Edgar Filing: FIRST SOLAR, INC.

FSLR Dec11 10k

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 10-K

(Mark one)



[x]	ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

	For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011
or
[ ]	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

	For the transition period from to

Commission file number: 001-33156

First Solar, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



Delaware	20-4623678
(State or other jurisdiction of	(I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization)	Identification No.)

350 West Washington Street, Suite 600

Tempe, Arizona 85281

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

(602) 414-9300

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:



Title of each class	Name of each exchange on which registered
Common stock, $0.001 par value	The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes [x] No [ ]

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes [ ] No [x]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports) and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes [x] No [ ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes [x] No [ ]

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. [ ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):



Large accelerated filer [x]	Accelerated filer [ ]	Non-accelerated filer [ ]	Smaller reporting company [ ]
		(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes [ ] No [x]

The aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock, $0.001 par value per share, held by non-affiliates of the registrant on June 30, 2011, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was approximately $5,652,062,252 (based on the closing sales price of the registrant’s common stock on that date). Shares of the registrant’s common stock held by each officer and director and each person who owns 5% or more of the outstanding common stock of the registrant are not included in that amount, because such persons may be deemed to be affiliates of the registrant. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes. As of February 24, 2012, 86,485,999 shares of the registrant’s common stock, $0.001 par value per share, were issued and outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

The information required by Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, to the extent not set forth herein, is incorporated by reference from the registrant’s definitive proxy statement relating to the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held in 2012, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year to which this Annual Report on Form 10-K relates.

FIRST SOLAR, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

FORM 10-K FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS



		Page
PART I
Item 1:	Business	1
	Executive Officers of the Registrant	11
Item 1A:	Risk Factors	13
Item 1B:	Unresolved Staff Comments	30
Item 2:	Properties	30
Item 3:	Legal Proceedings	31
Item 4:	Mine Safety Disclosures	31

PART II
Item 5:	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	32
Item 6:	Selected Financial Data	34
Item 7:	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	36
Item 7A:	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	63
Item 8:	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	65
Item 9:	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	66
Item 9A:	Controls and Procedures	66
Item 9B:	Other Information	67

PART III
Item 10:	Directors, Executive Officers, and Corporate Governance	68
Item 11:	Executive Compensation	68
Item 12:	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	68
Item 13:	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence	68
Item 14:	Principal Accountant Fees and Services	68

PART IV
Item 15:	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules	69
Signatures		70
Consolidated Financial Statements		72
Index to Exhibits		128

Throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we refer to First Solar, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries as “First Solar,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our.” Our last three fiscal years ended on December 31, 2011, December 31, 2010, and December 26, 2009.

NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Securities Act of 1933, which are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. All statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made pursuant to safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements include statements, among other things, concerning our business strategy, including anticipated trends and developments in and management plans for our business and the markets in which we operate and plan to operate; future financial results, operating results, revenues, gross profit, operating expenses, products, projected costs, and capital expenditures; research and development programs; sales and marketing initiatives; and competition. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words, such as “estimate,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “project,” “plan,” “intend,” “believe,” “forecast,” “foresee,” “likely,” “may,” “should,” “goal,” “target,” “might,” “will,” “could,” “predict,” and “continue,” the negative or plural of these words, and other comparable terminology. Our forward-looking statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and our projections about future events. All forward-looking statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are based upon information available to us as of the filing date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements for any reason. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. These factors include the matters discussed in the section entitled Item 1A: “Risk Factors,” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described under this section.

PART I

Item 1: Business

Overview

We manufacture and sell solar modules with an advanced thin-film semiconductor technology, and we design, construct, and sell photovoltaic (PV) solar power systems.

In addressing overall growing global demand for PV solar electricity, we have developed a differentiated, fully integrated systems business that can provide a low-cost turn-key utility-scale PV system solution for system owners and low cost electricity to utility end-users. Our fully integrated systems business has enabled us to increase module throughput, drive cost reduction across the value chain, identify and break constraints to sustainable markets, and deliver compelling solutions to our customers and end-users. With our fully integrated systems business, we believe we are in a position to expand our business in transition markets and eventually economically sustainable markets (in which support programs are minimal), which are expected to develop in areas with abundant solar resources and sizable electricity demand. We are committed to continually lowering the cost of solar electricity, and in the long term, we plan to compete on an economic basis with conventional fossil-fuel-based peaking power generation.

In furtherance of our goal of delivering the lowest cost of solar electricity and achieving price parity with conventional fossil-fuel-based peak electricity generation, we are continually focused on reducing PV solar system costs in four primary areas: module manufacturing, balance of systems (BoS) costs (consisting of the costs of the components of a solar power system other than the solar modules, such as inverters, mounting hardware, grid interconnection equipment, wiring and other devices, and installation labor costs), project development costs, and the cost of capital. First, with respect to our module manufacturing costs, our advanced technology has allowed us to reduce our average module manufacturing costs to the lowest in the world for modules produced on a commercial scale, based on publicly available information. In 2011, our total average manufacturing costs were $0.75 per watt, which we believe is less than those of traditional crystalline silicon solar module manufacturers. By continuing to improve conversion efficiency, production line throughput, and lower material costs, we believe that we can further reduce our manufacturing costs per watt and maintain our cost advantage over traditional crystalline silicon solar module manufacturers. Second, with respect to our BoS costs, by continuing to improve conversion efficiency, leverage volume procurement around standardized hardware platforms, and accelerate installation times, we believe we can continue to make reductions in BoS costs, which represent over half of all of the costs associated with a typical utility-scale PV solar power system. Third, with respect to our project development costs, we seek optimal site locations in an effort to minimize transmission and permitting costs, and to accelerate lead times to electricity generation. Finally, with respect to our cost of capital, by continuing to demonstrate the financial viability and operational performance of our utility-scale PV solar power plants and increase our PV solar power system operating experience, we believe we can continue to lower the cost of capital associated with our PV solar power systems, thereby further enhancing the economic viability of our projects and lowering the cost of electricity generated by PV solar power systems that incorporate our modules

and technology.

We are the world’s largest thin-film PV solar module manufacturer and one of the world's largest PV solar module manufacturers. We produced nearly 2 gigawatts (GW) of solar modules in 2011. We manufacture our solar modules on high-throughput production lines and perform all manufacturing steps ourselves in an automated, proprietary, and continuous process. Our solar modules employ a thin layer of semiconductor material to convert sunlight into electricity. Our manufacturing process eliminates the multiple supply chain operators and expensive and time consuming batch processing steps that are used to produce crystalline silicon solar modules. Currently, we manufacture our solar modules at our Perrysburg, Ohio, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany, and Kulim, Malaysia manufacturing facilities and we conduct our research and development activities primarily at our Perrysburg, Ohio manufacturing facility.

Our fully integrated PV solar power systems business includes (i) project development, (ii) engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services, (iii) operating and maintenance (O&M) services including monitoring and diagnostics (M&D) services, and (iv) project finance expertise, all as described in more detail below.

•

During project development, we obtain land and land rights for the development of solar power plants incorporating our modules, negotiate long-term power purchase agreements (PPA) with potential purchasers of the electricity to be generated by those plants or develop plants in regulated markets where feed-in-tariff (FiT) structures are in place, manage the interconnection and transmission process, negotiate agreements to interconnect the plants to the electric grid, and obtain the permits which are required prior to the construction of the plants, including applicable environmental and land use permits. We may also buy projects in various stages of development and continue developing those projects with system designs incorporating our own modules. We sell developed projects to system operators who wish to own generating facilities, such as utilities, or to investors who are looking for long-term investment vehicles that are expected to generate consistent returns.

•

We provide EPC services to projects developed by our project development business, to projects developed by independent solar power project developers, and directly to system owners such as utilities. EPC services include engineering design and related services, advanced development of grid integration solutions, and construction contracting and management. The procurement component of our EPC services includes deployment of our modules as well as BoS parts that we procure from third parties. Depending on the market opportunity or geographic location, First Solar may provide our full EPC services or any combination of individual services within our EPC capabilities. An example of such combination of individual services would be providing engineering design and procurement of BoS parts and modules (EP services) for a third party constructing a PV solar power system.

•

For solar power plants that we have developed and built, we may provide ongoing O&M services to the system owner under long-term service agreements. O&M services may include all or a combination of the following scopes of work: overseeing the day-to-day operation of the system, safety and security, maximizing energy production, and management of reliability, site services, PPA and other contractual compliance, environmental and permit compliance, grid compliance, regulatory requirements, recordkeeping, forecasting, warranty, preventative and scheduled maintenance, and spare parts inventory, and may also include certain guarantees relating to the availability or up-time of a project. M&D services, which are a subset of our broader O&M services, may include monitoring and reporting of plant performance and diagnosing performance matters to assist customers in maximizing the performance of their plants.

•

Our project finance group is primarily responsible for negotiating and executing the sale of utility-scale power plant systems incorporating our modules which allows us to optimize the value of our project development portfolio. This group is experienced in structuring non-recourse project debt financing in the bank loan market and debt capital markets and raising project equity capital from tax oriented and strategic industry equity investors and can provide support in arranging and/or facilitating financing for projects incorporating our modules.

We believe that combining our reliable, low-cost module manufacturing capability with our systems business enables us to more rapidly reduce the price of solar electricity, accelerate the adoption of our technology in utility-scale PV solar power systems, identify and remove constraints on the successful migration to sustainable solar markets around the world, and further our mission to create enduring value by enabling a world powered by clean, affordable solar electricity.

Long Term Strategic Plan

markets throughout the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. As part of our LTSP, we expect to focus on opportunities in which our solar PV generation solutions will compete directly with fossil fuel offerings on a levelized cost of energy basis and decrease our focus on rooftop solar. Execution of the LTSP will entail a reallocation of resources around the globe, in particular dedicating resources to regions such as Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa where we have not traditionally conducted significant business to date. We will evaluate and manage closely the appropriate level of resources required as we transition into and penetrate these specific markets. We intend to dedicate significant capital and human resources to reduce the total installed cost of solar PV generation, to optimize the design and logistics around our solar PV generation solutions, and to ensure that our solutions integrate well into the overall electricity ecosystem of the specific region.

Segment Information

We operate our business in two segments. Our components segment involves the design, manufacture, and sale of solar modules which convert sunlight into electricity. Third-party customers of our components segment include project developers, system integrators, and operators of renewable energy projects.

Our second segment is our systems business, which involves the sale of our solar modules coupled with the engineering, procurement and construction of the solar PV power plant. As part of our systems offerings, we also offer O&M services, when applicable. We sell our systems offerings primarily through two channels: 1) direct to third-party customers, such as investor owned utilities, independent power developers and producers, commercial and industrial companies, and other system owners and 2) our in-house project development pipeline. Through our in-house project development pipeline, we combine the systems offerings with the sale of the project to third parties, which in certain situations include the facilitation of project finance. Historically, the sale of projects to third parties have included but are not limited to independent power producers and financial sponsors.

Our Chief Operating Decision Maker (CODM), consisting of certain members of our senior executive staff, has viewed the manufacturing and sale of solar modules from the components segment as the core driver of our resource allocation, profitability, and cash throughput. All sales or service offerings from our systems segment are for PV solar power systems that use our solar modules, which are designed and manufactured by our components segment. As a result, we have viewed our systems segment as an enabler to drive module throughput. Our systems segment enables solar module throughput by developing state of the art construction techniques and process management to reduce the installed cost of our PV systems and, accordingly, this business was not intended to generate profits that are independent of the underlying solar modules sold with such systems segment service offerings. Therefore, for the fiscal years 2011, 2010 and 2009, our CODM viewed the primary objective of our systems segment to acheive break-even results before income taxes. In our operating segment financial disclosures, we include all sales of solar modules manufactured by our components segment and installed in projects sold by our systems segment in “net sales” of our components business. See Note 24. “Segment and Geographical Information,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Components Business

Our components segment involves the design, manufacture, and sale of solar modules which convert sunlight into electricity.

Solar Modules

Each solar module is a glass laminate approximately 2ft x 4ft (60cm x 120cm) in size that encapsulates a cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film semiconductor. Our solar modules had an average rated power of approximately 80 watts, 76 watts, and 75 watts for 2011, 2010, and 2009, respectively. Our semiconductor structure is a single-junction polycrystalline thin-film that uses cadmium telluride as the absorption layer and cadmium sulfide as the window layer. Cadmium telluride has absorption properties that are highly matched to the solar spectrum and can deliver competitive conversion efficiencies using only about 1-2% of the amount of semiconductor material (i.e., silicon) that is used to manufacture traditional crystalline silicon solar modules.

Manufacturing Process

We have integrated our manufacturing processes into a continuous production line with the following three stages: the deposition stage, the cell definition stage, and the assembly and test stage. In the deposition stage, panels of treated glass are robotically loaded onto the production line where they are cleaned, heated, and coated with a layer of cadmium sulfide followed by a layer of cadmium telluride using our proprietary vapor transport deposition technology, after which the semiconductor-coated plates are cooled rapidly to increase strength. In the cell definition stage, we use high speed lasers to transform the large single semiconductor coating on the glass plate into a series of interconnected cells that deliver the desired current and voltage output. Our proprietary laser scribing technology is capable of accomplishing accurate and complex scribes at high speeds. Finally, in the

assembly and test stage, we apply busbars, inter-laminate material, and a rear glass cover sheet that is laminated to encapsulate the semiconductor. A junction box and termination wires are then applied to complete the assembly. Each solar module is then tested for current leakage and measured on a solar simulator. The final assembly stage is the only stage in our production line that requires manual processing.

Our manufacturing facilities in Perrysburg, Ohio, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany, and Kulim, Malaysia have each received an ISO 9001 quality system certification, an ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management Systems certification, and the Occupational Health and Safety Standards Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001 certification, an international occupational health and safety management system specification. We anticipate that any future manufacturing facilities will also obtain these certifications within 24 months of production start-up and qualification.

Research, Development, and Engineering

We continue to devote a substantial amount of resources to research and development with the primary objective of lowering the cost of electricity generated by PV systems using our solar modules. Within our components business, we focus our research and development activities on, among other areas, continuing to increase the conversion efficiency of our solar modules and improving manufacturing efficiencies, including throughput improvement, volume ramp, and material cost reduction. We believe the most promising ways of increasing the conversion efficiency of our solar modules include maximizing the number of photons that reach the absorption layer of the semiconductor material to facilitate conversion into electrons, maximizing the number of electrons that reach the surface of the semiconductor and minimizing the electrical losses between the semiconductor layer and the back metal conductor.

In the course of our research and development activities, we continuously explore and research technologies in our efforts to sustain competitive differentiation in our modules. We typically qualify process and product improvements for full production at our Ohio plant and then use our process to propagate them to our other production lines. We believe that our systematic approach to research and development will provide continuous improvements and ensure uniform adoption across our production lines. In addition, our production lines are replicas of each other and, as a result, a process or production improvement on one line can be rapidly deployed to other production lines.

In the past year we have set two new world records for CdTe PV solar module efficiency, achieving CdTe solar cell efficiency of 17.3 percent and total area module efficiency of 14.4 percent. Cell efficiency measures the proportion of light converted to energy in a single solar cell, whereas total area module efficiency measures light conversion across a production-size, multi-cell solar module, providing a more realistic assessment of real-world performance than cell efficiency. Both the cell and module record-setters were constructed using commercial-scale manufacturing equipment and materials at our Perrysburg, Ohio factory, and both records were confirmed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab.

Customers

With respect to our components business, during 2011, we sold the majority of our solar modules to solar power system project developers, system integrators, and operators headquartered in Germany, France, India, Italy, and the United States, which either resell our solar modules to end-users or integrate them into power plants that they own, operate, or sell. Our customers typically develop, construct, own, and operate solar power plants or sell turn-key solar power plants to end-users that include owners of land, owners of agricultural buildings, owners of commercial warehouses, offices and industrial buildings, public agencies, municipal government authorities, utility companies, and financial investors who desire to own large-scale solar power plant projects. As described above under “Business – Long Term Strategic Plan,” we are investing in sustainable market development, particularly in areas with abundant solar resources and sizable electricity demand, including the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East and Africa (MENA).

As of December 31, 2011, we had supply contracts for the sale of solar modules entered into in prior years and expiring at the end of 2012 with thirteen solar power system project developers and system integrators headquartered within the European Union (Supply Contracts). These Supply Contracts historically accounted for a significant portion of our planned module production, but the committed volumes in 2012 are not expected to have as significant of an effect on our overall financial performance in 2012 compared to prior years. In the past, we have amended pricing, volume, delivery timing and other terms in our Supply Contracts on a prospective basis in order to remain competitive, and we may decide in the future to further amend these contracts in order to address the highly competitive environment for solar modules. Effective September 30, 2011, the rebate program under which we provided certain of our customers a price rebate for solar modules purchased from us, ended. We have begun early stage discussions with our customers under current Supply Contracts regarding replacement contracts for periods covering 2013 and beyond, but such replacement contracts are not expected to be long-term in nature. As we execute on our Long Term Strategic Plan, we expect these Supply Contracts to account for a declining portion of our planned module production. We

also enter into module sales agreements with customers worldwide for specific projects or volumes of modules in watts. For additional information regarding the rebate program, see Note 8. “Consolidated Balance Sheet Details,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

During 2011, the principal third-party customers of our components business were EDF EN Development and Belectric. During 2011, each of these two customers individually accounted for more than 10% of our components segment’s net sales. Each of our other customers individually accounted for less than 10% of our components segment’s net sales during 2011. The loss of any of our major components business customers could have an adverse effect on our business. As described above under “Business – Long Term Strategic Plan,” we are seeking to develop additional customer relationships primarily in sustainable markets and regions, which would reduce our customer and geographic concentration and dependence.

While our Supply Contracts have certain firm purchase commitments, these contracts are subject to amendments made by us or requested by our customers, such as the above mentioned amendments we have historically made. These amendments decreased the expected revenue under our Supply Contracts during 2009, 2010, and 2011. In addition, our Supply Contracts are substantially denominated in euro and, therefore, are subject to exchange rate fluctuations between the euro and U.S. dollar.

Competition

The renewable energy, solar energy, and solar module sectors are highly competitive and continually evolving as these sector participants strive to distinguish themselves within their markets and compete within the larger electric power industry. We face intense competition, which may result in significant price reductions, reduced margins, or loss of market share. With respect to our components business, our primary sources of competition are currently crystalline silicon solar module manufacturers, as well as other thin-film module manufacturers and companies developing solar thermal and concentrated PV technologies. Certain of our existing or future competitors may be part of larger corporations that have greater financial resources and greater brand name recognition than we do and, as a result, may be better positioned to adapt to changes in the industry or the economy as a whole. Certain competitors may have direct or indirect access to sovereign capital, which could enable such competitors to operate at minimal or negative operating margins for sustained periods of time. Among PV module and cell manufacturers, the principal methods of competition include price per watt, production capacity, conversion efficiency, reliability, warranty terms, and payment terms. In 2011, industry average module pricing declined significantly as competitors reduced prices to sell-through inventories in Europe and elsewhere. If competitors reduce module pricing to levels near or below their manufacturing costs, or are able to operate at minimal or negative operating margins for sustained periods of time, our results of operations could be adversely affected. At December 31, 2011, the global PV industry consisted of more than 150 manufacturers of solar modules and cells. In the aggregate, these manufacturers have installed production capacity that significantly exceeded global demand in 2011. We believe this structural imbalance between supply and demand (i.e., where production capacity significantly exceeds current global demand) will continue for the foreseeable future, and we expect that it will continue to put pressure on pricing, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

In addition, we expect to compete with future entrants to the PV industry that offer new technological solutions. We may also face competition from semiconductor manufacturers and semiconductor equipment manufacturers or their customers, several of which have already announced their intention to start production of PV cells, solar modules, or turn-key production lines.

