Spire Corporation Provides Strategic Update on Solar Expansion
Thursday January 10, 5:00 pm ET
Expanded Manufacturing Facility Provides Annual Revenue Potential of $200 Million; Company Projects Approximately $80 Million in Total Revenues for 2008
BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Spire Corporation (Nasdaq: SPIR - News), a global solar company providing turnkey solar factories and capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic modules worldwide, today announced that its recent 53,000 square foot solar manufacturing facility expansion, together with its refocused Spire Semiconductor solar-cell concentrator operations, are on track to significantly grow the company’s revenues in the solar energy and solar capital equipment markets.
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The company estimates that at full capacity, its Bedford headquarters facility can produce solar capital equipment valued at approximately $200 million in annual revenues. Based upon currently contracted backlog and anticipated delivery schedules for equipment, the company projects total revenues for 2008 to be approximately $80 million, primarily generated from the sale of solar capital equipment and turnkey solar factories.
“We’re in the midst of a historic expansion of capacity in the solar field, with manufacturers around the globe scrambling to bring factories on line to take advantage of the coming availability of silicon solar feedstocks,” said Roger Little, Spire Corporation’s Chairman and CEO. “We’ve undertaken a dramatic increase in our facility to meet this demand, nearly doubling our manufacturing square footage and more than doubling our headcount in the past year. This expansion is progressing well and we’re on track to generate roughly $80 million in total revenues for 2008, largely on the strength of our unique ability to provide a one-stop-shop for manufacturers wanting to enter the global solar market.”
“Our newly refocused Spire Semiconductor facility also will participate in this expansion by servicing the fast-growing gallium arsenide (GaAs) concentrator solar cell market,” continued Little. “This facility alone has the capacity to produce the equivalent of approximately 50 megawatts (MW) of 500-sun concentration, high efficiency multiple-junction concentrator cells. With nearly 30 years of experience in GaAs concentrators, we expect robust growth from this operation going forward.”
About Spire Corporation
Spire Corporation is a global solar company providing turnkey production lines and capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic modules worldwide. The company’s Spire Solar subsidiary is the world’s leading supplier of turnkey photovoltaic manufacturing lines and module manufacturing equipment. Spire Semiconductor, formerly Bandwidth Semiconductor, develops and manufactures custom gallium arsenide solar cells and other related products for the commercial, biomedical and defense markets. The company’s Spire Biomedical subsidiary is a leader in hemodialysis catheters and implantable device processing services.
For corporate or product information, contact Spire Corporation, “the turnkey solar factory company,” at 781-275-6000, or visit www.spirecorp.com.
Contact:
Spire Corporation
Roger Little, 781-275-6000
Chairman & CEO
or
Sharon Merrill Associates, Inc.
Paul Sagan, 617-542-5300
Vice President
