Applied Materials: To Pull Out Now Would Be a Travesty
Greentech Media submits: by Shyam Mehta Michael Kanellos and Eric Wesoff have covered the trials and travails of Applied Materials' (AMAT) SunFab turnkey production line in recent times in great detail. Bad news has not been hard to come by; from chatter about its possible demise, to the bankruptcy declaration of part-customer Sunfilm, to the refusal of a DOE loan to its Great White Hope (and a company this writer personally likes), Menlo Park-based Signet Solar, to an eyewitness account of CEO Mike Splinter attempting to wash his hands of the product altogether. Observers have been skeptical about Applied's prospects in this market from the get-go, because of the low efficiencies of modules produced and the high cost of the equipment. Once polysilicon prices fell to the levels they did, anyone with half a brain knew that amorphous silicon PV would have trouble being cost-competitive in the near-term. And yet, like all Big Businesses (for that is what they are), Applied kept confidently denying the validity of any perceived challenges to the technology or the product. Trouble is, they went about doing so with an air of paranoia that smelled like fear.Complete Story »
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