We also face competition from companies that currently offer or are developing other renewable energy technologies (including wind, hydropower, geothermal, biomass, and tidal technologies) and other power generation sources that burn conventional fossil fuels.

Raw Materials

Our manufacturing process uses approximately 30 types of raw materials and components to construct a complete solar module. One critical raw material in our production process is cadmium telluride. Of the other raw materials and components, the following eight are also critical to our manufacturing process: front glass coated with transparent conductive oxide, cadmium sulfide, photo resist, laminate material, tempered back glass, cord plate/cord plate cap, lead wire, and solar connectors. Before we use these materials and components in our manufacturing process, a supplier must undergo a rigorous qualification process. We continually evaluate new suppliers and currently are qualifying several new suppliers and materials. When possible we attempt to use suppliers that can provide a raw material supply source that is local to our manufacturing locations, reducing the cost and lead times for such materials. A few of our critical materials or components are single sourced and most others are supplied by a limited number of suppliers. We have previously explored tellurium mineral claims in various locations with the intention of developing them, but after further analysis we have determined to cease such tellurium exploration and development activities.

Collection and Recycling Program

Consistent with the environmental philosophy of extended producer responsibility, we have established the solar industry's first comprehensive, pre-funded module collection and recycling program. The program is designed to maximize the recovery of valuable materials for use in new modules or other new products and minimize the environmental impacts associated with our modules at the end of their useful life. Approximately 90% of each collected First Solar module is recycled into materials for use in new products, including new solar modules. End-users can request collection and recycling of their solar modules by us at any time at no cost. We fund the estimated collection and recycling cost for the prior year’s module sales within 90 days of the end of the fiscal year, assuming for this purpose a minimum service life of 25 years for our solar modules. In addition to achieving substantial environmental benefits, our solar module collection and recycling program may provide us the opportunity to resell or redistribute working modules or recover certain raw materials and components for reuse in our manufacturing process. We currently have recycling facilities operating at each manufacturing facility (for manufacturing scrap, warranty returns, and modules collected at the end of their useful life) that produce glass suitable for use in the production of new glass products and unrefined semiconductor materials that will be further processed by a third party supplier and then used to produce semiconductor materials for use in our solar modules.

To ensure that the pre-funded amounts are available regardless of our financial status in the future, a trust structure has been established; funds are put into custodial accounts in the name of a trustee. Only the trustee can distribute funds from the custodial accounts and these funds cannot be accessed for any purpose other than for administering module collection and recycling, either by us or a third party executing the collection and recycling services. To provide further assurance that sufficient funds will be available, our module collection and recycling program, including the financing arrangement, is periodically reviewed by an independent auditor.

Solar Module Warranty

We have historically provided a limited warranty against defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service conditions for 5 years following delivery to the owners of our solar modules. For solar module sales made subsequent to September 30, 2011, we have increased the limited warranty we provide against defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service conditions from 5 years to 10 years.

We also warrant to our owners that solar modules installed in accordance with agreed-upon specifications will produce at least 90% of their power output rating during the first 10 years following their installation and at least 80% of their power output rating during the following 15 years. In resolving claims under both the defects and power output warranties, we have the option of either repairing or replacing the covered solar modules or, under the power output warranty, providing additional solar modules to remedy the power shortfall. For modules sold after September 30, 2011, we also have the option to make a payment for the then-current market module price to resolve claims. Our warranties are automatically transferred from the original purchasers of our solar modules to subsequent purchasers upon resale. As of December 31, 2011, our components business’ accrued warranty liability was $155.5 million, of which $77.0 million was classified as current and $78.5 million was classified as noncurrent. As of December 31, 2010, our components business’ accrued warranty liability was $26.5 million, of which $9.8 million was classified as current and $16.7 million was classified as noncurrent.

Systems Business

Through our fully integrated systems business, we provide a complete solar power system solution using our solar modules, which may include project development, EPC services, O&M services, when applicable, and project finance, when required.

Our systems business has grown over the past several years through a combination of business acquisitions and organic growth. In April 2009, we completed the acquisition of the project development business of OptiSolar Inc., which included a multi-gigawatt project pipeline. In July 2010, we completed the acquisition of NextLight Renewable Power, LLC (NextLight), a leading developer of utility-scale solar projects in the southwestern United States. The NextLight transaction expanded our pipeline of solar power projects in the southwestern United States and further expands our position in the U.S. utility-scale power market.

Our systems business is dependent upon successful completion of project development activities including: site selection and securing rights to acquire or use the site, obtaining in a timely manner the requisite interconnection and transmission studies, executing an interconnection agreement, obtaining environmental and land use permits, maintaining effective site control, and entering into a power purchase agreement with an off-taker of the power to be generated by the project. These activities culminate in receiving the right to construct and operate a solar power system. Depending on the market opportunity or geographic location, we may acquire projects in various stages of development or acquire project companies from developers in order to complete the development process, construct a PV power plant incorporating our modules and sell the system to investors. PPAs or FiT structures define the price and terms the utility customer or investor will pay for power produced from a project. Entering into a PPA generally

provides the underlying economics needed to finalize development including permitting, begin construction, arrange the financing, and market the project for sale to a long-term project owner. Depending primarily on the location, stage of development upon our acquisition of the project, and other site attributes, the development cycle typically ranges from one to five years. We may be required to incur significant costs for preliminary engineering, permitting, legal, and other expenses before we can determine whether a project is feasible, economically attractive, or capable of being built. If there is a delay in obtaining any required regulatory approvals, we may be forced to incur additional costs or write-down capitalized investments, and the right of the off-taker under the PPA to terminate may be triggered.

Our systems business' current and planned activities are focused on markets around the world.

In North America, we have as of February 28, 2012, a 2.7 GW AC pipeline of projects that we expect to construct. We are also developing other projects in North America that do not yet have PPAs. See Item 7: “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Financial Operations Overview – Net Sales – Systems Business,” for a listing of these projects.

In Europe, we are engaged in project development activities with respect to certain projects in Germany and Italy and we are actively evaluating additional project opportunities in matured European markets and emerging Eastern Europe.

In Asia (including India, China and Southeast Asia) and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), we have been actively pursuing opportunities to offer our utility-scale PV systems solutions. We expect our focus on, and investment in, these markets to increase as we execute our Long Term Strategic Plan.

Customers

With respect to our systems business, our customers consist of investor owned utilities, independent power developers and producers, commercial and industrial companies, and other system owners who purchase from us completed solar power plants, EPC services, and O&M services when required. During 2011, the substantial majority of our systems business sales were generated in North America.

During 2011, the principal customer of our systems business was NRG Energy. During 2011, this customer individually accounted for the majority of our systems segment’s net sales. Each of our other customers individually accounted for less than 10% of our system segment's net sales during 2011.

Competition

With respect to our systems business, we face competition from other providers of renewable energy solutions, including developers of PV, solar thermal and concentrated solar power systems, and developers of other forms of renewable energy projects, including wind, hydropower, geothermal, biomass, and tidal projects. To the extent other solar module manufacturers become more vertically integrated, we expect to face increased competition from such companies as well. We also face competition from other EPC companies and joint ventures between EPC companies and solar companies.

EPC Warranty

In addition to our solar module warranty described above, for solar power plants built by our systems business, we typically provide a limited warranty against defects in workmanship, engineering design, and installation services under normal use and service conditions for a period of one to two years following the energizing of a section of a solar power plant or upon substantial completion of the entire solar power plant. In resolving claims under the workmanship, design and installation warranties, we have the option of either remedying the defect to the warranted level through repair, refurbishment, or replacement. As of December 31, 2011, our systems business’ accrued warranty liability was $2.2 million, of which $1.6 million was classified as current and $0.6 million was classified as noncurrent. As of December 31, 2010, our systems business’ accrued warranty liability was $1.4 million, all of which was classified as current.

Support Programs

Support programs for PV solar electricity generation, depending on the jurisdiction, include feed-in tariffs (FiTs), quotas (including renewable portfolio standards and tendering systems), and net metering programs. In addition to these, financial incentives for renewables include tax incentives, grants, loans, rebates, and production incentives. Although we expect to become less impacted by, and less dependent on, support programs as we execute on our Long Term Strategic Plan and transition into sustainable markets, support programs will continue to play varying roles in accelerating adoption of our PV solar systems around

the world.

Under a basic FiT program, producers of renewable energy are paid a set rate for their electricity, usually differentiated according to the technology used and size of the installation. For PV solar, the rate has historically been set above market rates and is fixed for a period of up to 25 years. In most countries with FiTs, grid operators are obliged to provide priority and guaranteed access to the grid for renewable energy installations. The additional costs of these schemes are generally passed through to the electricity consumers by way of a premium on the kilowatt hour (kWh) end-user price. These FiT subsidies have been critical for the development of the solar industry because they provided the demand visibility required for module manufacturers and other participants in the solar value chain to reduce costs and drive scale. Prior to 2011, the majority of our module sales had been for grid-connected ground or commercial roof mounted solar power systems in Germany and other European Union countries with FiT subsidies.

Whereas FiT laws set the price and let the market determine capacity and generation, quota systems work in reverse. In general, governments mandate a minimum share of capacity or (grid-connected) generation of electricity to come from renewable energy sources. This share often increases over time, with a specific final target and end-date. The mandate can be placed on producers, distributors, or consumers.

There are two main types of quota systems used: obligation/certificate and tendering systems. A renewable portfolio standard (RPS) is in the former category. Under an RPS, regulated utilities are required to procure a specified percentage of their total electricity sales to end-user customers from eligible renewable resources, such as solar generating facilities, by a specified date. Some programs further require that a specified portion of the total percentage of renewable energy must come from solar generating facilities. The majority of states in the U.S. have enacted legislation adopting RPS mechanisms. RPS legislation and implementing regulations vary significantly from state to state, particularly with respect to the percentage of renewable energy required to achieve the state’s RPS mandate, the definition of eligible renewable energy resources, and the extent to which renewable energy credits (paper certificates representing the generation of renewable energy) qualify for RPS compliance. Currently, there is no federal RPS mandate or clean energy standard, although the Obama Administration has called upon the United States Congress to create one. Measured in terms of the volume of renewable electricity required to meet its RPS mandate, California’s RPS program is the most significant in the U.S., and the California market for renewable energy dominates the western U.S. region. First enacted in 2002, California’s RPS statute has been amended several times to increase the overall percentage requirement as well as to accelerate the target date for program compliance. Pursuant to amendments enacted by the California Legislature in April 2011, the California RPS program now requires obligated load serving entities to procure 33% of their retail electricity demand from eligible renewable resources by 2020.

In contrast to an RPS system, tendering systems of procurement (such as those used in South Africa and India) are focused on specific targets for new capacity. In South Africa, for example, the government is procuring bids under a competitive tender with solicitation dates spread over about two years. The request for proposal (RFP) is the first major solicitation in support of a target of over 8 GW of renewable energy in South Africa’s Integrated Resource Plan. Project proponents bid competitively at each solicitation date until all the capacity has been allocated. The tender solicitation approach allows governments or utilities to proscribe project construction time frames to achieve specific generation targets for the electricity system.

Net energy metering programs enable end-users to install renewable systems and to offset their retail energy consumption with production from on-site facilities and, in some cases, to sell excess solar electricity to their retail electricity provider. Because the bundled cost of retail electricity usually exceeds the cost of unbundled electricity, net metering programs provide an incentive to the end-user, based on the savings for the electricity system. The policies governing net energy metering vary by state and utility. Some utilities pay the end-user in advance, while others credit the end-user’s bill.

Tax incentive programs exist in the United States at both the federal and state level and can take the form of investment and production tax credits, accelerated depreciation and sales and property tax exemptions. At the federal level, investment tax credits for business and residential solar systems have gone through several cycles of enactment and expiration since the 1980’s. In October 2008, the United States Congress extended the 30% federal investment tax credit (ITC) for both residential and commercial solar installations for eight years, through December 31, 2016. The ITC is a primary economic driver of solar installations in the United States. Its extension through 2016 has contributed to greater medium term demand visibility in the U.S.; however, its expiration at the end of 2016 (unless extended) underscores the need for the levelized cost of electricity from solar systems to continue to decline toward grid parity. Two federal programs related to renewable energy ended in 2011: (i) the Department of Energy Section 1705 loan guarantee program for renewable energy projects, renewable energy manufacturing facilities and electric power transmission projects and (ii) the Department of the Treasury Section 1603 cash grant program, which provided cash grants equal to 30% of the cost of the system for solar installations that were placed into service during 2009, 2010 and 2011 and for certain solar installations for which construction began prior to December 31, 2011. This cash grant was available in lieu of receiving the 30% federal investment tax credit. The intent of this program was to ensure that investors who had historically

supported the renewable energy programs would not be constrained from investing in these transactions by tax losses they may have suffered during the recent credit crisis.

In Europe, renewable energy targets, in conjunction with FiTs, have contributed to the growth in PV solar markets. Renewable energy targets prescribe how much energy consumption must come from renewable sources, while FiT policies are intended to support new supply development by providing investor certainty. A 2001 European Union (EU) directive for promoting renewable energy use in electricity generation (Directive 2001/77/EC) set varying national indicative targets for renewable energy production from individual member states. A 2009 EU directive on renewable energy (Directive 2009/28/EC), which replaced the 2001 directive, sets varying targets for all EU member states in support of the directive's goal of a 20% share of energy from renewable sources in the EU by 2020, and requires national action plans that establish clear pathways for the development of renewable energy sources. The following is a description of FiT policies adopted in certain critical markets in support of renewable energy targets.

Germany, which accounted for approximately 23% of our 2011 net sales, will account for a declining percentage of our net sales over the next three years due to changing levels of policy support and demand. The German government continues to evaluate changes to the German Renewable Energy Law, or the EEG, and recently proposed significant and accelerated FiT reductions for projects up to 10 MW and an elimination of FiTs for projects over 10 MW. These proposed FiT changes, if adopted, would particularly impact the competitiveness in Germany of our core offering of large-scale free field PV systems and modules to be installed in such systems. If these policy changes proposed by the German Environment and Economy Ministers are approved without change by the German Parliament, they will negatively affect long-term demand and price levels for our PV products in Germany, which could adversely impact our results of operations.

In France, which accounted for approximately 15% of our 2011 net sales, the government adopted a decree introducing a new market support framework in the first quarter of 2011. The new framework foresees a tender process for large rooftop and free-field systems and is expected to have a negative effect on the total volumes of PV deployed in France in 2012. As previously announced, we have postponed the construction of our previously announced 2-line plant in France until global supply and demand dynamics support the additional manufacturing capacity.

In Ontario, Canada, a FiT program was introduced in September 2009 and replaced the Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program (RESOP) as the primary subsidy program for renewable energy projects. In order to participate in the Ontario FiT program, certain provisions relating to minimum required domestic content and agricultural land use restrictions for solar installations must be satisfied. The domestic content and land restriction rules do not apply to our solar projects governed by RESOP contracts. However, PV solar power systems incorporating our modules do not presently satisfy the domestic content requirement under the FiT program currently in effect. Trade challenges have been initiated at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to contest the Ontario FiT’s domestic content requirements. It is possible that such requirements could be removed from the program in response to a WTO decision.

In Australia, which accounted for less than 1% of our 2011 net sales, the solar industry is driven by several regulatory initiatives that support the installation of solar PV modules in both rooftop and free-field applications, including the federal government’s nationwide Renewable Energy Target which has set a renewable energy goal for Australia of 20% by 2020. Australia’s recently legislated Clean Energy Future package results in a carbon pricing mechanism commencing on July 1, 2012, with a fixed carbon price that will transition to a flexible-price cap-and-trade scheme on July 1, 2015. This will support the creation of the AUD 10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), a commercially orientated fund established to drive the deployment of non-wind renewable energy. In addition, the Australian Government has legislated the establishment of a new independent statutory body, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), to manage over AUD 3.2 billion in renewable energy investments.

In India, which accounted for nearly 8% of our 2011 net sales, the National Solar Mission includes a goal of installing 22 GW of solar power generation capability by 2022. India also announced a FiT policy for the first phase of the National Solar Mission in 2010. In addition, some States including Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Karnataka have developed or are developing state-level solar procurement programs. 150 MWs of PPAs were signed under the National Solar Mission Phase 1 batch 1 and 933 MWs of PPAs were signed under Gujarat state’s program. An estimated 400 MWs of these PPAs were installed in 2011.

In China, governmental authorities recently adopted a national FiT policy for large scale projects. China also expanded the Golden Sun Program, an upfront cost subsidy program, aimed primarily at distributed generation. In addition, according to the current draft of the 12th 5-year plan for solar energy, the government intends to raise the 2015 goal for total cumulative solar energy capacity to 15 GW and 50 GW by 2020. In 2011, we executed two small demonstration projects with key Chinese generating companies to test module performance in China. In 2009, we entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Ordos, China City Government relating to the construction of a utility scale PV power plant located within the Ordos New Energy Industry Demonstration Zone in China, and are in the process of completing a feasibility study for the first 30 MW phase.

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), several countries have announced sizeable solar targets, although policy mechanisms are not yet firmly established. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a solar policy with targets and incentives is expected in 2012. The size of the program is expected to be tens of gigawatts of solar by 2030, or as early as 2020. In the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi has set a target of sourcing 7% of electricity supply from renewables by 2020 and in 2011 issued a tender for the first of three 100 MW PV projects. In January 2012, Dubai announced plans for a 1 GW solar farm by 2030. In Morocco, the government has set a 2 GW solar goal by 2020. Other markets such as Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Tunisia are also actively promoting solar and issuing tenders.

While the potential of the above-referenced MENA markets are significant, policy promulgation and market development are especially vulnerable to governmental inertia, political instability, geopolitical risk, fossil fuel subsidization, and/or potentially stringent localization requirements.

For more information about risks related to economic incentives, please see Item 1A: “Risk Factors — Reduced growth in or the reduction, elimination, or expiration of government subsidies, economic incentives, and other support for on-grid solar electricity applications, including potential mid-year FiT reductions or other program changes in Germany and certain other core markets, could reduce demand and/or price levels for our solar modules, and limit our growth or lead to a reduction in our net sales, and adversely impact our operating results.”

Intellectual Property

Our success depends, in part, on our ability to maintain and protect our proprietary technology and to conduct our business without infringing on the proprietary rights of others. We rely primarily on a combination of patents, trademarks and trade secrets, as well as associate and third party confidentiality agreements, to safeguard our intellectual property. We regularly file patent applications to protect inventions arising from our research and development, and are currently pursuing patent applications in the U.S. and worldwide. Our patent applications and any future patent applications might not result in a patent being issued with the scope of the claims we seek, or at all, and any patents we may receive may be challenged, invalidated, or declared unenforceable. In addition, we have registered and/or have applied to register, trademarks and service marks in the U.S. and a number of foreign countries for “First Solar” and “First Solar and Design.”

