Suntech Announces New 5-Year Silicon Wafer Purchase Agreement
News from
PR Newswire US , December 18, 2006
WUXI, China, Dec. 18 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ — Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE:STP) one of the world’s leading manufacturers of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Sunlight Group Inc. to purchase silicon wafers over a 5-year period. Sunlight is headquartered in the U.S. with China and Japan-based production. The contract provides for increased volumes over the course of the term at fixed prices for each year with an annual price review for each calendar year. Based on existing contract prices, the value of the silicon wafers to be supplied is approximately $366 million to $670 million.
”We are very pleased to enter into this agreement with Sunlight and look forward to a long term, strategic relationship with them. It is exciting to be able to secure yet another meaningful contract for silicon which will enable us to achieve our ambitious growth targets during a time of industry-wide silicon supply shortages. As all of these long term silicon supply contracts are priced measurably below spot market prices, we will see immediate cost savings when they take effect in 2007. Supply agreements such as these enable us to be among the fastest growing, lowest cost providers of PV products in the industry,” said Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Suntech’s chairman and CEO.
This agreement with Sunlight combined with recent deals with suppliers such as Comtec, MEMC and REC will enable Suntech to exceed its previous expectation that 70% of its wafer supply needs for its projected 2007 PV cell production output will be from fixed-price, multi-year contracts.
About Suntech
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. is a leading solar energy company in the world as measured by both production output and capacity of solar cells and modules. Suntech provides solar solutions for a green future. Suntech designs, develops, manufactures, and markets a variety of high quality, cost effective and environmentally friendly PV cells and modules for electric power applications in the residential, commercial, industrial, and public utility sectors. Suntech’s majority-owned subsidiary, MSK Corporation is one of Japan’s largest PV manufacturers and one of the top-ranked companies in the building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) space.