First Solar, Inc. is a publicly traded American manufacturer of solar panels, and provider of utility-scale PV power plants, supporting services that include finance, construction, maintenance and end-of-life panel recycling. First Solar uses rigid thin-film modules for its solar panels, and produces CdTe panels using cadmium telluride as a semiconductor. The company was founded in 1990 by inventor Harold McMaster as Solar Cells, Inc. and the Florida Corporation in 1993 with JD Polk. In 1999 it was purchased by True North Partners, LLC, who rebranded it as First Solar, Inc. The company went public in 2006, trading on the NASDAQ. Its current chief executive is Mark Widmar, who succeeded the previous CEO James Hughes July 1, 2016. The Ohio-based manufacturer opened its $1.1 billion facility in Alabama in September 2024. The company operates three facilities in Ohio and is currently constructing a $1.1 billion 3.5 GW plant in Louisiana expected to come online in 2026. Once the Louisiana facility is operational, the company expects to have more than 14 GW of domestic capacity. Wikipedia