With respect to proprietary know-how that is not patentable and processes for which patents are difficult to enforce, we rely on, among other things, trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to safeguard our interests. We believe that many elements of our PV manufacturing process, including our unique materials sourcing, involve proprietary know-how, technology, or data that are not covered by patents or patent applications, including technical processes, equipment designs, algorithms, and procedures. We have taken security measures to protect these elements. All of our research and development personnel have entered into confidentiality and proprietary information agreements with us. These agreements address intellectual property protection issues and require our associates to assign to us all of the inventions, designs, and technologies they develop during the course of employment with us. We also require our customers and business partners to enter into confidentiality agreements before we disclose any sensitive aspects of our modules, technology, or business plans.

We have not been subject to any material intellectual property claims.

Environmental, Health, and Safety Matters

Our operations include the use, handling, storage, transportation, generation, and disposal of hazardous materials and hazardous wastes. We are subject to various national, state, local, and international laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment, including those governing the discharge of pollutants into the air and water, the use, management, and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes, occupational health and safety, and the cleanup of contaminated sites. Therefore, we could incur substantial costs, including cleanup costs, fines, and civil or criminal sanctions and costs arising from third party property damage or personal injury claims as a result of violations of, or liabilities under, environmental and occupational health and safety laws and regulations or non-compliance with environmental permits required for our operations. We believe we are currently in substantial compliance with applicable environmental and occupational health and safety requirements and do not expect to incur material expenditures for environmental and occupational health and safety controls in the foreseeable future. However, future developments such as more aggressive enforcement policies, the implementation of new, more stringent laws and regulations, or the discovery of unknown environmental conditions may require expenditures that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, or financial condition. See Item 1A: “Risk Factors - Environmental obligations and liabilities could have a substantial negative impact on our financial condition, cash flows, and profitability.”

Corporate History

In February 2006 we were incorporated as a Delaware corporation. Our common stock has been listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “FSLR” since our initial public offering in November 2006. In October 2009, our common stock was added to the S&P 500 Index, making First Solar the first, and currently only, pure-play renewable energy company in the index.

Associates

As of December 31, 2011, we had approximately 7,000 associates (our term for full- and part-time employees), including approximately 5,800 in manufacturing positions. The remainder of our associates are in research and development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative positions, including associates who are engaged in or support our systems business. None of our associates are currently represented by labor unions or covered by a collective bargaining agreement. As we expand domestically and internationally, however, we may encounter either regional laws that mandate union representation or associates who desire union representation or a collective bargaining agreement. We believe that our relations with our associates are good.

Information About Geographic Areas

We have significant marketing, distribution, and manufacturing operations both within and outside the United States. Currently, we manufacture our solar modules at our Perrysburg, Ohio, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany, and Kulim, Malaysia manufacturing facilities.

In 2011, 43% of our net sales were generated from customers headquartered in the European Union. As part of our Long Term Strategic Plan, we are in the process of expanding our operations, particularly with respect to our systems business, to various countries worldwide, including countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. As a result, we are subject to the legal, tax, political, social and regulatory requirements, and economic conditions of an increasing number of jurisdictions. The international nature of our operations subjects us to a number of risks, including fluctuations in exchange rates, adverse changes in foreign laws or regulatory requirements and tariffs, taxes, and other trade restrictions. See Item 1A: “Risk Factors — Our substantial international operations subject us to a number of risks, including unfavorable political, regulatory, labor, and tax conditions in foreign countries.” and "Risk Factors — We may be unable to execute on our Long Term Strategic Plan, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition." See Note 24. “Segment and Geographical Information,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for information about our net sales and long-lived assets by geographic region for the years ended December 31, 2011, December 31, 2010, and December 26, 2009. See also Item 7: “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” for other information about our operations and activities in various geographic regions.

Available Information

We maintain a website at http://www.firstsolar.com. We make available free of charge on our website our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements, and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file these materials with, or furnish them to, the SEC. The information contained in or connected to our website is not incorporated by reference into this report. We use our website as one means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under the SEC’s Regulation FD. Such disclosures will typically be included within the Investor Relations section of our website (http://investor.firstsolar.com). Accordingly, investors should monitor such portions of our website in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, and public conference calls and webcasts.

The public may also read and copy any materials that we file with the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, D.C. 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains an Internet website that contains reports and other information regarding issuers, such as First Solar, that file electronically with the SEC. The SEC’s Internet website is located at http://www.sec.gov.

Executive Officers of the Registrant

Our executive officers and their ages and positions as of February 29, 2012, were as follows:



Name	Age	Position
Michael J. Ahearn	55	Interim Chief Executive Officer
Mark R. Widmar	46	Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer
James G. Brown, Jr.	49	President, Global Business Development
Mary Beth Gustafsson	52	Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Carol Campbell	60	Executive Vice President, Human Resources
Maja Wessels	52	Executive Vice President, Global Public Affairs
David Eaglesham	50	Chief Technology Officer

Michael J. Ahearn, Chairman of the Board of Directors, was appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer in October 2011. Mr. Ahearn served as Chief Executive Officer from August 2000 through September 2009 and as Executive Chairman from October 2009 through December 2010. Mr. Ahearn is currently Chairman and Managing Partner of True North Venture Partners, L.P., a venture capital firm he launched in 2011 to invest primarily in early stage companies in the energy, water, agriculture and waste sectors. Mr. Ahearn currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Cox Enterprises, Inc.; a member of the Board of Trustees of Thunderbird School of Global Management; a member of the Board of Trustees of The German Marshall Fund; a member of the Board of Directors of Endeavor Global, Inc.; a member of the Global Advisory Board of Beijing Climate Policy Initiative; and a member of the Advisory Board of BDT Capital Partners. Mr. Ahearn holds a B.A. in Finance and a J.D. from Arizona State University.

Mark R. Widmar joined First Solar in April 2011 as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Widmar has served as First Solar’s Chief Accounting Officer since February 1, 2012. Prior to joining First Solar, Mr. Widmar served as Chief Financial Officer of GrafTech International Ltd., a leading global manufacturer of advanced carbon and graphite materials, from May 2006 through March 2011, as well as President, Engineered Solutions from January 2011 through March 2011. Prior to joining GrafTech, Mr. Widmar served as Corporate Controller of NCR Inc. from 2005 to 2006, and was a Business Unit Chief Financial Officer for NCR from November 2002 to his appointment as Controller. He also served as a Division Controller at Dell, Inc. from August 2000 to November 2002 prior to joining NCR. Mr. Widmar also held various financial and managerial positions with Lucent Technologies Inc., Allied Signal, Inc., and Bristol Myers/Squibb, Inc. Mr. Widmar holds a B.S. in Business Accounting and a Masters of Business Administration from Indiana University.

James G. Brown, Jr. was appointed President, Global Business Development in December 2011. Mr. Brown joined First Solar in 2008 as Vice President, Project Finance, and has been involved in project finance and business development during his tenure. He most recently served as the Company’s President, Utility Systems Business Group. Prior to joining First Solar, Mr. Brown worked for 19 years in project and structured finance at Chase Manhattan, Société Générale, WestLB and HSBC, specializing in the power, oil and gas, petrochemical and general industrial sectors. Before that, Mr. Brown was a Captain in the U.S. Army where he was a helicopter pilot and commanded an Air Cavalry Troop. He earned a B.S. degree in Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Mary Beth Gustafsson joined First Solar in October 2008 as Vice President, General Counsel and was named Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary in November 2009. Prior to joining First Solar, Ms. Gustafsson was the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Trane Inc. (formerly American Standard Companies Inc.) from January 2005 through June 2008. From June 2008 through September 2008, Ms. Gustafsson was Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Ingersoll-Rand Ltd., following Ingersoll-Rand’s acquisition of Trane. From 2001 through 2005, Ms. Gustafsson held positions of increasing responsibility at American Standard Companies Inc., including Chief Corporate Counsel and General Counsel for the company’s global air conditioning business. Ms. Gustafsson holds a B.A. in English Literature from Boston University and a J.D. from The University of Michigan Law School.

Carol Campbell joined First Solar in March 2006 as Director of Human Resources and was named Vice President of Human Resources in March 2007. She became the Company’s Executive Vice President of Human Resources in November 2009. Prior to joining First Solar, she was the Regional Director of Human Resources for North America at the Dana Corporation, where she was responsible for all Dana plants in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Ms. Campbell was with Dana for 20 years, progressing through levels of greater responsibility in the Legal and Human Resource Departments. Ms. Campbell holds a Professional Human Resources certification through the Society of Human Resources Management and has extensive experience successfully developing and running highly effective HR organizations in complex and rapidly changing environments. Ms. Campbell holds a B.A. in Business from Heidelberg College.

Maja Wessels joined First Solar in May 2008 as Vice President of Government Affairs for the Europe, Middle East and Africa

region and was named Executive Vice President, Public Affairs in May 2009. Prior to joining First Solar, Ms. Wessels served four years as senior vice president, Government Affairs at Honeywell for the EMEA region and three years as President, United Technologies International Operations for Europe. Ms. Wessels chaired the American Electronics Industry Association Europe from 2006 to 2007, and prior to that she was president of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU from 2003 to 2007. From 1997 to 2000 she was employed by Daimler Chrysler as vice president of Government Affairs in Europe. Ms Wessels holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree in international economics and European studies from the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University.

David Eaglesham joined First Solar in June 2006 as Vice President, Technology and became Chief Technology Officer in November 2009. Prior to joining First Solar, he was Director of Advanced Technologies at Applied Materials. He also previously worked as Chief Technologist at Lawrence Livermore and as Director of Electronic Device Research at Bell Labs. He was Materials Research Society President in 2005. Mr. Eaglesham has a PhD in Physics from the University of Bristol.

Item 1A: Risk Factors

An investment in our stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following information, together with the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, before buying shares of our stock. If any of the following risks or uncertainties occur, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected and the trading price of our stock could decline.

Risks Related to Our Markets and Customers

An increased global supply of PV modules has caused and may continue to cause structural imbalances in which global PV module supply exceeds demand, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations

Solar manufacturers have installed production capacity that significantly exceeded global demand in 2011. We believe this structural imbalance between supply and demand (i.e., where production capacity significantly exceeds current global demand) will continue for the foreseeable future, and we expect that it will continue to put pressure on pricing. In light of the increase in global production capacity, we recently decided not to proceed any further with the development of our previously announced 4-line plant in Vietnam, and have also postponed the commissioning of our previously announced 4-line plant in Mesa, Arizona and the construction of our previously announced 2-line plant in France until such time as global supply and demand dynamics support the additional manufacturing capacity. There can be no assurance that we will not be required to take further actions to address global production supply and demand in those geographic areas. Additionally, in 2011, industry average sales prices per watt ("ASPs") declined significantly, as competitors reduced ASPs to sell-through inventories in Europe and elsewhere. If our competitors reduce module pricing to levels near or below their manufacturing costs, or are able to operate at minimal or negative operating margins for sustained periods of time, or if demand for PV modules does not grow sufficiently to justify the current production supply, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

If PV technology is not suitable for widespread adoption at economically attractive rates of return, or if sufficient additional demand for solar modules does not develop or takes longer to develop than we anticipate, our net sales and profit may flatten or decline and we may be unable to sustain profitability.

The solar energy market is at a relatively early stage of development, in comparison to fossil fuel-based electricity generation. If PV technology proves unsuitable for widespread adoption at economically attractive rates of return or if additional demand for solar modules fails to develop sufficiently or takes longer to develop than we anticipate, we may be unable to grow our business or generate sufficient net sales to sustain profitability. In addition, demand for solar modules in our targeted markets, including North America, Europe, India, China, the Middle East, Australia and other foreign jurisdictions, may develop to a lesser extent than we anticipate. Many factors may affect the viability of widespread adoption of PV technology and demand for solar systems and modules, including the following:


•	cost-effectiveness of the electricity generated by PV power systems compared to conventional energy sources, such as natural gas and coal, and other non-solar renewable energy sources, such as wind;


•	performance, reliability and availability of energy generated by PV systems compared to conventional and other non-solar renewable energy sources and products;


•	success of other renewable energy generation technologies, such as hydroelectric, tidal, wind, geothermal, solar

thermal, concentrated PV, and biomass;


•	fluctuations in economic and market conditions that affect the price of, and demand for, conventional and non-solar renewable energy sources, such as increases or decreases in the price of natural gas, coal, oil, and other fossil fuels;


•	fluctuations in capital expenditures by end-users of solar modules, which tend to decrease when the economy slows and when interest rates increase; and


•	availability, substance, and magnitude of government targets, subsidies, incentives, and renewable portfolio standards to accelerate the development of the solar energy industry.

Reduced growth in or the reduction, elimination, or expiration of government subsidies, economic incentives, and other support for on-grid solar electricity applications, including recently announced mid-year feed-in-tariff reductions or other program changes in Germany and certain other core markets, could reduce demand and/or price levels for our solar modules, and limit our growth or lead to a reduction in our net sales, and adversely impact our operating results.

Although our Long Term Strategic Plan provides for First Solar to transition over time toward operating in sustainable markets, in the near-term our net sales and profits remain subject to variability based on the availability and size of government subsidies and economic incentives. Federal, state, and local governmental bodies in many countries have provided subsidies in the form of FiT, rebates, tax incentives, and other incentives to end-users, distributors, systems integrators, and manufacturers of PV products. Many of these jurisdictions, including the majority of U.S. states and numerous European Union countries, have adopted renewable portfolio standards in which the government requires jurisdictions or regulated utilities to supply a portion of their total electricity from specified sources of renewable energy, such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. Many of these government incentives expire, phase out over time, require renewal by the applicable authority, or may be amended. A summary of recent developments in the major government subsidy programs that can impact our business appears under Item 1: “Business – Support Programs.” To the extent these government incentives are reduced earlier than previously expected, or free-field or conversion land applications are disadvantaged, such changes could reduce demand and/or price levels for our solar modules, lead to a reduction in our net sales, and adversely impact our operating results.

In France, the government introduced a new market support framework during the first quarter of 2011. The level of this new market support framework is inadequate for us to pursue an expansion strategy in France. As a result, we have postponed the construction of our previously announced 2-line plant in France until global supply and demand dynamics support the additional manufacturing capacity.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and the 2010 Tax Act provide for certain measures intended to benefit on-grid solar electricity generation and other renewable energy initiatives. The expiration of the Department of Treasury’s Section 1603 cash grant program on December 31, 2011, may adversely affect our ability to arrange financing for utility-scale projects by forcing reliance on less abundant tax equity financing and may otherwise adversely affect the attractiveness of the U.S. solar market. The expiration of the Department of Energy Section 1705 loan guarantee program for renewable energy projects, renewable energy manufacturing facilities and electric power transmission projects may adversely affect our ability to arrange financing in the future for utility-scale projects by increasing our cost of capital, and may also otherwise affect the attractiveness of the U.S. solar market.

In Ontario, Canada, a FiT program was introduced in September 2009 and replaced the Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program (RESOP) as the primary subsidy program for renewable energy projects. In order to participate in the Ontario FiT program, certain provisions relating to minimum required domestic content and agricultural land use restrictions for solar installations must be satisfied. The domestic content and land restriction rules do not apply to our solar projects governed by RESOP contracts. However, PV solar power systems incorporating our modules do not presently satisfy the domestic content requirement under the FiT program currently in effect, and thus projects incorporating our modules would not qualify for the Ontario FiT. In the event the Ontario domestic content requirement rules are not eliminated, we will not be able to participate in the Ontario FiT program,

and thus our ability to pursue an expansion strategy in Ontario, Canada beyond our remaining RESOP projects would be adversely affected.

In Australia, the solar industry is driven by several regulatory initiatives that support the installation of solar PV modules in both rooftop and free-field applications, including the federal government’s nationwide Renewable Energy Target, which has set a renewable energy goal for Australia of 20% by 2020. The creation of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and the establishment of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) also occurred in 2011 and will begin implementation in 2012. If such programs or other initiatives are not successfully executed in addressing Australia’s renewable energy goals, the size and attractiveness of Australia’s solar market may be limited and we may be unable to sell modules or systems in Australia at an attractive price, limiting one of our anticipated growth markets.

In India, the National Solar Mission includes a goal of installing 22 GW of solar by 2022. There is no guarantee that India will maintain this goal or adopt the required policies to meet that goal, without which, the size and attractiveness of India’s solar market may be limited and we may be unable to sell modules or systems in India at an attractive price, limiting one of our anticipated growth markets.

In China, governmental authorities recently adopted a national FiT but the specific terms and future of the program are unclear. It is currently assumed that the term is 25 years and the FiT will be in place in 2012 but not clear if there will be a digression beyond that. The FiT is economically viable given local generation company low return requirements but project costs are depressed given high competition in component manufacturing (i.e. over 400 local module manufacturers are selling into the market). Participation in the Golden Sun Program for distributed generation also includes an implicit requirement for local manufacturing.

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), several countries have announced sizeable solar targets, although policy mechanisms are not yet firmly established. Policy promulgation and market development are especially vulnerable to governmental inertia, political instability, geopolitical risk, fossil fuel subsidization, and potentially stringent localization requirements. This vulnerability may adversely affect our ability to expand in or enter into such markets, or may otherwise affect the attractiveness of such solar markets.

Reduced growth in or the reduction, elimination, or expiration of government subsidies and economic incentives for on-grid solar energy applications, could limit our growth or cause our net sales to decline and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We could be adversely affected by any violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and foreign anti-bribery laws.

The FCPA generally prohibits companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to non-U.S. government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Other countries in which we operate also have anti-bribery laws, some of which prohibit improper payments to government and non-government persons and entities. Our policies mandate compliance with these anti-bribery laws. We currently operate in, and pursuant to our Long Term Strategic Plan intend to further expand into, many parts of the world that have experienced governmental corruption to some degree and, in certain circumstances, strict compliance with anti-bribery laws may conflict with local customs and practices. In addition, due to the level of regulation in our industry, our entry into new jurisdictions, including India, China, and the Middle East, requires substantial government contact where norms can differ from U.S. standards. Although we implement policies and procedures designed to facilitate compliance with these anti-bribery laws, our employees, subcontractors and agents may take actions in violation of our policies and anti-bribery laws. Any such violation, even if prohibited by our policies, could subject us to criminal or civil penalties or other sanctions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and reputation.

