation expense, offset by an increase in operating assets, primarily accounts receivable and deferred project costs.

     Cash received from customers increased to $1,957.6 million during 2009 compared with $1,203.8 million during 2008, primarily due to an increase in net sales, offset by an increase in accounts receivable of $122.2 million. The increase in accounts receivable was primarily due to the amendment of certain of our customers’ Long-Term Supply Contracts to extend their payment terms from net 10 days to net 45 days primarily to increase liquidity in our sales channel and to reflect longer module shipment times from our manufacturing plants in Malaysia and due to additional volume shipped during 2009. Our net sales increased from $1,246.3 million during 2008 to $2,066.2 million during 2009.

     Cash paid to suppliers and associates increased to $1,123.7 million during 2009 from $723.1 million during 2008, mainly due to an increase in raw material and component purchases, an increase in personnel-related costs due to higher headcount and other costs supporting our growth. Inventory increased by $52.1 million, of which

$32.2 million related to an increase in finished goods inventory as a result of inventory requirements for utility scale projects in North America.

     Income taxes paid, net of refunds during 2009, were $147.8 million compared to $2.0 million during 2008.

     Cash provided by operating activities was $463.1 million during 2008 compared with $206.0 million during 2007. Net cash provided by operating activities during 2008 resulted primarily from an increase in net income, accounts payable and accrued expenses in this period as well as the impact of non-cash items that were recorded on our statements of operations, primarily depreciation and amortization expense and stock-based compensation expense, offset by increases in accounts receivable and inventories to support growth. Our inventories increased by $84.8 million during 2008 compared with 2007 primarily due to an increase in raw materials and work in process as a result of revenue growth.

     Cash received from customers increased to $1,203.8 million during 2008 from $516.0 million during 2007 primarily due to an increase in net sales. Our net sales increased from $504.0 million during 2007 to $1,246.3 million in 2008. This increase was partially offset by cash paid to suppliers and associates of $723.1 million during 2008 compared with cash paid to suppliers and associates of $276.5 million during 2007, mainly due to an increase in raw material and component purchases, an increase in personnel-related costs due to higher headcount and other costs supporting our global expansion.

Investing activities

     Cash used in investing activities was $701.7 million during 2009 compared with $308.4 million during 2008. Cash used in investing activities during 2009 resulted primarily from the net purchase of marketable securities of $342.5 million, the net investment in notes receivable of $74.2 million to fund construction of various photovoltaic power generation facilities, capital expenditures of $279.9 million, and an increase of $4.2 million in restricted investments to fund our solar module collection and recycling program. Capital expenditures during 2009 related primarily to the expansion of our plant in Perrysburg, Ohio and completion of construction of our new plants in Malaysia. See Note 11. “Notes Receivable” to our consolidated financial statements for more information regarding the above-referenced notes receivable.

     On April 3, 2009, we completed the acquisition of the solar power project development business of OptiSolar Inc. The total consideration consisted of 2,972,420 shares of our common stock, of which 355,096 shares represented a contingent consideration. The total purchase price based on the closing price of our common stock on April 3, 2009 of $134.38 per share was $399.4 million. See also Note 3. “Acquisitions” to our consolidated financial statements.

     We expect to spend up to $550.0 million in capital expenditures for 2010, including expenditures related to the eight-line expansion of our manufacturing facility in Malaysia. A majority of our capital expenditures for 2010 will be incurred in foreign currency; and therefore, are subject to fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

     At the beginning of each fiscal year we pre-fund our estimated solar module collection and recycling costs for solar modules that we sold during the prior fiscal year through a custodial account with a large bank as investment advisor, in the name of a trust, for which First Solar, Inc., First Solar Malaysia Sdn. Bhd, and First Solar Manufacturing GmbH are grantors. For this purpose we assume a minimum service life of 25 years for our solar modules. Prior to June 2009, we pre-funded our estimated solar module collection and recycling costs through a financial services company. At December 26, 2009, we had $36.5 million in the new custodial account, which we classified in our restricted investments on our balance sheet. See Note 6. “Restricted Cash and Investments” to our consolidated financial statements for additional information

     Cash used in investing activities was $308.4 million during 2008 compared with $547.3 million during 2007. Cash used in investing activities during 2008 was primarily due to capital expenditures of $459.3 million related to the construction of our plants in Malaysia and Germany, an investment of $25.0 million in the preferred stock of a United States company that supplies solar power systems to commercial and residential customers and an increase in our restricted investments of $15.6 million to fund our solar module collection and recycling program, offset by the net sale of marketable securities of $191.4 million.

