The world’s largest maker of solar-manufacturing equipment will discontinue sales of its SunFab production line for thin-film panels, swallowing a restructuring bill expected to tip the scales at $375m-$425m.
Instead the California-based firm will double its efforts within the crystalline silicon (c-Si) sector, where it notched up record sales in the second quarter, according to chief executive Michael Splinter.
Splinter says the move will lower operating expenses by $100m and allow Applied’s energy and environmental unit to return to profitability by 2011.
It