We may be unable to fully execute on our Long Term Strategic Plan, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

We face numerous difficulties in executing our Long Term Strategic Plan, particularly in new foreign jurisdictions, including each of the risks described in the Risk Factors entitled “Our substantial international operations subject us to a number of risks, including unfavorable political, regulatory, labor, and tax conditions in foreign countries.” and “Reduced growth in or the reduction, elimination, or expiration of government subsidies, economic incentives, and other support for on-grid solar electricity applications, including recently announced mid-year feed-in-tariff reductions or other program changes in Germany and certain other core markets, could reduce demand and/or price levels for our solar modules, and limit our growth or lead to a reduction in our net sales, and adversely impact our operating results,” as well as the following:


•	difficulty in accurately prioritizing geographic markets which we can most effectively and profitably serve with our utility scale PV offerings, including miscalculations in overestimating or underestimating our addressable market demand;


•	difficulty in overcoming the inertia involved in changing local electricity ecosystems as necessary to accommodate large-scale PV solar deployment and integration;


•	protectionist or other adverse public policies in countries we operate in and/or are pursuing, including local content requirements or capital investment requirements;


•	difficulty in timely identifying, attracting and retaining qualified sales, technical and other personnel in geographies targeted for expansion;


•	the possibility of having insufficient capital resources necessary to acheive an effective localized business presence in targeted jurisdictions;


•	difficulty in competing against competitors who may have greater financial resources and/or a more effective or established localized business presence;


•	difficulty in competing against competitors who may gain in profitability and financial strength over time by successfully participating in the global rooftop PV solar market, which is a segment we intend to de-emphasize as part of our Long Term Strategic Plan;


•	difficulty in developing any necessary partnerships with local businesses, on commercially acceptable terms; and


•	difficulty in balancing market demand and manufacturing production in an efficient and timely manner, potentially causing us to be manufacturing capacity constrained in some future periods or over-supplied in others.

An increase in interest rates or lending rates or tightening of the supply of capital in the global financial markets (including a reduction in total tax equity availability) could make it difficult for end-users to finance the cost of a PV system and could reduce the demand for our solar systems or modules and/or lead to a reduction in the average selling price for PV modules.

Many of our customers and our systems business depend on debt and/or equity financing to fund the initial capital expenditure required to develop, build and purchase a PV system. As a result, an increase in interest rates or lending rates, or a reduction in the supply of project debt financing or tax equity investments, could reduce the number of solar projects that receive financing or otherwise make it difficult for our customers or our systems business to secure the financing necessary to develop, build, purchase or install a PV system on favorable terms, or at all, and thus lower demand for our solar modules which could limit our growth or reduce our net sales. In addition, we believe that a significant percentage of our end-users install PV systems as an investment, funding the initial capital expenditure through a combination of equity and debt. An increase in interest rates and/or lending rates could lower an investor’s return on investment in a PV system, increase equity return requirements or make alternative investments more attractive relative to PV systems, and, in each case, could cause these end-users to seek alternative investments. As described above under Item 1: “Business — Support Programs,” the 30% grant in lieu of the federal investment tax credit under the ARRA expired December 31, 2011 and unless extended, will not be available for solar installations that begin construction on or after January 1, 2012. If such program is not extended, total tax equity availability could be reduced which may adversely affect our ability to arrange financing for utility-scale projects and may adversely affect the attractiveness of the U.S. solar market.

We currently depend on a limited number of customers within our components business. The loss of, or a significant reduction in orders from, any of these customers could significantly reduce our net sales and negatively impact our operating results.

Within our components business, we continue to sell a sizeable portion of our solar modules to customers headquartered throughout the European Union, although this portion is expected to continue to decline as we execute our Long Term Strategic Plan. During 2011, our two largest customers for our components business each accounted for more than 10% of our components business’ net sales. Our customer base within our components business is still concentrated to a significant extent in Germany and, therefore, additional German FiT reductions could reduce demand and/or price levels for our modules sold to these customers. The loss of any of our large customers, their inability to perform under their contracts, or their default in payment could significantly reduce our net sales and adversely impact our operating results. Our customers may face significant challenges under current economic conditions, including lack of capital to finance solar projects and rising costs associated with leasing or otherwise acquiring land and rooftops for solar projects. Although we believe that we can mitigate this risk in part by re-allocating modules

to other customers if the need arises, we may be unable, in whole or in part, to mitigate the reduced demand for our modules. Further, in the event that we determine that our planned production of solar modules exceeds the demand we anticipate, we may decide to reduce or halt production of solar modules in our manufacturing facilities. However, we may incur costs in doing so and we may be unable to anticipate and respond to the oversupply of solar modules because we have limited visibility into our customers’ inventories.

Risks Related to Regulations

Existing regulations and policies and changes to these regulations and policies may present technical, regulatory, and economic barriers to the purchase and use of PV products, which may significantly reduce demand for our solar modules.

The market for electricity generation products is heavily influenced by foreign, federal, state, and local government regulations and policies concerning the electric utility industry, as well as policies promulgated by electric utilities. These regulations and policies often relate to electricity pricing and technical interconnection of customer-owned electricity generation. In the United States and in a number of other countries, these regulations and policies have been modified in the past and may be modified again in the future. These regulations and policies could deter end-user purchases of PV products and investment in the research and development of PV technology. For example, without a mandated regulatory exception for PV systems, utility customers are often charged interconnection or standby fees for putting distributed power generation on the electric utility grid. If these interconnection standby fees were applicable to PV systems, it is likely that they would increase the cost of using PV systems to our end-users, which could make them less desirable, thereby adversely affecting our business, prospects, results of operations, and financial condition. In addition, with respect to utilities that utilize a peak hour pricing policy or time-of-use pricing methods whereby the price of electricity is adjusted based on electricity supply and demand, electricity generated by PV systems currently benefits from competing primarily with expensive peak hour electricity, rather than the less expensive average price of electricity. Modifications to the peak hour pricing policies of utilities, such as to a flat rate for all times of the day, would require PV systems to achieve lower prices in order to compete with the price of electricity from other sources.

We anticipate that our solar systems and modules will be subject to oversight and regulation in accordance with national and local ordinances relating to building codes, safety, environmental protection, utility interconnection and metering, and other matters. It is difficult to track the requirements of individual jurisdictions and design equipment to comply with the varying standards. Any new government regulations or utility policies pertaining to our solar modules may result in significant additional expenses to us or our customers and, as a result, could cause a significant reduction in demand for our solar systems and modules.

Environmental obligations and liabilities could have a substantial negative impact on our financial condition, cash flows, and profitability.

Our operations involve the use, handling, generation, processing, storage, transportation, and disposal of hazardous materials and are subject to extensive environmental laws and regulations at the national, state, local, and international levels. These environmental laws and regulations include those governing the discharge of pollutants into the air and water, the use, management, and disposal of hazardous materials and wastes, the cleanup of contaminated sites, and occupational health and safety. We have incurred and will continue to incur significant costs and capital expenditures in complying with these laws and regulations. In addition, violations of, or liabilities under, environmental laws or permits may result in restrictions being imposed on our operating activities or in our being subjected to substantial fines, penalties, criminal proceedings, third party property damage or personal injury claims, cleanup costs, or other costs. Such solutions could also result in substantial delay or termination of projects under construction within our systems business, which could adversely impact our results of operations. While we believe we are currently in substantial compliance with applicable environmental requirements, future developments such as more aggressive enforcement policies, the implementation of new, more stringent laws and regulations, or the discovery of presently unknown environmental conditions may require expenditures that could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

In addition, our solar modules contain cadmium telluride and cadmium sulfide. Elemental cadmium and certain of its compounds are regulated as hazardous material due to the adverse health effects that may arise from human exposure. Although the risks of exposure to cadmium telluride are not believed to be as serious as those relating to exposure to elemental cadmium, the toxicological properties of cadmium telluride have not been thoroughly investigated and reported. In our manufacturing operations, we maintain engineering controls to minimize our associates’ exposure to cadmium or cadmium compounds and require our associates who handle cadmium compounds to follow certain safety procedures, including the use of personal protective equipment such as respirators, chemical goggles, and protective clothing. In addition, we believe the risk of exposure to cadmium or cadmium compounds from our end-products is limited by the encapsulated nature of these materials in our products and the physical properties of cadmium compounds used in our products, and further minimized by the voluntary implementation in 2005 of our collection and recycling program for our solar modules. While we believe that these factors and procedures are sufficient

to protect our associates, end-users, and the general public from adverse health effects that may arise from cadmium exposure, we cannot ensure that human or environmental exposure to cadmium or cadmium compounds used in our products will not occur. Any such exposure could result in future third party claims against us, as well as damage to our reputation and heightened regulatory scrutiny of our products, which could limit or impair our ability to sell and distribute our products. The occurrence of future events such as these could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

The use of cadmium in various products is also subject to governmental regulation in several countries. More restrictive regulation in this area and/or expansion of such regulation to additional countries could impact the manufacture, sale, collection, and recycling of solar modules and could require us to make unforeseen environmental expenditures or limit our ability to sell and distribute our products.

Risks Related to our Operations, Manufacturing, and Technology

Our operating history to date may not serve as an adequate basis to judge our future prospects and results of operations.

Our historical operating results may not provide a meaningful basis for evaluating our business, financial performance, and prospects. We may be unable to achieve similar growth, or grow at all, in future periods. Our ability to achieve similar growth in future periods is also affected by current economic conditions. Our past results occurred in an environment where, among other things, capital was at times more accessible to our customers to finance the cost of developing solar projects and economic incentives for solar power in certain core markets (such as the German FiT) were more favorable. Accordingly, you should not rely on our results of operations for any prior period as an indication of our future performance.

We face intense competition from manufacturers of crystalline silicon solar modules, as well as thin-film solar modules, and solar thermal and concentrated PV systems; if global supply exceeds global demand, it could lead to a reduction in the average selling price for PV modules, which could reduce our net sales and adversely affect our results of operations.

The solar energy and renewable energy industries are highly competitive and continually evolving as participants strive to distinguish themselves within their markets and compete with the larger electric power industry. Within the global PV industry, we face competition from crystalline silicon solar module manufacturers, other thin-film solar module manufacturers and companies developing solar thermal and concentrated PV technologies. Existing or future solar manufacturers might be acquired by larger companies with significant capital resources, thereby intensifying competition with us. In addition, the introduction of a low cost disruptive technology could adversely affect our ability to compete, which could reduce our net sales and adversely affect our results of operations.

Even if demand for solar modules continues to grow, the rapid manufacturing capacity expansion undertaken by many solar module manufacturers, particularly manufacturers of crystalline silicon solar modules, has created and may continue to cause periods of structural imbalance during which supply exceeds demand. See “An increased global supply of PV modules has caused and may continue to cause structural imbalances in which global PV module supply exceeds demand, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.” In addition, we believe a significant decrease in the cost of silicon feedstock would provide significant reductions in the manufacturing cost of crystalline silicon solar modules and lead to further pricing pressure for solar modules and potentially the oversupply of solar modules.

During any such period, our competitors could decide to reduce their sales prices in response to competition, even below their manufacturing costs, in order to generate sales. Other competitors may have direct or indirect access to sovereign capital, which could enable such competitors to operate at minimal or negative operating margins for sustained periods of time. As a result, we may be unable to sell our solar modules at attractive prices, or for a profit, during any period of excess supply of solar modules, which would reduce our net sales and adversely affect our results of operations. Also, we may decide to lower our average selling price to certain customers in certain markets in response to competition.

Thin-film technology has a short history, and our thin-film technology and solar modules and systems may perform below expectations; problems with product quality or performance may cause us to incur significant and/or unexpected warranty and related expenses, damage our market reputation, and prevent us from maintaining or increasing our market share.

Researchers began developing thin-film semiconductor technology over 25 years ago, but were unable to integrate the technology into a solar module production line until about a decade ago. Our thin-film technology and solar modules may not have a sufficient operating history to confirm how our solar modules will perform over their estimated 25-year useful life. We perform a variety of quality and life tests under different conditions. However, if our thin-film technology and solar modules perform below expectations, we could lose customers and face substantial warranty expense.

During the period from June 2008 to June 2009, a manufacturing excursion occurred whereby certain modules manufactured during that time period may experience premature power loss once installed in the field. The root cause of the manufacturing excursion was identified and addressed in June 2009. Beginning in 2009, we initiated a voluntary remediation program beyond our standard warranty pursuant to which we made commitments to customers with systems containing modules affected by the manufacturing excursion that we would cover certain costs of remediation efforts. We have expensed $215.7 million total to-date for the estimated costs of remediating systems affected by modules manufactured during the relevant period, including $145.6 million for remediation expenses beyond our limited warranty obligations and $70.1 million in product warranty expense reflecting the net increase in the expected number of replacement modules required in connection with our remediation efforts. This estimate is based on our evaluation and consideration of the currently available information, including the estimated number of affected modules in the field, historical experience related to our remediation efforts, customer-provided data related to potentially affected systems, and the estimated costs of performing the logistical services covered under our remediation program. In addition to those customers with systems affected by modules manufactured during the relevant period that we have already identified, we are working with a number of additional customers who may have affected modules to complete our analysis of their claims. Based upon our experience to date with our remediation approach, together with the data currently available, we estimate that, if we ultimately remediate these systems under our current remediation program, we could incur additional costs related to our voluntary remediation program of up to approximately $44 million. This includes approximately $24 million beyond our limited warranty obligations in connection with these claims, including the costs of actual remediation and the costs of additional compensation payments to customers under certain circumstances, and approximately $20 million related to additional product warranty liability.

If any of our estimates related to the above referenced manufacturing excursion prove incorrect, we could be required to accrue additional expenses, which could adversely impact our financial position, operating results and cash flows. Although we believe we have taken corrective actions to avoid similar manufacturing excursions in the future, we cannot guarantee that our internal quality and testing programs will prevent a future manufacturing excursion from occurring. Any future manufacturing excursions including any commitments made by us to take remediation actions in respect of affected modules beyond our limited warranty could adversely impact our financial position, operating results and cash flows.

Although our power output warranty extends for 25 years, our oldest solar modules manufactured during the qualification of our pilot production line have only been in use since 2001. Because of the limited operating history of our solar modules, we have been required to make assumptions regarding the durability and reliability of our solar modules. Our assumptions could prove to be materially different from the actual performance of our solar modules, causing us to incur substantial expense to repair or replace defective solar modules in the future. For example, our glass-on-glass solar modules could break, delaminate, or experience power degradation in excess of expectations, and our manufacturing operations could be subject to process variations that could cause affected modules to underperform compared to our expectations. These risks could be amplified as we implement design and process changes in connection with our efforts to accelerate module conversion efficiency improvement and manufacturing production throughput as part of our Long Term Strategic Plan. In addition, as we increase the number of installations in non-temperate climates, in accordance with our Long Term Strategic Plan, we may experience increased failure rates due to deployment into such hot climates. Any widespread product failures may damage our market reputation, cause our sales to decline, require us to repair or replace the defective modules, and cause us to take voluntary remedial measures beyond warranty terms to enhance customer satisfaction, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

In addition to our solar module warranty described above, for solar power plants built by our EPC team, we currently typically provide a limited EPC warranty against defects in workmanship, engineering design, and installation services under normal use and service conditions for a period of one to two years following the substantial completion of a solar power plant or an energized section of a solar power plant. In resolving claims under both the workmanship and design warranties, we have the option of either remedying the defect to the warranted level through repair, refurbishment, or replacement. Any widespread failures of solar power plants built by us could damage our market reputation, cause our sales to decline, cause us to incur unexpected costs to remedy defects or otherwise negatively affect our results of operations.

If our estimates regarding the future cost of collecting and recycling our solar modules are incorrect, we could be required to accrue additional expenses at and from the time we realize our estimates are incorrect and face a significant unplanned cash burden.

We pre-fund our estimated future obligation for collecting and recycling our solar modules based on the present value of the expected future cost of collecting and recycling the modules, which includes the cost of packaging the solar modules for transport, the cost of freight from the solar module’s installation site to a recycling center, the material, labor, and capital costs of the recycling process, and an estimated third party profit margin and return on risk for collection and recycling. We base our estimate on our experience collecting and recycling solar modules that do not pass our quality control tests and solar modules returned under our warranty, and on our expectations about future developments in recycling technologies and processes and economic conditions at the time the solar modules will be collected and recycled. If our estimates prove incorrect, we could be required to accrue additional expenses at and from the time we realize our estimates are incorrect and also face a significant unplanned cash burden at the time we realize our estimates are incorrect or end-users return their solar modules, which could harm our operating results. In addition, our end-users can return their solar modules at any time. As a result, we could be required to collect and recycle our solar modules earlier than we expect.

Our failure to further refine our technology and develop and introduce improved PV products could render our solar modules or systems uncompetitive and reduce our net sales, profitability, and/or market share.

We need to continue to invest significant financial resources in research and development to continue to improve our module conversion efficiency, lower the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of our PV systems, and otherwise keep pace with technological advances in the solar energy industry. However, research and development activities are inherently uncertain, and we could encounter practical difficulties in commercializing our research results. We seek to continuously improve our products and processes, and the resulting changes carry potential risks in the form of delays, additional costs, or other unintended contingencies. In addition, our significant expenditures on research and development may not produce corresponding benefits. Other companies are developing a variety of competing PV technologies, including copper indium gallium diselenide and amorphous silicon, which could produce solar modules or systems that prove more cost-effective or have better performance than our solar modules or systems. In addition, other companies could potentially develop a highly reliable renewable energy system that mitigates the intermittent power production drawback of many renewable energy systems, or offers other value-added improvements from the perspective of utilities and other system owners, in which case such companies could compete with us even if the LCOE associated with such new system is higher than that of our systems. As a result, our solar modules or systems may be negatively differentiated or rendered obsolete by the technological advances of our competitors, which would reduce our net sales, profitability and/or market share.

In addition, we often forward price our products and services in anticipation of future cost reductions, and thus an inability to further refine our technology and execute our long-term manufacturing cost and LCOE reduction objectives could adversely affect our margins and operating results.

Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights may undermine our competitive position and litigation to protect our intellectual property rights or defend against third party allegations of infringement may be costly.

Protection of our proprietary processes, methods, and other technology is critical to our business. Failure to protect and monitor the use of our existing intellectual property rights could result in the loss of valuable technologies. We rely primarily on patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, and contractual restrictions to protect our intellectual property. We regularly file patent applications to protect inventions arising from our research and development, and are currently pursuing such patent applications in the U.S. and worldwide. Our existing patents and future patents could be challenged, invalidated, circumvented, or rendered unenforceable. Our pending patent applications may not result in issued patents, or if patents are issued to us, such patents may not be sufficient to provide meaningful protection against competitors or against competitive technologies.

We also rely upon unpatented proprietary manufacturing expertise, continuing technological innovation, and other trade secrets to develop and maintain our competitive position. Although we generally enter into confidentiality agreements with our associates and third parties to protect our intellectual property, such confidentiality agreements are limited in duration and could be breached and may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets or proprietary manufacturing expertise. Adequate remedies may not be available in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of our trade secrets and manufacturing expertise. In addition, others may obtain knowledge of our trade secrets through independent development or legal means. The failure of our patents or confidentiality agreements to protect our processes, equipment, technology, trade secrets, and proprietary manufacturing expertise, methods, and compounds could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, effective patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret protection may be unavailable or limited in some foreign countries, especially any developing countries into which we may expand our operations. In some countries we have not applied for patent, trademark, or copyright protection.

Third parties may infringe or misappropriate our proprietary technologies or other intellectual property rights, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. Policing unauthorized use of proprietary technology can be difficult and expensive. Also, litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets, or determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. We cannot assure you that the outcome of such potential litigation will be in our favor. Such litigation may be costly and may divert management attention and other resources away from our business. An adverse determination in any such litigation may impair our intellectual property rights and may harm our business, prospects, and reputation. In addition, we have no insurance coverage against litigation costs and would have to bear all costs arising from such litigation to the extent we are unable to recover them from other parties.