     On November 30, 2007, we completed the acquisition of Turner Renewable Energy, LLC, a privately held company which designed and deployed commercial solar power systems in the United States. The total consideration for the transaction was $34.3 million (excluding exit and transaction costs of $0.7 million); consisting of $28.0 million in common stock and $6.3 million in cash. See also Note 3. “Acquisitions” to our consolidated financial statements.

Financing activities

     Cash used in financing activities was $22.0 million during 2009 compared with cash provided by financing activities of $177.5 million during 2008. Cash used in financing activities during 2009 resulted primarily from the repayment of long-term debt of $78.2 million, which was partially offset by (i) proceeds of $44.7 million from the issuance of debt, net of issuance cost, related to the equipment export financing agreement for our Malaysian manufacturing center, (ii) proceeds from the issuance of common stock of $6.0 million during 2009 mainly due to the exercise of employee stock options and, (iii) excess tax benefits from share-based compensation arrangements of $4.9 million.

     Cash provided by financing activities was $177.5 million during 2008 compared with $430.4 million during 2007. Cash provided by financing activities during 2008 resulted primarily from an increase in investment incentives related to the construction of our plant in Frankfurt/Oder, Germany of $35.7 million and proceeds from the issuance of debt, net of issuance cost, of $138.9 million related to the equipment export facility agreement for our Malaysian manufacturing center. See Note 13. “Debt” to our consolidated financial statements for more information about these credit facilities. This increase was partially offset by the repayment of long-term debt of $41.7 million in 2008. Excess tax benefits from share-based compensation arrangements during 2008 were $28.7 million.

     Proceeds from the issuance of common stock during 2007 were $376.1 million mainly due to the receipt of $366.0 million in net proceeds from the issuance of our common stock as a result of our follow-on offering and $10.2 million of proceeds received from the exercise of employee stock options.

Contractual Obligations

     The following table presents our contractual obligations as of December 26, 2009, which consists of legal commitments requiring us to make fixed or determinable cash payments, regardless of contractual requirements with the vendor to provide future goods or services. We purchase raw materials for inventory, services and manufacturing equipment from a variety of vendors. During the normal course of business, in order to manage manufacturing lead times and help assure adequate supply, we enter into agreements with suppliers that either allow us to procure goods and services when we choose or that establish purchase requirements.

						Payments Due by Year
						Less Than				1 - 3				3 - 5				More Than
Contractual Obligations		Total				1 Year				Years				Years				5 Years
		(In thousands)
Long-term debt obligations(1)		$	196,388			$	35,895			$	65,995			$	62,586			$	31,912
Capital lease obligations			2				2				—				—				—
Operating lease obligations			72,183				8,392				20,719				13,988				29,084
Purchase obligations(2)			416,373				161,106				229,469				17,518				8,280
Recycling obligations			92,799				—				—				—				92,799
Total		$	777,745			$	205,395			$	316,183			$	94,092			$	162,075

     In addition to the amounts shown in the table above, we have recorded $37.2 million of unrecognized tax benefits as liabilities in accordance with ASC 740, and we are uncertain as to if or when such amounts may be settled.

Debt and Credit Sources

Revolving Credit Facility

     On September 4, 2009, we entered into a revolving credit facility pursuant to a Credit Agreement among First Solar, Inc., certain designated Borrowing Subsidiaries (consisting of First Solar Manufacturing GmbH, a German subsidiary, and other subsidiaries of our Company who may in the future be designated as borrowers pursuant to the Credit Agreement) and several lenders. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. and Bank of America served as Joint-Lead Arrangers and Bookrunners, with JPMorgan also acting as Administrative Agent. The Credit Agreement provides us and the borrowing subsidiaries with a senior secured three-year revolving credit facility in an aggregate available amount of $300.0 million, a portion of which is available for letters of credit and swingline loans. Subject to certain conditions, we have the right to request an increase in the aggregate commitments under the facility up to $400.0 million. In connection with the Credit Agreement, we also entered into a guarantee and collateral agreement and foreign security agreements.

     At December 26, 2009, we had no borrowings outstanding and $46.0 million in letters of credit drawn on the revolving credit facility, leaving approximately $254.0 million in capacity available under the revolving credit facility, $29.0 million of which may be used for letters of credit. As of this date, based on applicable indices, the all-in effective three months LIBOR borrowing rate under the facility was 3.47%. See also Note 13. “Debt” to our consolidated financial statements.

