Since 2007, when it acquired US integrator Turner Renewable Energy, the Arizona-based company has built the first utility-scale PV plants in a range of countries, from Australia to the United Arab Emirates, and trumpeted big development deals from Chile to China, India, Japan and Jordan.

Today, however, that era of downstream expansion into foreign markets is largely coming to an end.

First Solar, the world’s most valuable solar company, is at the precipice of one of the largest strategic shifts in its history.