Some of our key raw materials and components are either single-sourced or sourced from a limited number of third party suppliers and their failure to perform could cause manufacturing delays and impair our ability to deliver solar modules to customers in the required quality and quantities and at a price that is profitable to us.

Our failure to obtain raw materials and components that meet our quality, quantity, and cost requirements in a timely manner could interrupt or impair our ability to manufacture our solar modules or increase our manufacturing cost. Some of our key raw materials and components are either single-sourced or sourced from a limited number of third party suppliers. As a result, the failure of any of our suppliers to perform could disrupt our supply chain and impair our operations. In addition, some of our suppliers are small companies that may be unable to supply our increasing demand for raw materials and components as we continue to expand rapidly. We may be unable to identify new suppliers or qualify their products for use on our production lines in a timely manner and on commercially reasonable terms. A constraint on our production may cause us to be unable to meet our capacity ramp plan and/or our obligations under our customer contracts, which would have an adverse impact on our financial results.

A disruption in our supply chain for cadmium telluride, our semiconductor material, could interrupt or impair our ability to manufacture solar modules and could adversely impact our profitability and long-term growth prospects.

A key raw material we use in our production process is a cadmium telluride compound. Tellurium, one of the main components of cadmium telluride, is mainly produced as a by-product of copper refining and, therefore, its supply is largely dependent upon demand for copper. Our supply of cadmium telluride could be limited if any of our current suppliers or any of our future suppliers are unable to acquire an adequate supply of tellurium in a timely manner or at commercially reasonable prices. If our competitors begin to use or increase their demand for cadmium telluride, supply could be reduced and prices could increase. If our current suppliers or any of our future suppliers cannot obtain sufficient tellurium, they could substantially increase prices or be unable to perform under their contracts. We may be unable to pass increases in the cost of our raw materials through to our customers because our customer contracts do not adjust for raw material price increases and are generally for a longer term than our raw material supply contracts. A substantial increase in tellurium prices could adversely impact our profitability and long-term growth objectives.

Our future success depends on our ability to effectively balance manufacturing production with market demand and, when necessary, continue to build new manufacturing plants over time in response to such demand and add production lines in a cost-effective manner, all of which are subject to risks and uncertainties.

Our future success depends on our ability to effectively balance manufacturing production with market demand and increase both our manufacturing capacity and production throughput over time in a cost-effective and efficient manner. If we cannot do so, we may be unable to expand our business, decrease our manufacturing cost per watt, maintain our competitive position, satisfy our contractual obligations, or sustain profitability. See “An increased global supply of PV modules has caused and may continue to cause structural imbalances in which global PV module supply exceeds demand, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.” Our ability to expand production capacity is subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including the following:


•	making changes to our production process that are not properly qualified or that may cause problems with the quality of our solar modules;


•	delays and cost overruns as a result of a number of factors, many of which may be beyond our control, such as our inability to secure successful contracts with equipment vendors;


•	our custom-built equipment taking longer and costing more to manufacture than expected and not operating as designed;


•	delays or denial of required approvals by relevant government authorities;


•	being unable to hire qualified staff;


•	failure to execute our expansion plans effectively;


•	manufacturing concentration risk resulting from a majority of production lines worldwide being located in one geographic area, Malaysia;


•	difficulty in balancing market demand and manufacturing production in an efficient and timely manner, potentially causing us to be manufacturing capacity constrained in some future periods or over-supplied in others; and


•	Incurring manufacturing asset write-downs, write-offs and other charges and costs, which may be significant, during those periods in which we idle, slow down or shut down manufacturing capacity.

If our future production lines are not built in line with our committed schedules it may impair our growth plans. If our future production lines do not achieve operating metrics similar to our existing production lines, our solar modules could perform below expectations and cause us to lose customers.

If we are unable to systematically replicate our production lines as necessary over time and achieve and sustain similar operating metrics in our future production lines as we have achieved at our existing production lines, our manufacturing capacity could be substantially constrained, our manufacturing costs per watt could increase, and this may impair our growth plans and/or cause us to lose customers, resulting in lower net sales, higher liabilities, and lower net income than we anticipate. For instance, future production lines could produce solar modules that have lower conversion efficiencies, higher failure rates, and higher rates of degradation than solar modules from our existing production lines, and we could be unable to determine the cause of the lower operating metrics or develop and implement solutions to improve performance. In addition, we might be unable to produce enough solar modules to satisfy our contractual requirements under our customer contracts.

Some of our manufacturing equipment is customized and sole sourced. If our manufacturing equipment fails or if our equipment suppliers fail to perform under their contracts, we could experience production disruptions and be unable to satisfy our contractual requirements.

Some of our manufacturing equipment is customized to our production lines based on designs or specifications that we provide to the equipment manufacturer, which then undertakes a specialized process to manufacture the custom equipment. As a result, the equipment is not readily available from multiple vendors and would be difficult to repair or replace if it were to become damaged or stop working. If any piece of equipment fails, production along the entire production line could be interrupted. In addition, the failure of our equipment suppliers to supply equipment in a timely manner or on commercially reasonable terms could delay our expansion plans and otherwise disrupt our production schedule or increase our manufacturing costs, all of which would adversely impact our financial results.

If we are unable to further increase the number of sellable watts per solar module and reduce our manufacturing cost per watt, our profitability could decline.

Our profitability could decline if we are unable to continue to reduce our manufacturing cost per watt. Furthermore, our failure to reduce cost per watt by increasing our efficiency may impair our ability to enter new markets that we believe will require lower cost per watt for us to be competitive and may impair our growth plans.

We may be unable to manage the expansion of our operations effectively.

We expect to continue to expand our business in order to provide utility-scale PV generation to existing and new geographic markets and to maintain or increase market share. To manage the continued expansion of our operations, we will be required to continue to improve our operational and financial systems, procedures and controls, and expand, train, and manage our growing associate base. Our management will also be required to maintain and expand our relationships with customers, suppliers, and other third parties and attract new customers and suppliers. In addition, our current and planned operations, personnel, systems, and internal controls and procedures might be inadequate to support our future growth. If we cannot manage our growth effectively, we may be unable to take advantage of market opportunities, execute our business strategies or respond to competitive pressures.

Implementing a new enterprise resource planning system could interfere with our business or operations and could adversely impact our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows.

We are in the process of implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Phase 1 of this implementation was completed in the second half of 2010, and the second phase of this implementation was completed in the second half of 2011. This project requires significant investment of capital and human resources, the re-engineering of many processes of our business, and the attention of many associates and managers who would otherwise be focused on other aspects of our business. Any disruptions, delays, or deficiencies in the design and implementation of the new ERP system could result in potentially much higher costs than we had anticipated and could adversely affect our ability to process customer orders, ship products, provide services and support to customers, bill and track our customers, fulfill contractual obligations, file SEC reports in a timely manner and/or otherwise operate our business, or otherwise impact our controls environment, and any of these consequences could have an adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows.

Our substantial international operations subject us to a number of risks, including unfavorable political, regulatory, labor, and tax conditions in foreign countries.

We have significant marketing, distribution, and manufacturing operations both within and outside the United States. In 2011, 43% of our net sales were generated from customers headquartered in the European Union. We expect to continue to expand our operations into China, India, other countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and elsewhere; as a result, we will be subject to the legal, political, social, tax, and regulatory requirements, and economic conditions of many jurisdictions. Risks inherent to international operations, include, but are not limited to, the following:


•	difficulty in enforcing agreements in foreign legal systems;


•	varying degrees of protection afforded to foreign investments in the countries in which we operate, and irregular interpretations and enforcement of laws and regulations in these jurisdictions;


•	foreign countries may impose additional income and withholding taxes or otherwise tax our foreign operations, impose tariffs, or adopt other restrictions on foreign trade and investment, including currency exchange controls;


•	fluctuations in exchange rates may affect product demand and may adversely affect our profitability in U.S. dollars to the extent the price of our solar modules and cost of raw materials, labor, and equipment is denominated in a foreign currency;


•	inability to obtain, maintain, or enforce intellectual property rights;


•	risk of nationalization or other expropriation of private enterprises;


•	changes in general economic and political conditions in the countries in which we operate, including changes in the government incentives we are relying on;


•	unexpected adverse changes in foreign laws or regulatory requirements, including those with respect to environmental protection, export duties, and quotas;


•	opaque approval processes in which the lack of transparency may cause delays and increase the uncertainty of project approvals;


•	difficulty in staffing and managing widespread operations;


•	difficulty in repatriating earnings;


•	difficulty in negotiating a successful collective bargaining agreement in applicable foreign jurisdictions;


•	trade barriers such as export requirements, tariffs, taxes, local content requirements, and other restrictions and expenses, which could increase the price of our solar modules and make us less competitive in some countries; and


•	difficulty of, and costs relating to, compliance with the different commercial and legal requirements of the overseas countries in which we offer and sell our solar modules.

Our business in foreign markets requires us to respond to rapid changes in market conditions in these countries. Our overall success as a global business depends, in part, on our ability to succeed in differing legal, regulatory, economic, social, and political conditions. We may not be able to develop and implement policies and strategies that will be effective in each location where we

do business.

Risks Related to Our Systems Business

Project development or construction activities may not be successful and projects under development may not receive required permits, real property rights, power purchase agreements (PPAs), interconnection and transmission arrangements or financing or construction may not commence or proceed as scheduled, which could increase our costs and impair our ability to recover our investments.

The development and construction of solar power electric generation facilities and other energy infrastructure projects involve numerous risks. We may be required to spend significant sums for land and interconnection rights, preliminary engineering, permitting, legal, and other expenses before we can determine whether a project is feasible, economically attractive, or capable of being built. Success in developing a particular project is contingent upon, among other things:


•	obtaining satisfactory land rights, including environmental mitigation lands;


•	receipt from governmental agencies of required land use and construction permits and approvals;


•	receipt of rights to interconnect the project to the electric grid or to transmit energy;


•	payment of interconnection and other deposits (some of which are non-refundable);


•	negotiation of satisfactory engineering, procurement, and construction agreements;


•	entering into financeable arrangements for the purchase of the electrical output and renewable energy attributes generated by the project;


•	securing a project site and necessary rights of way;


•	obtaining construction financing, including debt, equity and funds associated with the monetization of tax credits and other tax benefits; and


•	timely implementation and satisfactory completion of construction.

Successful completion of a particular project may be adversely affected by numerous factors, including:


•	delays in obtaining and maintaining required governmental permits and approvals, including appeals of approvals obtained;


•	potential challenges from project stakeholders, including local residents, environmental organizations, and others who may not support the project;


•	unforeseen engineering problems;


•	construction delays and contractor performance shortfalls;


•	work stoppages;


•	cost over-runs;


•	labor, equipment and materials supply shortages or disruptions;


•	additional complexities when conducting project development or construction activities in foreign jurisdictions, including operating in accordance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and applicable local laws and customs;


•	unfavorable tax treatment;


•	adverse weather conditions;


•	adverse environmental and geological conditions; and


•	force majeure and other events out of our control.

If we are unable to complete the development of a solar power facility, we fail to meet one or more agreed target construction milestone dates, any agreed upon system-level capacity or energy output guarantees or warranties (including, for some projects, twenty-five year energy performance or system-level module degradation warranties and guarantees), or other contract terms, or our projects cause grid interference or other damage, we may be subject to forfeiture of significant deposits under power purchase agreements or interconnection agreements or termination of such agreements, significant liquidated damages, penalties and/or other obligations under the EPC agreement or other agreements relating to the project (including obligations to repair, replace and/or supplement additional modules and balance of system materials for the project), particularly if our liabilities are not capped under the terms of such agreement, and we typically will not be able to recover our investment in the project. Some of these penalties might require us to repurchase the project from the buyer or to down-size the project, under certain circumstances. If we were required to repurchase a project, we may have insufficient cash or capital resources necessary to make the repurchase payment or we may be unable to resell the project in a timely manner or on terms commercially satisfactory to us, which would adversely impact our results of operations. Some of these investments are included as assets on our consolidated balance sheet under the line item “Project assets.” If we are unable to complete the development of a solar power project, we may write-down or write-off some or all of these capitalized investments, which would have an adverse impact on our net income in the period in which the loss is recognized. In 2012, we expect to invest a significant amount of capital to develop projects owned by us or third parties, which may limit the availability of capital to use for other purposes, such as contract damages or repurchase payments.

We may enter into fixed-price EPC contracts in which we act as the general contractor for our customers in connection with the installation of their solar power systems. All essential costs are estimated at the time of entering into the EPC contract for a particular project, and these are reflected in the overall fixed-price that we charge our customers for the project. These cost estimates are preliminary and may or may not be covered by contracts between us or the subcontractors, suppliers, and other parties to the project. In addition, we require qualified, licensed subcontractors to install most of our systems. Shortages of such skilled labor could significantly delay a project or otherwise increase our costs. Should miscalculations in planning a project occur (including those due to unexpected increases in inflation, commodity prices or labor costs) or delays in execution occur and we are unable to increase commensurately the EPC sales price, we may not achieve our expected margins or we may be required to record a loss in the relevant fiscal period.

We may be unable to acquire or lease land, obtain necessary interconnection and transmission rights, and/or obtain the approvals, licenses, permits and electric transmission grid interconnection and transmission rights necessary to build and operate PV power plants in a timely and cost effective manner, and regulatory agencies, local communities, labor unions or other third parties may delay, prevent, or increase the cost of construction and operation of the PV plants we intend to build.

In order to construct and operate our PV plants, we need to acquire or lease land and rights of way, obtain interconnection rights, and obtain all necessary local, county, state, federal, and foreign approvals, licenses, and permits as well as rights to interconnect the plants to the transmission grid and transmit energy generated from the plant. We may be unable to acquire the land or lease interests needed, may not obtain satisfactory interconnection rights, may not receive or retain the requisite approvals, permits, licenses and interconnection and transmission rights, or may encounter other problems which could delay or prevent us from successfully constructing and operating PV plants.

Many of our proposed PV plants are located on or require access through public lands administered by federal and state agencies pursuant to competitive public leasing and right-of-way procedures and processes. The authorization for the use, construction, and operation of PV plants and associated transmission facilities on federal, state, and private lands will also require the assessment and evaluation of mineral rights, private rights-of-way, and other easements; environmental, agricultural, cultural, recreational, and aesthetic impacts; and the likely mitigation of adverse impacts to these and other resources and uses. The inability to obtain the required permits and, potentially, excessive delay in obtaining such permits due, for example, to litigation or third party appeals, could prevent us from successfully constructing and operating PV plants in a timely manner and could result in a potential forfeiture of any deposit we have made with respect to a given project. Moreover, project approvals subject to project modifications and conditions, including mitigation requirements and costs, could affect the financial success of a given project.

In addition, local labor unions may increase the cost of, and/or lower the productivity of, project development in Canada, California, and elsewhere. We may also be subject to labor unavailability and/or increased union labor requirements due to multiple simultaneous projects in a geographic region.

Lack of transmission capacity availability, potential upgrade costs to the transmission grid, and other systems constraints could significantly impact our ability to build PV plants and generate solar electricity power sales.

In order to deliver electricity from our PV plants to our customers, our projects need to connect to the transmission grid. The lack of available capacity on the transmission grid could substantially impact our projects and cause reductions in project size, delays in project implementation, increases in costs from transmission upgrades, and potential forfeitures of any deposit we have made with respect to a given project. These transmission issues, as well as issues relating to the availability of large systems such as transformers and switch gear, could significantly impact our ability to build PV plants and generate solar electricity sales.

Our systems business is largely dependent on us and third parties arranging financing from various sources, which may not be available or may only be available on unfavorable terms or in insufficient amounts.

The construction of the large utility-scale solar power projects under development by us is expected in many cases to require project financing, including non-recourse project debt financing in the bank loan market and institutional debt capital markets. Uncertainties exist as to whether our projects will be able to access the debt markets in a magnitude sufficient to finance their construction. If we are unable to arrange such financing or if it is only available on unfavorable terms, we may be unable to fully execute our systems business plan. In addition, we generally expect to sell our projects by raising project equity capital from tax- oriented, strategic industry, and other equity investors. Such equity sources may not be available or may only be available in insufficient amounts, in which case our ability to sell our projects may be delayed or limited and our business, financial condition, or results of operations may be adversely affected. Even if such financing sources are available, the counterparty to many of our fixed-price EPC contracts, which own the project we are constructing, are often special purpose vehicles that do not have significant assets other than their interests in the project and have pledged all or substantially all of these assets to secure the project-related debt and certain other sources of financing. If the owner defaults on its payment or other obligations to us, we may face difficulties in collecting payment of amounts due to us for the costs previously incurred or for the amounts previously expended or committed to be expended to purchase equipment or supplies (including intercompany purchases of PV modules), or for termination payments we are entitled to under the terms of the related EPC contract. If we are unable to collect the amounts owed to us, or are unable to complete the project because of an owner default, we may be required to record a charge against earnings related to the project, which could result in a material loss.

In addition, for projects to which we provide EPC services but are not the project developer, our EPC activities are in many cases dependent on the ability of third parties to finance their PV plant projects, which, in turn, is dependent on their ability to obtain financing for such purchases on acceptable terms. Depending on prevailing conditions in the credit markets, interest rates and other factors, such financing may not be available or may only be available on unfavorable terms or in insufficient amounts. If third parties are limited in their ability to access financing to support their purchase of PV power plant construction services from us, we may not realize the cash flows that we expect from such sales, and this could adversely affect our ability to invest in our business and/or generate revenue. See also the risk factor above entitled “An increase in interest rates or lending rates or tightening of the supply of capital in the global financial markets (including a reduction in total tax equity availability) could make it difficult for end-users to finance the cost of a PV system and could reduce the demand for our solar modules and/or lead to a reduction in the average selling price for PV modules.”

Developing solar power projects may require significant upfront investment prior to the signing of an EPC contract and commencing construction, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Our solar power project development cycles, which span the time between the identification of land and the commercial operation of a PV power plant project, vary substantially and can take many months or years to mature. As a result of these long project cycles, we may need to make significant upfront investments of resources (including, for example, payments for land rights, large transmission and PPA deposits or other payments, which may be non-refundable) in advance of the signing of EPC contracts and commencing construction and the receipt of any revenue, much of which is not recognized for several additional months or years following contract signing. Our potential inability to enter into sales contracts with potential customers after making such upfront investments could adversely affect our business and results of operations. Furthermore, we may become constrained in our ability to simultaneously fund our other business operations and these systems investments through our long project development cycles.

Our liquidity may be adversely affected to the extent the project sale market weakens and we are unable to sell our solar projects on pricing, terms and timing commercially acceptable to us.

We may not be able to obtain long-term contracts for the sale of power produced by our projects at prices and on other terms favorable to attract financing and other investments.