Malaysian Facility Agreement

     On May 6, 2008, in connection with the plant expansion at our Malaysian manufacturing center, First Solar Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (FS Malaysia), our indirect wholly owned subsidiary, entered into an export financing facility agreement (Malaysian Facility Agreement) with a consortium of banks. The total available loan amount was €134.0 million ($193.0 million at the balance sheet close rate on December 26, 2009 of $1.44/€1.00). Pursuant to the Malaysia Facility Agreement, we began semi-annual repayments of the principal balances of these credit facilities during 2008. Amounts repaid under this credit facility cannot be re-borrowed. At December 26, 2009, we had $168.3 million of borrowings outstanding, with no additional borrowing capacity available under this credit facility. See also Note 13. “Debt” to our consolidated financial statements.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

     We had no off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 26, 2009.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

     See Note 2. “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” to our consolidated financial statements filed with this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a summary of recent accounting pronouncements.

Item 7A: Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk

Foreign Currency Exchange Risk

     Our international operations accounted for 93% of our net sales during 2009 and 95% of our net sales during 2008; of which, 92% and 100% of these international sales, respectively, were denominated in euros. As a result, we have exposure to foreign exchange risk with respect to almost all of our net sales. Fluctuations in exchange rates, particularly in the U.S. dollar to euro exchange rate, affect our gross and net profit margins and could result in foreign exchange and operating losses. In the past, most of our exposure to foreign exchange risk has related to currency gains and losses between the times we sign and settle our sales contracts. For example, our Long-Term Supply Contracts obligate us to deliver solar modules at a fixed price in euros per watt and do not adjust for fluctuations in the U.S. dollar to euro exchange rate. For the year ended December 26, 2009, a 10% change in the

euro exchange rates would have impacted our net euro sales by $177.7 million. For our manufacturing operations in Germany and Malaysia, many of our operating expenses for the plants in these countries are denominated in the local currency.

     Our primary foreign currency exposures are transaction exposure, cash flow exposure and earnings translation exposure.

     Transaction Exposure: Many components of our business have assets and liabilities (primarily receivables, investments, accounts payable, debt, solar module collection and recycling liabilities and inter-company transactions) that are denominated in currencies other than the relevant entity’s functional currency. Changes in the exchange rates between our components’ functional currencies and the currencies in which these assets and liabilities are denominated can create fluctuations in our reported consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows. We may enter into foreign exchange forward contracts or other financial instruments to hedge assets and liabilities against the short-term effects of currency exchange rate fluctuations. The gains and losses on the foreign exchange forward contracts will offset all or part of the transaction gains and losses that we recognize in earnings on the related foreign currency assets and liabilities. As of December 26, 2009, the total unrealized loss on our foreign exchange forward contracts was $6.8 million. These contracts have maturities of less than two months.

     Since our acquisition of the solar power project development business of OptiSolar on April 3, 2009, we have also become exposed to currency exchange rate fluctuations between the U.S. dollar and Canadian dollar.

     As of December 26, 2009, the total notional value of our foreign exchange forward contracts was as follows (notional amounts and U.S. dollar equivalents in millions):

										Balance Sheet
										Close Rate on
										December 26,
Transaction		Currency		Notional Amount		U.S. Equivalent				2009
Purchase		Euro		€229.1		$	329.9			$1.44/€1.00
Sell		Euro		€109.9		$	158.3			$1.44/€1.00
Sell		U.S. dollar for Euro		$27.2		$	27.2			n/a
Purchase		Malaysian ringgits		MYR 104.5		$	30.3			$0.29/MYR1.00
Sell		Malaysian ringgits		MYR 22.8		$	6.6			$0.29/MYR1.00
Purchase		Japanese yen		JPY 275.0		$	2.8			$0.01/JPY1.00
Sell		Japanese yen		JPY 70.0		$	0.7			$0.01/JPY1.00
Purchase		Canadian dollar		CAD 108.4		$	103.0			$0.95/CAD1.00
Sell		Canadian dollar		CAD 120.1		$	114.1			$0.95/CAD1.00

     If the U.S. dollar would have weakened by 10% against the euro, Malaysian ringgit, Canadian dollar and Japanese yen, the favorable impact on our income before income taxes related to our foreign exchange contracts to purchase and sell euro, Malaysian ringgit, Canadian dollars and Japanese yen would have been $0.5 million.

     Cash Flow Exposure: We expect many of the components of our business to have material future cash flows, including revenues and expenses, which will be denominated in currencies other than the components’ functional currency. Our primary cash flow exposures are future customer collections and vendor payments. Changes in the exchange rates between our components’ functional currency and the other currencies in which they transact business will cause fluctuations in the cash flows we expect to receive when these cash flows are realized or settled. Accordingly, we may enter into foreign exchange forward contracts to hedge the value of a portion of these forecasted cash flows. We account for these foreign exchange contracts as cash flow hedges. We initially report the effective portion of the derivative’s gain or loss in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and subsequently reclassify amounts into earnings when the hedged transaction is realized.