Obtaining long-term contracts for the sale of power produced by the projects at prices and on other terms favorable to us is essential for obtaining financing and commencing construction of our projects. We must compete for power purchase agreements

against other developers of solar and renewable energy projects. Further, other sources of power, such as natural gas-fired power plants, have historically been cheaper than the cost of solar power and power from certain types of projects, such as natural gas-fired power plants, can be delivered on a firm basis. The inability to compete successfully against other power producers or otherwise enter into PPAs favorable to us would negatively affect our ability to develop and finance our projects and negatively impact our revenue. In addition, the availability of power purchase agreements is a function of a number of economic, regulatory, tax and public policy factors.

We may be subject to unforeseen costs, liabilities or obligations when providing O&M services.

For solar power plants which we have developed and built, we may provide ongoing O&M services to the system owner under fixed-price long-term service agreements, pursuant to which we generally perform all scheduled and unscheduled maintenance for the system, perform operating and other asset management services for the system and provide an availability guarantee for the system. Our costs to perform these services are estimated at the time of entering into the O&M agreement for a particular project, and these are reflected in the fixed-price that we charge our customers under the O&M agreement. We do not have extensive experience in performing O&M services for PV solar power plants and estimating actual costs to serve under our O&M agreements relative to the price that we charge our customers, particularly in foreign jurisdictions in which we plan to offer PV systems solutions as part of our Long Term Strategic Plan. Should miscalculations in estimating these costs occur (including those due to unexpected increases in inflation or labor or BoS costs), our growth strategy and results of operations could be adversely affected. Because of the long-term nature of these O&M agreements, such as 25 years, such adverse impacts on results of operations could be significant, particularly if our liabilities are not capped or subject to an above-market liability cap under the terms of the O&M agreement. We also could be subject to substantial costs, liabilities or obligations in the event our solar systems do not meet any agreed-upon system-level availability, energy or performance guarantees or warranties.

Other Risks

We may not realize the anticipated benefits of past or future acquisitions, and integration of these acquisitions may disrupt our business and management.

We have made several acquisitions in the last several years, and in the future we may acquire additional companies, project pipelines, products, or technologies or enter into joint ventures or other strategic initiatives. We may not realize the anticipated benefits of an acquisition and each acquisition has numerous risks. These risks include the following:


•	difficulty in assimilating the operations and personnel of the acquired company;


•	difficulty in effectively integrating the acquired technologies or products with our current products and technologies;


•	difficulty in maintaining controls, procedures, and policies during the transition and integration;


•	disruption of our ongoing business and distraction of our management and associates from other opportunities and challenges due to integration issues;


•	difficulty integrating the acquired company’s accounting, management information, and other administrative systems;


•	inability to retain key technical and managerial personnel of the acquired business;


•	inability to retain key customers, vendors, and other business partners of the acquired business;


•	inability to achieve the financial and strategic goals for the acquired and combined businesses;


•	incurring acquisition-related costs or amortization costs for acquired intangible assets that could impact our operating results;


•	potential impairment of our relationships with our associates, customers, partners, distributors, or third party providers of technology or products;


•	potential failure of the due diligence processes to identify significant issues with product quality, legal and financial liabilities, among other things;


•	potential inability to assert that internal controls over financial reporting are effective;


•	potential inability to obtain, or obtain in a timely manner, approvals from governmental authorities, which could delay or prevent such acquisitions; and


•	potential delay in customer purchasing decisions due to uncertainty about the direction of our product offerings.

Mergers and acquisitions of companies are inherently risky, and ultimately, if we do not complete the integration of acquired businesses successfully and in a timely manner, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisitions to the extent anticipated, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations.

Our future success depends on our ability to retain our key associates and to successfully integrate them into our management team.

We are dependent on the services of our executive officers and other members of our senior management team. The loss of one or more of these key associates or any other member of our senior management team could have a material adverse effect on us. We may not be able to retain or replace these key associates, and we may not have adequate succession plans in place. Several of our current key associates including our executive officers are subject to employment conditions or arrangements that contain post-employment non-competition provisions. However, these arrangements permit the associates to terminate their employment with us upon little or no notice and the enforceability of the non-competition provisions is uncertain.

Our current chief executive officer has been serving on an interim basis since October 2011. We could be subject to management disruptions or distractions resulting from any extended delay in hiring a new chief executive officer or from such new chief executive officer’s integration into the Company.

If we are unable to attract, train, and retain key personnel, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

Our future success depends, to a significant extent, on our ability to attract, train, and retain management, operations, and technical personnel. Recruiting and retaining capable personnel, particularly those with expertise in the PV industry and thin-film technology, are vital to our success. There is substantial competition for qualified technical personnel and there can be no assurance that we will be able to attract or retain our technical personnel. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified associates, or otherwise experience labor disruptions our business may be materially and adversely affected.

Certain types of services provided by onsite workers are subject to the Davis-Bacon Act. The Davis-Bacon Act requires that a contractor pay all personnel assigned to the contract at least the prevailing wage and fringe benefits, as established by and in accordance with the regulations promulgated by the Department of Labor. We have an established policy pursuant to which we evaluate Davis-Bacon Act requirements and ensure our compliance with these requirements. If the Department of Labor were to determine that anyone working under such contracts were not properly classified, or were being paid the incorrect prevailing wage, we could incur additional liability with respect to such workers. Any such liability incurred above our anticipated costs for these services could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We may be exposed to infringement or misappropriation claims by third parties, which, if determined adversely to us, could cause us to pay significant damage awards or prohibit us from the manufacture and sale of our solar modules or the use of our technology.

Our success depends largely on our ability to use and develop our technology and know-how without infringing or misappropriating the intellectual property rights of third parties. The validity and scope of claims relating to PV technology patents involve complex scientific, legal, and factual considerations and analysis and, therefore, may be highly uncertain. We may be subject to litigation involving claims of patent infringement or violation of intellectual property rights of third parties. The defense and prosecution of intellectual property suits, patent opposition proceedings, and related legal and administrative proceedings can be both costly and time consuming and may significantly divert the efforts and resources of our technical and management personnel. An adverse determination in any such litigation or proceedings to which we may become a party could subject us to significant liability to third parties, require us to seek licenses from third parties, which may not be available on reasonable terms, or at all, or pay ongoing royalties, require us to redesign our solar module, or subject us to injunctions prohibiting the manufacture and sale of our solar modules or the use of our technologies. Protracted litigation could also result in our customers or potential customers deferring or limiting their purchase or use of our solar modules until the resolution of such litigation.

Currency translation and transaction risk may negatively affect our net sales, cost of sales, and gross margins and could result in exchange losses.

Although our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar, we conduct our business and incur costs in the local currency of most countries in which we operate. As a result, we are subject to currency translation and transaction risk. For example, 43% and 73% of our net sales were denominated in euros for the years ended December 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010, respectively, and we expect a large percentage of our net sales to be outside the United States and denominated in foreign currencies in the future. In addition, our operating expenses for our manufacturing plants located outside the U.S. and our operations for our systems business in foreign countries will generally be denominated in the local currency. Changes in exchange rates between foreign currencies and the U.S. dollar could affect our net sales and cost of sales and could result in exchange gains or losses. For example, during 2011 our net sales was reduced by $6.3 million due to a decrease in the blended exchange rate between the euro and the U.S. dollar. In addition, we incur currency translation risk whenever one of our operating subsidiaries enters into either a purchase or a sales transaction using a different currency from our reporting currency. For example, our Supply Contracts specify pricing in euros through 2012 and do not adjust for changes in the U.S. dollar to euro exchange rate. We cannot accurately predict the impact of future exchange rate fluctuations on our results of operations.

We could also expand our business into emerging markets, many of which have an uncertain regulatory environment relating to currency policy. Conducting business in such emerging markets could cause our exposure to changes in exchange rates to increase.

Our ability to hedge foreign currency exposure is dependent on our credit profile with the banks that are willing and able to do business with us. Deterioration in our credit position or a significant tightening of the credit market conditions could limit our ability to hedge our foreign currency exposure; and therefore, result in exchange gains or losses.

The ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe could adversely impact our business.

The ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe and its impact on the balance sheets and lending practices of European banks in particular could negatively impact our access to, and cost of, capital, and therefore could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and competitive position. It could also similarly affect our customers and therefore limit the sales of our modules and demand for our systems business as well. The European sovereign debt crisis may also cause European governments to reduce, eliminate or allow to expire government subsidies and economic incentives for solar energy, which could limit our growth or cause our net sales to decline and materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The Estate of John T. Walton and its affiliates have significant control over us and their interests may conflict with or differ from interests of other stockholders.

Our largest stockholder, the Estate of John T. Walton and its affiliates, including JCL Holdings, LLC and JTW Trust No. 1 UAD 9/19/02 (collectively, the Estate), owned approximately 31% of our outstanding common stock at December 31, 2011. As a result, the Estate has substantial influence over all matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of our directors and the approval of significant corporate transactions such as mergers, tender offers, and the sale of all or substantially all of our assets. The interests of the Estate could conflict with or differ from interests of other stockholders. For example, the concentration of ownership held by the Estate could delay, defer or prevent a change of control of our company or impede a merger, takeover, or other business combination which a majority of stockholders may view favorably.

If our goodwill or project assets become impaired, we may be required to record a significant charge to earnings.

We may be required to record a significant charge to earnings in our financial statements should we determine that our goodwill or project assets are impaired. Such a charge might have a significant impact on our financial position and results of operations. During the fourth quarter of 2011 we recorded goodwill impairment expense of $393.4 million related to our components reporting unit as discussed further in Note 5. “Goodwill and Intangible Assets,” to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2011 included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

As required by accounting rules, we review our goodwill for impairment at least annually in the fourth quarter or more frequently if facts and circumstances indicate that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit that has goodwill is less than its carrying value. Factors that may be considered a change in circumstances indicating that the carrying value of our goodwill might not be recoverable include a significant decline in our stock price and market capitalization, a significant decline in projections of future cash flows and lower future growth rates in our industry.

We review project assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. We consider a project commercially viable and recoverable if it is anticipated to be saleable for a profit once it is either fully developed or fully constructed. If our projects are not considered commercially viable, we would be required to

impair the respective project assets.

Unanticipated changes in our tax provisions, the adoption of a new U.S. tax legislation, or exposure to additional income tax liabilities could affect our profitability.

We are subject to income taxes in the United States and the foreign jurisdictions in which we operate. Our tax liabilities are affected by the amounts we charge for inventory, services, licenses, funding, and other items in inter-company transactions. We are subject to potential tax examinations in these various jurisdictions. Tax authorities may disagree with our inter-company charges, cross-jurisdictional transfer pricing or other tax positions and assess additional taxes. We regularly assess the likely outcomes of these examinations in order to determine the appropriateness of our tax provision in accordance with ASC 740, Income Taxes. However, there can be no assurance that we will accurately predict the outcomes of these potential examinations, and the amounts ultimately paid upon resolution of examinations could be materially different from the amounts previously included in our income tax expense and therefore, could have a material impact on our tax provision, net income, and cash flows. In addition, our future effective tax rate could be adversely affected by changes to our operating structure, loss of our Malaysian tax holiday, changes in the mix of earnings in countries with tax holidays or differing statutory tax rates, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in tax laws, and the discovery of new information in the course of our tax return preparation process. In addition, recently announced proposals for new U.S. tax legislation could have a material effect on the results of our operations; if enacted.

Our credit agreements contain covenant restrictions that may limit our ability to operate our business.

We may be unable to respond to changes in business and economic conditions, engage in transactions that might otherwise be beneficial to us, and obtain additional financing, if needed, because our revolving credit agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as Administrative Agent, and our Malaysian and German facility agreements contain, and any of our other future debt agreements may contain, covenant restrictions that limit our ability to, among other things:


•	incur additional debt, assume obligations in connection with letters of credit, or issue guarantees;


•	create liens;


•	enter into certain transactions with our affiliates;


•	sell certain assets; and


•	declare or pay dividends, make other distributions to stockholders, or make other restricted payments.

Under our revolving credit agreement and our Malaysian and German facility agreements, we are also subject to certain financial condition covenants. Our ability to comply with covenants under our credit agreements is dependent on our future performance, which will be subject to many factors, some of which are beyond our control, including prevailing economic conditions. In addition, our failure to comply with these covenants could result in a default under these agreements and any of our other future debt agreements, which if not cured or waived, could permit the holders thereof to accelerate such debt and could cause cross-defaults under our other facility agreements and the possible acceleration of debt under such other facility agreements, as well as cross-defaults under certain of our key project and operational agreements. In addition, we cannot assure you that events that occur within the Company, or in the industry or the economy as a whole, will not constitute material adverse effects under these agreements. If it is determined that a material adverse effect has occurred, the lenders can, under certain circumstances, restrict future borrowings or accelerate the due date of outstanding loan balances. If any of our debt is accelerated, we may in the future not have sufficient funds available to repay such debt, and we may experience cross-defaults under our other debt agreements or project and key operational agreements, which could materially and negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Item 1B: Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 2: Properties

Our principal properties consisted of the following:



Nature	Primary Segment(s) Using Property	Location	Held	Major Encumbrances
Manufacturing Plant	Components	Perrysburg, Ohio, United States	Own	State of Ohio Loan (1)
Manufacturing Plants	Components	Frankfurt/Oder, Germany	Own	German Facility Agreement (1)
Manufacturing Plants	Components	Kulim, Kedah, Malaysia	Lease Land/Own Buildings	Malaysian Ringgit Facility Agreement (1)
Manufacturing Plant (2)	Components	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	Lease Land/Own Building	n/a
Manufacturing Plant (3)	Components	Mesa, Arizona, United States	Own	n/a
Corporate Headquarters	Components & Systems	Tempe, Arizona, United States	Lease	n/a
Administrative Office	Systems	Bridgewater, New Jersey, United States	Lease	n/a
Administrative Office	Components & Systems	New York, New York, United States	Lease	n/a
Administrative Office	Systems	Oakland/San Francisco, California, United States	Lease	n/a
Research and Development Facility	Components	Santa Clara, California, United States	Lease	n/a
Administrative Office	Components & Systems	Mainz, Germany	Lease	n/a


(1)	See Note 15. “Debt,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.


(2)	We have determined that we will not proceed with our previously announced 4-line plant in Vietnam.


(3)	Under construction. We have postponed production from our 4-line plant in Mesa, Arizona until global supply and demand dynamics support the additional manufacturing capacity. Until such time this facility will be used as office space for certain business functions and as temporary storage space for systems business solar modules, balance of systems parts and certain machinery and equipment.

In addition, we lease small amounts of office and warehouse space in several other U.S. and international locations.

Item 3: Legal Proceedings

In the ordinary conduct of our business, we are subject to periodic lawsuits, investigations, and claims, including, but not limited to, routine employment matters. Although we cannot predict with certainty the ultimate resolution of lawsuits, investigations, and claims asserted against us, we do not believe that any currently pending legal proceeding to which we are a party will have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows, or financial condition.

On September 23, 2011, the Company informed the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) that the Company was commencing an internal investigation regarding a possible violation of Regulation FD. The possible violation arose in connection with disclosures on September 21, 2011, relating to the failure of the Topaz Solar Farm project to meet the statutory deadline to receive a federal loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy. This internal investigation was conducted on behalf of the Company’s board of directors by independent outside counsel. Following completion of the internal investigation, the Company appointed a new Vice President of Investor Relations. The SEC, pursuant to an order dated November 17, 2011, is investigating the matter. The Company is cooperating with the SEC’s investigation.

Item 4: Mine Safety Disclosures

None.

PART II

Item 5: Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Price Range of Common Stock

Our common stock has been listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “FSLR” since November 17, 2006. Prior to this time, there was no public market for our common stock. The following table sets forth the range of high and low sales prices per share as reported on The NASDAQ Global Select Market for the periods indicated.



	High		Low
Fiscal Year 2011
First Quarter	$	175.45	$	130.24
Second Quarter	$	163.00	$	111.40
Third Quarter	$	134.21	$	61.55
Fourth Quarter	$	67.72	$	29.87
Fiscal Year 2010
First Quarter	$	142.46	$	98.71
Second Quarter	$	152.53	$	100.19
Third Quarter	$	148.16	$	112.06
Fourth Quarter	$	153.30	$	120.90

The closing sales price of our common stock on The NASDAQ Global Select Market was $35.58 per share on February 24, 2012. As of February 24, 2012, there were 61 record holders of our common stock. This figure does not reflect the beneficial ownership of shares held in nominee names.

Dividend Policy

We have never paid, and it is our present intention for the foreseeable future not to pay, dividends on our common stock. Our revolving credit facility imposes restrictions on our ability to declare or pay dividends. The declaration and payment of dividends is subject to the discretion of our board of directors and depends on various factors, including the continued applicability of the above-referenced restrictions under our revolving credit facility, our net income, financial condition, cash requirements, future prospects, and other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors.

Equity Compensation Plans

The following table sets forth certain information, as of December 31, 2011, concerning securities authorized for issuance under all equity compensation plans of our company:



Plan Category	Number of Securities to be Issued Upon Exercise of Outstanding Options and Rights (a)(1)(3)	Weighted-Average Exercise Price of Outstanding Options and Rights (b)(2)		Number of Securities Remaining Available for Future Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans (Excluding Securities Reflected in Column (a))(c)(4)
Equity compensation plans approved by our stockholders	2,130,564	$	89.04	9,457,850
Equity compensation plans not approved by our stockholders	—	$	—	—
Total	2,130,564	$	89.04	9,457,850


(1)	Includes 1,964,504 shares issuable upon vesting of RSUs granted under the 2006 and 2010 Omnibus Incentive Compensation Plans. The remaining balance consists of outstanding stock option grants.


(2)	The weighted average exercise price does not take into account the shares issuable upon vesting of outstanding RSUs, which have no exercise price.


(3)	Includes our 2003 Unit Option Plan and our 2006 and 2010 Omnibus Incentive Compensation Plans.


(4)	Includes our 2003 Unit Option Plan and 2010 Omnibus Incentive Compensation Plan.

Stock Price Performance Graph

The following graph compares the cumulative 5-year total return on our common stock relative to the cumulative total returns of the S&P 500 Index, the Guggenheim Solar Index, and two customized peer groups of companies (Old Peer Group and New Peer Group). The Old Peer Group includes Q-Cells SE, SolarWorld AG, SunPower Corporation, Suntech Power Holdings Company Limited, Trina Solar Limited, and Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited. The New Peer Group includes Canadian Solar Inc., Hanwha Solarone Company Limited, SolarWorld AG, SunPower Corporation, Suntech Power Holdings Company Limited, Trina Solar Limited, and Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited. We believe that each peer group consisting of comparable issuers and the Guggenheim Solar Index is representative of the solar industry as a whole. In the stock price performance graph included below, an investment of $100 (with reinvestment of all dividends) is assumed to have been made in our common stock, in each index, and in each of the peer groups on December 30, 2006, and its relative performance is tracked through December 31, 2011. No cash dividends have been declared on shares of our common stock. This performance graph is not “soliciting material,” is not deemed filed with the SEC, and is not to be incorporated by reference in any filing by us under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), or the Exchange Act, whether made before or after the date hereof, and irrespective of any general incorporation language in any such filing. The stock price performance shown on the graph represents past performance and should not be considered an indication of future price performance.



	12/30/06		12/29/07		12/27/08		12/26/09		12/31/10		12/31/11
First Solar, Inc.	$	100.00	$	891.55	$	452.45	$	448.39	$	436.13	$	113.14
S&P 500	$	100.00	$	105.49	$	66.46	$	84.05	$	96.71	$	98.75
Old Peer Group	$	100.00	$	278.53	$	50.50	$	64.82	$	34.29	$	11.75
New Peer Group	$	100.00	$	258.79	$	41.36	$	72.71	$	40.79	$	13.31
Guggenheim Solar			$	100.00	$	27.38	$	36.07	$	25.83	$	8.76

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

During the year ended December 31, 2011, 8,316 Holdback Shares (as defined below) were issued to OptiSolar Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liabilty company (Optisolar Holdings). As previously reported in a Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 9, 2009, on April 3, 2009, we completed the acquisition of the solar power project development business (the Project Business) of OptiSolar, Inc., a Delaware corporation (OptiSolar). Pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the Merger Agreement) dated as of March 2, 2009 by and among First Solar, First Solar Acquisition Corp., a Delaware corporation (Merger Sub), OptiSolar, and OptiSolar Holdings, Merger Sub merged with and into OptiSolar, with OptiSolar surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Solar (the Merger). Pursuant to the Merger, all of the outstanding shares of common stock of OptiSolar held by OptiSolar Holdings were exchanged for 2,972,420 shares of First Solar common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the Merger Shares), including (i) 732,789 shares that have been issued and deposited with an escrow agent to support certain indemnification obligations of OptiSolar Holdings, and (ii) 355,096 shares that were issuable upon satisfaction of conditions relating to the satisfaction of certain then existing liabilities of OptiSolar (the Holdback Shares). The Merger Shares and certain Holdback Shares were issued, and any remaining Holdback Shares will be issued in a private placement exempt from registration pursuant to Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. First Solar has prepared and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the resale of 2,801,435 of the Merger Shares.

As of December 31, 2011, all of the Holdback Shares had been issued to OptiSolar Holdings.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliate Purchases

None.

Item 6: Selected Financial Data

The following table sets forth our selected consolidated financial data for the periods and at the dates indicated.

The selected consolidated financial information from the consolidated statements of operations and consolidated statements of cash flows for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2011, December 31, 2010, and December 26, 2009 and the selected consolidated financial data from the consolidated balance sheets for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2011, December 31, 2010 has been derived from the audited consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The selected consolidated financial data from the consolidated balance sheets for the fiscal years ended December 26, 2009, December 27, 2008 and December 29, 2007 and selected consolidated financial information from the consolidated statements of operations and consolidated statements of cash flows for the fiscal years ended December 27, 2008 and December 29, 2007 have been derived from audited consolidated financial statements not included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The information presented below should be read in conjunction with Item 7: “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto.



	Years Ended
	Dec 31, 2011			Dec 31, 2010			Dec 26, 2009			Dec 27, 2008			Dec 29, 2007
	(In thousands, except per share amounts)
Statement of Operations:
Net sales	$	2,766,207		$	2,563,515		$	2,066,200		$	1,246,301		$	503,976
Cost of sales	1,794,456			1,378,669			1,021,618			567,908			252,573
Gross profit	971,751			1,184,846			1,044,582			678,393			251,403
Research and development	140,523			94,797			78,161			33,517			15,107
Selling, general and administrative	412,541			321,704			272,898			174,039			82,248
Production start-up	33,620			19,442			13,908			32,498			16,867
Goodwill impairment	393,365			—			—			—			—
Restructuring	60,366			—			—			—			—
Operating (loss) income	(68,664		)	748,903			679,615			438,339			137,181
Foreign currency gain (loss)	995			(3,468		)	5,207			5,722			1,881
Interest income	13,391			14,375			9,735			21,158			20,413
Interest expense, net	(100		)	(6		)	(5,258		)	(509		)	(2,294		)
Other income (expense), net	665			2,273			(2,985		)	(934		)	(1,219		)
Income tax (benefit) expense	(14,220		)	97,876			46,176			115,446			(2,392		)
Net (loss) income	$	(39,493	)	$	664,201		$	640,138		$	348,330		$	158,354
Net (loss) income per share data:
Basic net (loss) income per share:
Net (loss) income per share	$	(0.46	)	$	7.82		$	7.67		$	4.34		$	2.12
Weighted average shares	86,067			84,891			83,500			80,178			74,701
Diluted net (loss) income per share:
Net (loss) income per share	$	(0.46	)	$	7.68		$	7.53		$	4.24		$	2.03
Weighted average shares	86,067			86,491			85,044			82,124			77,971
Cash dividends declared per common share	$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—		$	—



	Years Ended
	Dec 31, 2011			Dec 31, 2010			Dec 26, 2009			Dec 27, 2008			Dec 29, 2007
	(In thousands)
Cash Flow Data:
Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities	$	(33,463	)	$	705,492		$	675,193		$	463,067		$	205,951
Net cash used in investing activities	(676,457		)	(742,085		)	(701,690		)	(308,441		)	(547,250		)
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities	571,218			150,451			(22,021		)	177,549			430,421



	Years Ended
	Dec 31, 2011		Dec 31, 2010		Dec 26, 2009		Dec 27, 2008		Dec 29, 2007
	(In thousands)
Balance Sheet Data:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	605,619	$	765,689	$	664,499	$	716,218	$	404,264
Marketable securities, current and noncurrent	182,338		348,160		449,844		105,601		265,399
Accounts receivable, net	310,568		305,537		226,826		61,703		18,165
Inventories, current and noncurrent	536,618		238,591		174,516		121,554		40,204
Property, plant and equipment, net	1,815,958		1,430,789		988,782		842,622		430,104
Project assets, current and noncurrent	374,881		320,140		132,496		—		—
Deferred tax assets, current and noncurrent	381,418		259,624		152,194		71,247		55,701
Total assets	5,777,614		4,380,403		3,349,512		2,114,502		1,371,312
Total debt	663,648		237,391		174,958		198,470		108,165
Accrued solar module collection and recycling liability	167,378		132,951		92,799		35,238		13,079
Total liabilities	2,133,751		925,458		696,725		601,460		274,045
Total stockholders’ equity	3,643,863		3,454,945		2,652,787		1,513,042		1,097,267

Item 7: Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In addition to historical consolidated financial information, the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as described under the “Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” that appears earlier in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those discussed under Item 1A: “Risk Factors,” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Overview

We manufacture and sell solar modules with an advanced thin-film semiconductor technology, and we design, construct, and sell photovoltaic (PV) solar power systems.

In furtherance of our goal of delivering the lowest cost of solar electricity and achieving price parity with conventional fossil-fuel-based peak electricity generation, we are continually focused on reducing PV solar system costs in four primary areas: module manufacturing, balance of systems (BoS) costs (consisting of the costs of the components of a solar power system other than the solar modules, such as inverters, mounting hardware, grid interconnection equipment, wiring and other devices, and installation labor costs), project development costs, and the cost of capital. First, with respect to our module manufacturing costs, our advanced technology has allowed us to reduce our average module manufacturing costs to the lowest in the world for modules produced on a commercial scale, based on publicly available information. In 2011, our total average manufacturing costs were $0.75 per watt, which we believe is less than those of traditional crystalline silicon solar module manufacturers. By continuing to improve conversion efficiency and production line throughput, lower material costs, and drive volume scale to further decrease overhead costs, we believe that we can further reduce our manufacturing costs per watt and maintain our cost advantage over traditional crystalline silicon solar module manufacturers. Second, with respect to our BoS costs, by continuing to improve conversion efficiency, leverage volume procurement around standardized hardware platforms, and accelerate installation times, we believe we can continue to make reductions in BoS costs, which represent over half of all of the costs associated with a typical utility-scale PV solar power system. Third, with respect to our project development costs, we seek optimal site locations in an effort to minimize transmission and permitting costs, and to accelerate lead times to electricity generation. Finally, with respect to our cost of capital, by continuing to strengthen our financial position, demonstrate the financial viability and operational performance of our utility-scale PV solar power plants, and increase our PV solar power system operating experience, we believe we can continue to lower the cost of capital associated with our PV solar power systems, thereby further enhancing the economic viability of our projects and lowering the cost of electricity generated by PV solar power systems that incorporate our modules and technology.

We believe that combining our reliable, low-cost module manufacturing capability with our systems business enables us to

more rapidly reduce the price of solar electricity, accelerate the adoption of our technology in utility-scale PV solar power systems, identify and remove constraints on the successful migration to sustainable solar markets around the world, and further our mission to create enduring value by enabling a world powered by clean, affordable solar electricity.

We operate our business in two segments. Our components segment designs, manufactures, and sells solar modules primarily to solar project developers and system integrators. Through our systems segment, we have the capability to provide a complete PV solar power system, using our solar modules, for utility-scale or large commercial systems. Providing a complete PV solar power system includes project development, engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC), operating and maintenance (O&M) services and monitoring and diagnostics (M&D) services, when applicable, and facilitating project finance, when required. We view the sale of solar modules from the components segment as the core driver of our profitability, return on net assets, and cash throughput. We view our systems segment as an enabler to drive module throughput for our components business with the objective of achieving break-even results before income taxes for our systems segment. See also Note 24. “Segment and Geographical Information,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Market Overview

The solar industry experienced a challenging environment in 2011. The year was categorized by intense pricing competition, bankruptcies of several solar companies, many solar companies with little or no operating income, and toward the end of the year, announcements of manufacturing shut-downs or slow-downs. At December 31, 2011, the global PV industry consisted of more than 150 manufacturers of solar modules and cells. In the aggregate, these manufactuers have installed production capacity that significantly exceeded global demand in 2011. As a result, industry average module pricing declined significantly as competitors reduced prices to sell-through inventories in Europe and elsewhere. We believe this structural imbalance between supply and demand (i.e., where production capacity significantly exceeds current global demand) may continue for the foreseeable future, and we expect it will continue to put pressure on pricing and our results of operations in 2012. In light of such market realities, we have begun to execute our Long Term Strategic Plan under which we are focusing on our competitive strengths, notably providing utility-scale PV generation solutions to sustainable geographic markets that have an immediate need for mass-scale PV electricity.

In addressing overall growing global demand for PV solar electricity, we have developed a differentiated, fully integrated systems business that can provide a low-cost turn-key utility-scale PV system solution for system owners and low cost electricity to utility end-users. Our fully integrated systems business has enabled us to increase module throughput, drive cost reduction across the value chain, identify and break constraints to sustainable markets, and deliver the most compelling solutions to our customers and end-users. With our fully integrated systems business, we believe we are in a position to expand our business in transition markets and eventually economically sustainable markets (in which support programs are minimal), which are expected to develop in areas with abundant solar resources and sizable electricity demand. We are committed to continually lowering the cost of solar electricity, and in the long term, we plan to compete on an economic basis with conventional fossil-fuel-based peaking power generation.

The major European governments continue to seek to balance subsidy costs with their commitment to the EU directive’s goal of a 20% share of energy from renewable sources in the EU by 2020. Governments in Germany, France, and Italy continue to evaluate changes to their FiT structures, market caps, and/or tender processes. In many instances, such proposed FiT structures would particularly impact the competitiveness of our core offering of large-scale free field PV systems and modules to be installed in such systems. For instance, the German government recently proposed significant and accelerated FiT reductions for projects up to 10 MW and an elimination of FiTs for projects over 10 MW. The resulting market uncertainties, together with increased European financing environment constraints, have contributed to demand pauses and increased customer difficulties in 2011, which, in conjunction with increased industry-wide manufacturing capacity, have contributed to excess industry channel inventories. In 2011, industry average module pricing declined significantly as competitors reduced prices to sell-through inventories in Europe and elsewhere in light of these factors. Lower industry module pricing, while currently challenging for solar manufacturers, in particular those with high cost structures, is expected to continue to contribute to global market diversification and volume elasticity. Over time, declining average selling prices are consistent with the erosion of one of the primary historical constraints to widespread solar market penetration, namely its overall affordability. In the near term, however, in light of continually evolving FiT structures in our core European markets and increased industry-wide manufacturing capacity, it is uncertain whether growing demand from other countries and markets could absorb industry-wide module supply without further inventory build-up and/or price reductions, which could adversely affect our results of operations. If competitors reduce module pricing to levels below their manufacturing costs, or are able to operate at minimal or negative operating margins for sustained periods of time, our results of operations could be further adversely affected. We continue to mitigate this uncertainty in part by executing on and building our North American utility-scale systems pipeline as a buffer against demand fluctuations in Europe and elsewhere; by accelerating our thin-film module efficiency improvements and cost reduction roadmaps to increase our competitive advantage, profitability and capital efficiency; by adjusting our production plans and capacity utilization to match expected demand, and by

continuing the development of other geographic markets, including those in India, Australia, the Middle East, South America, and China.

The development of market demand outside of the European Union continued during 2011, in part aided by demand elasticity resulting from declining industry average selling prices, which make solar power more affordable to new markets. In India, we entered into a 100 MW direct current (DC) module supply agreement (the largest PV module supply agreement in India to date) with one of India’s leading power generation companies. In Australia, we were contracted to provide our modules, EPC, and O&M services for Australia's first utility-scale solar power project, a 10 MW alternating current (AC) solar farm that will help power the Southern Seawater Desalination Plant in Western Australia.

In North America, we have continued to execute on our utility-scale systems pipeline. We made substantial construction progress on the 290 MW AC Agua Caliente project in Arizona during 2011, the financial impact of which is reflected below under “Results of Operations.” On September 30, 2011, we announced the sales and construction plans for what will be two of the world’s largest solar PV facilities, both in California. The two projects sold in the third quarter are the 550 MW AC Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, located west of Blythe, California, and the 230 MW AC Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One project, located just north of Los Angeles, California. In January 2012, we announced completion of the sale of the 550 MW AC Topaz Solar Farm, located in San Luis Obispo County, California.

In the PV module segment, we continue to face intense competition from manufacturers of crystalline silicon solar modules and other types of solar modules and PV systems. Solar module manufacturers compete with one another in several product performance attributes, including reliability and module cost per watt, and, with respect to solar power systems, return on equity (ROE) and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), meaning the net present value of total life cycle costs of the solar power project divided by the quantity of energy which is expected to be produced over the system’s life. The ability to expand manufacturing capacity quickly is another source of differentiation among solar module manufacturers, and certain of our competitors may have a faster response time to capacity expansion than we do and/or an ability to expand capacity in finer increments than we can. We are the lowest cost PV module manufacturer in the solar industry for modules produced on a commercial scale, based on publicly available information, and our average manufacturing cost per watt declined from $0.77 during 2010 to $0.75 during 2011. This cost advantage is reflected in the price at which we sell our modules or fully integrated systems and enables our systems to compete favorably in respect of their ROE or LCOE. Our cost competitiveness is based in large part on our proprietary technology (which enables conversion efficiency improvements and enables us to produce a module in less than 2.5 hours using a continuous and highly automated industrial manufacturing process, as opposed to a batch process), our scale, and our operational excellence. In addition, our modules use approximately 1-2% of the amount of semiconductor material (i.e., silicon) that is used to manufacture traditional crystalline silicon solar modules. The cost of polysilicon is a significant driver of the manufacturing cost of crystalline silicon solar modules, and the timing and rate of change in the cost of silicon feedstock and polysilicon could lead to changes in solar module pricing levels. Polysilicon costs declined in 2011, contributing to a decline in our manufacturing cost advantage over crystalline silicon module manufacturers. Although we are not a crystalline silicon module manufacturer, we estimate, based on industry research and public disclosures of our competitors, that a $10 per Kg increase or decrease in the price of polysilicon could increase or decrease, respectively, our competitors’ manufacturing cost per watt by approximately $0.05 to $0.08 over time. Given the lower conversion efficiency of our modules compared to crystalline silicon modules, there may be higher BoS costs associated with systems using our modules. Thus, to compete effectively on the basis of LCOE, our modules need to maintain a certain cost advantage per watt compared to crystalline silicon-based modules. During 2011, we reduced our manufacturing cost per watt by 3% from our cost per watt in 2010 and continued to reduce BoS costs associated with systems using our modules.

While our modules currently enjoy competitive advantages in these product performance attributes, there can be no guarantee that these advantages will continue to exist in the future to the same extent or at all. Any declines in the competitiveness of our products could result in additional margin compression, further declines in the average selling prices of our solar modules, erosion in our market share for modules, decreases in the rate of revenue growth, and/or declines in overall revenues. We have taken, and continue to take, various actions to mitigate the potential impact resulting from competitive pressures, including adjusting our pricing policies as necessary in core market segments to drive module volumes, accelerating progress along our module and BoS cost reduction roadmaps, and focusing our research and development on increasing the conversion efficiency of our solar modules.

As we expand our systems business into transition and sustainable markets, we can offer value beyond the PV module, reduce our exposure to module-only competition, provide differentiated offerings to minimize the impact of solar module commoditization, and provide comprehensive utility-scale PV systems solutions that significantly reduce solar electricity costs. Thus, our systems business allows us to play a more active role than many of our competitors in managing the demand for our solar modules. Finally, we seek to form and develop strong partner relationships with our customers and continue to develop our range of offerings, including EPC capabilities and O&M or M&D services, in order to enhance the competitiveness of systems using our solar modules.

Long Term Strategic Plan

In December 2011 we announced a long term strategic plan ("Long Term Strategic Plan" or "LTSP") with a goal to transition to primarily sustainable opportunities by the end of 2014. In executing the LTSP we will focus on providing solar PV generation solutions to sustainable geographic markets that we believe have a compelling need for mass-scale PV electricity, including new markets throughout the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. As part of our LTSP, we expect to focus on opportunities in which our solar PV generation solutions will compete directly with fossil fuel offerings on a levelized cost of energy basis and decrease our focus on rooftop solar. Execution of the LTSP will entail a reallocation of resources around the globe, in particular dedicating resources to regions such as Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa where we have not traditionally conducted significant business to date. We will evaluate and manage closely the appropriate level of resources required as we transition into and penetrate these specific markets. We intend to dedicate significant capital and human resources to reduce the total installed cost of solar PV generation, to optimize the design and logistics around our solar PV generation solutions, and to ensure that our solutions integrate well into the overall electricity ecosystem of the specific region.

Manufacturing Capacity

As of December 31, 2011, we operated 36 production lines with an annual global manufacturing capacity of approximately 2.4 GW at our manufacturing plants in Perrysburg, Ohio, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany, and Kulim, Malaysia. In order to better align production with expected market demand, we expect to produce between approximately 1.5 GW to 1.8 GW of solar modules in 2012, reflecting a manufacturing capacity utilization rate of approximately 60% to 70%, compared to an expected manufacturing capacity of approximately 2.5 GW at the end of 2012. We expect to adjust such production plans in the future to match the then current expected market demand. We plan to idle half of our production capacity in our Frankfurt/Oder manufacturing facility for a period of time beginning in March 2012. We also plan to strategically idle additional production capacity to implement upgraded process technologies across existing manufacturing lines as part of our accelerated conversion efficiency improvement initiatives. We plan to take the Kulim production lines down on a rolling schedule for maintenance and equipment upgrades during 2012. The balancing of our production capabilities with market demand is a core component of our manufacturing capacity expansion strategy and our Long Term Strategic Plan. To that end in February 2012 we decided not to proceed with our previously announced 4-line plant in Vietnam. See Note 4. “Restructuring and Acquisitions,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We have also postponed the commissioning of our previously announced 4-line plant in Mesa, Arizona and the construction of our previously announced 2-line plant in France until such time as global supply and demand dynamics support the additional manufacturing capacity in such geographic areas.