     Most of our German plant’s operating expenses are denominated in euros, creating natural hedges against the currency risk in our net sales. In addition, we purchased foreign exchange forward contracts to hedge the exchange risk on forecasted cash flows denominated in euro. As of December 26, 2009, the unrealized loss on these contracts was $15.9 million and the total notional value of the contracts was €361.0 million ($519.8 million at the balance

sheet close rate on December 26, 2009 of $1.44/€1.00). The weighted average forward exchange rate for these contracts was $1.40/€1.00 at December 26, 2009.

     Earnings Translation Exposure: Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates create volatility in our reported results of operations because we are required to consolidate financial statements of our foreign currency denominated subsidiaries. We may decide to purchase forward exchange contracts or other instruments to offset this impact from currency fluctuations. These contracts would be marked-to-market on a monthly basis and any unrealized gain or loss would be recorded in interest and other income, net. We do not hedge translation exposure at this time, but may do so in the future.

     In the past, currency exchange rate fluctuations have had an impact on our business and results of operations. For example, currency exchange rate fluctuations negatively impacted our cash flows by $3.2 million and $20.2 million in the years ended December 26, 2009 and December 27, 2008, respectively. Although we cannot predict the impact of future currency exchange rate fluctuations on our business or results of operations, we believe that we will continue to have risk associated with currency exchange rate fluctuations in the future.

Interest Rate Risk

     We are exposed to interest rate risk because many of our customers depend on debt and equity financing to purchase and install a solar power system. Although the useful life of a solar electricity generation system is considered to be approximately 25 years, end-users of our solar modules must pay the entire cost of the system at the time of installation. As a result, many of our customers rely on debt financing to fund their up-front capital expenditures. An increase in interest rates could make it difficult for our end-users to secure the financing necessary to purchase and install a system. This could lower demand for our solar modules and system development services and reduce our net sales. In addition, we believe that a significant percentage of our end-users install solar power systems as an investment, funding the initial capital expenditure through a combination of equity and debt. An increase in interest rates could lower an investor’s return on investment in a system or make alternative investments more attractive relative to solar power systems, which, in each case, could cause these end-users to seek alternative investments that promise higher returns.

     During 2006, we entered into a credit facility with a consortium of banks for the financing of our German plant, which bore interest at the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (Euribor) plus 1.6%. We had interest rate swap contracts with a financial institution that effectively converted to fixed rates the variable rate of Euribor on the term loan portion of this credit facility. These swap contracts were required under the credit facility agreement which we repaid and terminated on June 30, 2009. Therefore, we terminated these interest rate swap contracts on June 26, 2009 and consequently recognized interest expense of €1.7 million ($2.4 million at the balance sheet close rate on December 26, 2009 of $1.44/€1.00). The termination of the interest rate swap contracts settled on June 30, 2009.

     During May 2008, we entered into a euro-denominated credit facility to finance some of the equipment cost for our Malaysian manufacturing center. The loans under the fixed-rate portion of the credit facility bear interest on the outstanding unpaid principal balance at an annual rate of 4.54%. The loans under the floating-rate portion of the credit facility bear interest on the outstanding unpaid principal balance at Euribor plus a margin of 0.55%. On May 29, 2009, we entered into an interest rate swap contract with a notional value of €57.3 million ($82.5 million at the balance sheet close rate on December 26, 2009 of $1.44/€1.00) to receive a six-month floating interest rate, equal to Euribor, and pay a fixed rate of 2.80%. This contract became effective on September 30, 2009. The notional amount of the interest rate swap contract is scheduled to decline in correspondence to our scheduled principal payments on the underlying hedged debt.

     In addition, we invest in debt securities, which exposes us to interest rate risk. The primary objective of our investment activities is to preserve principal and provide liquidity on demand, while at the same time maximizing the income we receive from our investments without significantly increasing risk. Some of the securities in which we invest may be subject to market risk. This means that a change in prevailing interest rates may cause the market value of the investment to fluctuate. For example, if we hold a security that was issued with an interest rate fixed at the then-prevailing rate and the prevailing interest rate later rises, the market value of our investment will probably decline. To minimize this risk, we maintain our portfolio of cash equivalents and marketable securities in a variety of securities, including money market mutual funds, government and non-government debt securities and

certificates of deposit. As of December 26, 2009, our fixed-income investments earned a pre-tax yield of 1.08%, with a weighted average maturity of 7.2 months. If interest rates were to instantaneously increase (decrease) by 100 basis points, the market value of our total investment portfolio could decrease (increase) by $4.8 million. The direct risk to us associated with fluctuating interest rates is limited to our investment portfolio and we do not believe that a 10% change in interest rates would have a significant impact on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows. As of December 26, 2009, all of our investments were in money market mutual funds, federal and foreign agency debt, supranational debt, corporate debt securities, foreign government obligations and asset backed securities.

Commodity and Component Risk

     We are exposed to price risks for the raw materials, components and energy costs used in the manufacture and transportation of our solar modules. Also, some of our raw materials and components are sourced from a limited number of suppliers or a sole supplier. We endeavor to qualify multiple suppliers, a process which could take up to 12 months if successful, but some suppliers are unique and it may not be feasible to qualify second source suppliers. In some cases, we also enter into long-term supply contracts for raw materials and components, but these arrangements are normally of shorter duration than the term of our Long-Term Supply Contracts with our customers. As a result, we remain exposed to price changes in the raw materials and components used in our solar modules. In addition, a failure by a key supplier could disrupt our supply chain which could result in higher prices for our raw materials and components and even a disruption in our manufacturing process. Since our selling price under our Long-Term Supply Contracts does not adjust in the event of price changes in our underlying raw materials or components and since our Long-Term Supply Contracts require minimum deliveries of our products during their terms, we are unable to pass along changes in the cost of the raw materials and components for our products and may be in default of our delivery obligations if we experience a manufacturing disruption.

Credit Risk

     We have certain financial and derivative instruments that subject us to credit risk. These consist primarily of cash, cash equivalents, investments, trade accounts receivable, interest rate swap contracts and foreign exchange forward contracts. We are exposed to credit losses in the event of nonperformance by the counterparties to our financial and derivative instruments. We place cash, cash equivalents, investments, interest rate swap contracts and foreign exchange forward contracts with various high-quality financial institutions and limit the amount of credit risk from any one counterparty. We continuously evaluate the credit standing of our counterparty financial institutions.

Item 8: Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

Consolidated Financial Statements

     Our consolidated financial statements as required by this item are included in “Item 15: Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules — Consolidated Financial Statements” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. See Item 15(a) for a list of our consolidated financial statements.

Selected Quarterly Financial Data (Unaudited)

     The following selected quarterly financial date should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements, the related notes and “Item 7: Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” This information has been derived from our unaudited consolidated financial statements that, in our opinion, reflect all recurring adjustments necessary to fairly present this information when read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing in the section entitled “Consolidated Financial Statements.” The results of operations for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for any future period.

		Quarters Ended
		Dec 26,				Sep 26,				Jun 27,				Mar 28,				Dec 27,				Sep 27,				Jun 28,				Mar 29,
		2009				2009				2009				2009				2008				2008				2008				2008
		(In thousands, except per share amounts)
Net sales		$	641,265			$	480,851			$	525,876			$	418,208			$	433,651			$	348,694			$	267,041			$	196,915
Cost of sales			375,056				235,858				227,780				182,924				199,725				153,251				122,341				92,591
Gross profit			266,209				244,993				298,096				235,284				233,926				195,443				144,700				104,324
Operating expenses:
Research and development			23,716				24,136				18,605				11,704				11,080				9,952				7,725				4,760
Selling, general and administrative			96,667				53,990				72,926				49,315				52,747				48,995				43,626				28,671
Production start-up			1,099				4,076				2,524				6,209				8,771				6,344				4,622				12,761
Total operating expenses			121,482				82,202				94,055				67,228				72,598				65,291				55,973				46,192
Operating income			144,727				162,791				204,041				168,056				161,328				130,152				88,727				58,132
Foreign currency gain (loss)			3,020				114				239				1,834				6,190				(1,889	)			647				774
Interest and other income (loss) , net			2,570				2,062				(2,982	)			(158	)			4,094				4,836				4,482				6,303
Income before income taxes			150,317				164,967				201,298				169,732				171,612				133,099				93,856				65,209
Income tax expense			8,697				11,623				20,719				5,137				38,841				33,830				24,185				18,590
Net income		$	141,620			$	153,344			$	180,579			$	164,595			$	132,771			$	99,269			$	69,671			$	46,619
Net income per share:
Basic		$	1.68			$	1.82			$	2.16			$	2.01			$	1.63			$	1.23			$	0.87			$	0.59
Diluted		$	1.65			$	1.79			$	2.11			$	1.99			$	1.61			$	1.20			$	0.85			$	0.57
Weighted-average number of shares used in per share calculations:
Basic			84,413				84,179				83,723				81,685				81,345				80,430				79,877				79,059
Diluted			86,004				85,892				85,668				82,612				82,450				82,436				82,004				81,607