2008-2009 Manufacturing Excursion

As part of our voluntary remediation program, we have worked with our customers to identify systems that are potentially affected by modules manufactured during the relevant period. Although we have been able to identify potentially affected systems, the logistics costs of identifying, testing and replacing individual affected modules within a site once they have been installed renders searching for and replacing individual affected modules impracticable for us when we are not the owner or operator of the site. In many cases we elected to remediate our customers' sites such that their overall site performance matched the customers' expectations, and in doing so we determined that it was more efficient to either replace all modules within a site, for certain smaller sites below a size threshold, or, for larger sites, to identify groups, or strings, of modules that are underperforming, and replace the entire group or string with new modules. The additional information provided from sites that we have already remediated and modules we have removed and tested, permits us to identify the expected total number of modules necessary to remediate sites with potentially affected modules to match customers' expectations, and to refine the cost estimates for our voluntary remediation program. As we have continued remediation efforts under our voluntary remediation program, we have learned that, in light of the impracticality of identifying and replacing individual affected models, in order to remediate the energy loss impact at a system level, we are required to remove and replace several modules in the aggregate, including modules that might not have been affected by the manufacturing excursion. Removed modules are returned to us and are further tested to determine if the module can be resold or whether the module requires recycling under our solar module collection and recycling program.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, we accrued additional expenses in excess of standard product warranty liability relating to our voluntary remediation program. A principal driver behind such additional accrual was our greater understanding as of year-end, obtained through the processing of thousands of claims as described below, of the number of modules not affected in the manufacturing excursion that needed to be removed (and subsequently replaced) in order for us to be able to identify and remedy the number of modules actually affected by the manufacturing excursion. For additional information regarding accrued expenses in excess of standard product warranty liability relating to our voluntary remediation program, see Note 8. “Consolidated Balance Sheet Details,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our voluntary remediation program, and the related manufacturing excursion, also resulted in changes in estimates to our product warranty liability. For additional information regarding these changes, see Note 16. “Commitments and Contingencies,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

In response to our communications to customers regarding our intent to undertake a voluntary remediation program, we received more than five thousand customer claims, which covered an installed base greater than our entire production output during the June 2008 - June 2009 timeframe. In our processing of these claims to date, we have determined that we will take remediation actions in accordance with our voluntary remediation program with respect to approximately 1,100 of such claims, approximately an additional 200 claims could, pending receipt of additional information, qualify for remediation, and the balance of approximately 4,000 claims have been or will be rejected as they did not meet the criteria for participation in our voluntary remediation program (including claims containing insufficient data necessary to evaluate them). We have expensed $215.7 million total to-date for the estimated costs of remediating systems affected by modules manufactured during the relevant period, including $145.6 million for remediation expenses beyond our limited warranty obligations and $70.1 million in product warranty expense reflecting the net increase in the expected number of replacement modules required in connection with our remediation efforts, as described in more detail under “-Results of Operations-Fiscal Years Ended December 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010-Cost of Sales” and “-Results of Operations-Fiscal Years Ended December 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010-Selling, General and Administrative.”

In addition to those customers with systems containing modules affected by the manufacturing excursion that we have already identified, we are working with a number of additional customers who have made claims and may have affected modules. We are in the process of gathering information to complete our analysis of these remaining claims. Based upon our experience to date with our remediation approach, together with the data currently available, we estimate that, if we ultimately remediate these systems under our current remediation program, we could incur additional costs of up to approximately $44 million. This includes approximately $24 million beyond our limited warranty obligations in connection with these claims, including the costs of actual remediation and the costs of additional compensation payments to customers under certain circumstances, and approximately $20 million related to additional product warranty liability.

Module Installation in Non-Temperate Climates

We believe our PV modules are potentially subject to increased failure rates in hot climates. This assumption is based on technical literature, data that we have developed internally including through accelerated-life testing, our analysis of modules returned under warranty, and our analysis of performance data from systems that we monitor under O&M agreements. Processes that are accelerated by higher ambient temperatures include stress corrosion cracking in glass, polymer creepage and impurity diffusion processes. For more information about risks related to thin film module product performance, please see Item 1A: “Thin-film technology has a short history, and our thin-film technology and solar modules and systems may perform below expectations; problems with product quality or performance may cause us to incur significant and/or unexpected warranty and related expenses, damage our market reputation, and prevent us from maintaining or increasing our market share.” First Solar has an extensive deployment history in temperate climates, such as Europe. Our deployed volume into hot climates, such as the southwestern United States, is mostly recent. We have increased our warranty reserve by $37.8 million to reflect our exposure to this shift in the mix of geographic regions where our modules are installed. As we execute on our Long Term Strategic Plan, we expect to install higher volumes in non-temperate climates as part of our utility-scale offerings in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and the southwestern United States. Accordingly, we will continue to review our warranty reserve in the future to reflect actual installations in such non-temperate climates and adjust such reserve as appropriate. For additional information regarding changes in estimates to our product warranty liability see Note 16. “Commitments and Contingencies,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Financial Operations Overview

The following describes certain line items in our statement of operations and some of the factors that affect our operating results.

Net Sales

Components Business

During 2011, the majority of our net sales were generated from the sale of solar modules. We generally price and sell our solar modules per watt of power. During 2011, we sold the majority of our solar modules to solar power system project developers, system integrators, and operators headquartered in Germany, France, India, Italy, and the United States, which either resell our solar modules to end-users or integrate them into power plants that they own, operate, or sell.

As of December 31, 2011, we had supply contracts for the sale of solar modules with thirteen solar power system project developers and system integrators headquartered within the European Union expiring at the end of 2012 (Supply Contracts). Our sales prices under the Supply Contracts are primarily denominated in euros, exposing us to risks from currency exchange rate fluctuations. During the year ended December 31, 2011, 78% of our components business net sales were denominated in euros and were subject to fluctuations in the exchange rate between the euro and U.S. dollar. In the past, we have amended pricing, volume, and other terms in our Supply Contracts on a prospective basis in order to remain competitive, and we may decide in the future to further amend these contracts in order to address the highly competitive environment for solar modules. Effective September 30, 2011, the rebate program where we provided certain of our customers a price rebate for solar modules purchased from us, ended. We have begun early stage discussions with our customers under current Supply Contracts regarding replacement contracts for periods covering 2013 and beyond, but such replacement contracts are not expected to be long-term in nature. For additional information regarding the rebate program, see Note 8. “Consolidated Balance Sheet Details,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We also enter into one-time module sales agreements with customers for specific projects.

Under our customer contracts, we transfer title and risk of loss to the customer and recognize revenue upon shipment. Our customers do not have extended payment terms or rights of return under these contracts.

During 2011, the principal third party customers of our components business were EDF EN Development and Belectric. During 2011, each of these two customers individually accounted for more than 10% of our components segment’s net sales. Each of our other customers individually accounted for less than 10% of our net sales during 2011.

Systems Business

Net sales from our systems segment may include the following types of transactions:



Transaction		Description
Engineer and Procure (EP) Contract		Design for a customer of a solar electricity generation system that uses our solar modules; includes the procurement of all BoS components from third party suppliers.

Engineer, Procure, and Construct (EPC) Contract		Design and construction for a customer of a turn-key solar electricity generation system that uses our solar modules; includes the procurement of all BoS components from third party suppliers.

Sale of Project Assets		Sale of project assets to a customer at various stages of development. This generally includes a single project consisting of costs incurred for permits, land or land rights, and/or power off-take agreements.

Operating and Maintenance (O&M) Agreement		Typically a fixed-price long-term services agreement.

Net sales from our systems segment are impacted by numerous factors, including the magnitude and effectiveness of renewable portfolio standards, economic incentives, the competitiveness of our systems offering in comparison to our competitors solar systems and other forms of electricity generation and other PV system demand drivers.

During 2011, the majority of our systems business sales were generated in North America. Net sales from our systems business during 2010 resulted primarily from revenue recognition for utility scale solar power projects in North America and Europe. During 2009, net sales from our systems business resulted primarily from the sale of two utility-scale solar power systems in the fourth fiscal quarter to utilities in the United States and Canada.

We recognize revenue for arrangements entered into by the systems business generally using two revenue recognition models, following the guidance in ASC 605, Accounting for Long-term Construction Contracts or, for arrangements which include land or land rights, ASC 360, Accounting for Sales of Real Estate.

For construction contracts that do not include land or land rights and thus are accounted for under ASC 605, we use the percentage-of-completion method using actual costs incurred over total estimated costs to complete a project (including module costs) as our basic accounting policy, unless we cannot make reasonably dependable estimates of the costs to complete the contract, in which case we would use the completed contract method. We periodically revise our contract cost and profit estimates and we immediately recognize any losses that we identify on such contracts. Incurred costs include all direct materials, costs for solar modules, labor, subcontractor costs, and those indirect costs related to contract performance, such as indirect labor, supplies, and tools. We recognize direct material costs and costs for solar modules as incurred costs when the direct materials and solar modules have been installed. When construction contracts or other agreements specify that title to direct materials and solar modules transfers to the customer before installation has been performed, we defer revenue and associated costs and recognize revenue once those materials are installed and have met all other revenue recognition requirements. We consider direct materials to be installed when they are permanently attached or fitted to the solar power systems as required by engineering designs.

For arrangements recognized under ASC 360, typically when we have gained control of land or land rights, we record the sale as revenue using one of the following revenue recognition methods, based upon the substance and the terms and conditions of such arrangements:

We apply the percentage-of-completion method to certain arrangements covered under ASC 360, when the sale has been consummated, when we have transferred the usual risks and rewards of ownership to the buyer, the initial or continuing investment criteria have been met, we have the ability to estimate our costs and progress toward completion, and other revenue recognition criteria have been met. Depending on the value of the initial and continuing payment commitment by the buyer, we may align our revenue recognition and release of project assets to cost of sales with the receipt of payment from the buyer for sales arrangements accounted for under ASC 360.

We record revenue for certain other arrangements covered under ASC 360 after construction of a project is complete, we have transferred the usual risks and rewards of ownership to the buyer, and we have received payment from the buyer.

The below tables summarize, as of February 28, 2012, our 2.7 GW AC utility systems advanced project pipeline. As of December 31, 2011, for such pipeline, we have recognized revenue with respect to the equivalent of approximately180 MW AC. Such amount refers to the total cumulative revenue recognized with respect to projects in our pipeline, divided by total contracted revenue for such projects multiplied by the total MW AC for such projects.

Projects Sold/Under Contract

(includes uncompleted sold projects, projects under contracts for sale subject to conditions precedent, EPC contracts, and partner developed contracts)



Project/Location	Project Size in MW AC (1)	Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)	Third Party Owner/Purchaser
Topaz, California	550	PG&E	MidAmerican
Sunlight, California	550	PG&E / SCE	NextEra/GE
Agua Caliente, Arizona	290	PG&E	NRG / MidAmerican
AV Solar Ranch One, California	230	PG&E	Exelon
Copper Mountain 2, Nevada	150	PG&E	Sempra (2)
Imperial Energy Center South, California	130	SDG&E	Tenaska (2)
Alpine, California	66	PG&E	NRG (2)
St. Clair, Ontario, Canada	40	OPA (4)	NextEra
Walpole, Ontario, Canada	20	OPA (4)	GE/Plutonic
Belmont, Ontario, Canada	20	OPA (4)	GE/Plutonic
Mount St. Mary’s, Maryland	16	UOG (3)	Constellation
Amherstburg 1, Ontario, Canada	10	OPA (4)	GE/Plutonic
Greenough River, Australia	10	WA Water	Verve/GE (2)
Total	2,082

Projects Permitted - Not Sold



Project/Location	Project Size in MW AC (1)	Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
Silver State North, Nevada	50	NV Energy
Total	50

Projects in Development with Executed PPA



Project/Location	Project Size in MW AC (1)	Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
Stateline, California	300	SCE
Silver State South, Nevada	250	SCE
Total	550

Key:


(1)	The volume of modules installed in MW DC (direct current) will be higher than the MW AC size pursuant to a DC-AC ratio ranging from 1.2-1.4. Such ratio varies across different projects due to various system design factors.


(2)	EPC contract or partner developed project


(3)	UOG = Utility Owned Generation


(4)	OPA = Ontario Power Authority RESOP program

Cost of Sales

Components Business

Our cost of sales includes the cost of raw materials and components for manufacturing solar modules, such as tempered back glass, transparent conductive oxide coated front glass, cadmium telluride, laminate, connector assemblies, laminate edge seal, and other items. Our cost of sales also includes direct labor for the manufacturing of solar modules and manufacturing overhead such as engineering, equipment maintenance, environmental health and safety, quality and production control, and procurement costs. Cost of sales also includes depreciation of manufacturing plant and equipment and facility-related expenses. In addition, we accrue warranty and solar module collection and recycling costs to our cost of sales.

Overall, we expect our cost of sales per watt to continue to decrease over the next several years due to an increase in sellable

watts per solar module, an increase in unit output per production line, and more efficient absorption of fixed costs driven by economies of scale. This expected decrease in cost per watt would be partially offset during periods in which we underutilize manufacturing capacity.

Systems Business

Within our systems business, project-related costs include standard EPC costs (consisting primarily of BoS costs for inverters, electrical and mounting hardware, project management and engineering costs, and installation labor costs), site specific costs, and development costs (including transmission upgrade costs, interconnection fees, and permitting costs). As further described in Note 24. “Segment and Geographical Information,” to our consolidated financial statements included within this Annual Report on Form 10-K, at the time when all revenue recognition criteria are met, we include the sale of our solar modules manufactured by our components business and used by our systems business (excluding inter-company profit) as net sales of our components business. Therefore, the related cost of sales are also included within our components business at that time.

Deferred project costs represent (i) costs that we capitalize for arrangements that we account for as real estate transactions after we have entered into a definitive sales arrangement, but before we have met all criteria to recognize the sale as revenue, (ii) recoverable pre-contract costs that we capitalize for arrangements accounted for as long-term construction contracts prior to entering into a definitive sales agreement, or (iii) costs that we capitalize for arrangements accounted for as long-term construction contracts after we have signed a definitive sales agreement, but before all revenue recognition criteria have been met. As of December 31, 2011, deferred project costs capitalized on our balance sheet were $320.4 million, of which, $197.7 million was classified as current and $122.7 million was classified as noncurrent. As of December 31, 2010, our deferred project costs were $14.4 million, all of which was classified as current.

Gross Profit

Gross profit is affected by numerous factors, including our module average selling prices, foreign exchange rates, the existence and effectiveness of subsidies and other economic incentives, competitive pressures, market demand, market mix, our manufacturing costs, BoS costs, project development costs, the effective utilization of our production facilities, and the ramp of production on new plants due to a reduced ability to absorb fixed costs until full production volumes are reached. Gross profit is also subject to competitive pressures, most notably pressures resulting from declines in industry average selling prices. Gross profit margin is also affected by the mix of net sales generated by our components and systems businesses. Our systems business generally operates at a lower gross profit margin due to the pass-through nature of certain BoS components procured from third parties. Gross profit for our systems business excludes the sales and cost of sales for solar modules, which we include in the gross profit of our components business.

Research and Development

Research and development expense consists primarily of salaries and personnel-related costs, the cost of products, materials, and outside services used in our process, and product research and development activities. We acquire equipment for general use in further process developments and record the depreciation of this equipment as research and development expense. Currently, the majority of our research and development expenses are attributable to our components segment.

See Note 4. “Restructuring and Acquisitions,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We maintain a number of programs and activities to improve our technology and processes in order to enhance the performance and reduce the costs of our solar modules and PV systems using our modules.

Selling, General and Administrative

Selling, general and administrative expense consists primarily of salaries and other personnel-related costs, professional fees, insurance costs, travel expenses, and other selling expenses. We expect selling expenses to increase in the near term in order to support the planned growth of our business as we expand our sales and marketing efforts. Over time, we expect selling, general and administrative expense to decline as a percentage of net sales as our net sales increase.

Our systems business has certain of its own dedicated administrative key functions, such as accounting, legal, finance, project finance, human resources, procurement, and marketing. Costs for such functions are recorded and included within selling, general and administrative costs for our systems segment. Our corporate key functions consist primarily of company-wide corporate tax, corporate treasury, corporate accounting/finance, corporate legal, investor relations, corporate communications, and executive

management functions. Based primarily on the significant growth of the systems business, we have concluded the corporate functions benefit both the components and systems segments. We allocate corporate costs to the components or systems segment as part of selling, general and administrative costs, based upon the estimated benefits to each segment from the corporate functions.

Production Start-Up

Production start-up expense consists primarily of salaries and personnel-related costs and the cost of operating a production line before it has been qualified for full production, including the cost of raw materials for solar modules run through the production line during the qualification phase. It also includes all expenses related to the selection of a new site and the related legal and regulatory costs, and the costs to maintain our plant replication program, to the extent we cannot capitalize these expenditures. We incurred production start-up expense of $13.9 million during the year ended December 26, 2009 related to plant four of our Malaysian manufacturing center and our Ohio plant expansion. We incurred production start-up expense of $19.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2010 related to our eight-line Malaysian, four-line German, one-line Ohio, and two-line France manufacturing expansions, including legal, regulatory, and personnel costs. Production start-up expense for the year ended December 31, 2011 was $33.6 million related to our eight-line Malaysian, four-line German, two-line France, four-line Vietnam and four-line Arizona manufacturing expansions, including legal, regulatory, and personnel costs. In general, we expect production start-up expense per production line to be higher when we build an entirely new manufacturing facility compared with the addition of new production lines at an existing manufacturing facility, primarily due to the additional infrastructure investment required when building an entirely new facility. Production start-up expense is attributable to our components segment. The balancing of our production capabilities with market demand is a core component of our manufacturing capacity expansion strategy and our Long Term Strategic Plan. To that end in February 2012 we decided not to proceed with our previously announced 4-line plant in Vietnam. See Note 4. “Restructuring and Acquisitions,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We have also postponed the commissioning of our previously announced 4-line plant in Mesa, Arizona and the construction of our previously announced 2-line plant in France until such time as global supply and demand dynamics support the additional manufacturing capacity in those geographic areas.

Goodwill Impairment

During the fourth quarter of 2011, we determined that goodwill related to our components segment was impaired and recorded expense of $393.4 million.

Restructuring

In December 2011, executive management approved a set of restructuring initiatives intended to accelerate operating cost reductions and improve overall operating efficiency. In connection with these restructuring initiatives, we incurred total charges of $60.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 and we expect to incur an additional $1.6 million in 2012 related to such restructuring initiatives. These charges consisted primarily of (i) $53.6 million of asset impairment and related charges due to a significant reduction in certain research and development activities that had been focused on an alternative PV product, and (ii) $6.8 million in severance benefits to terminated employees as described below, most of which is expected to be paid out by the end of 2012.

We are refocusing our research and development center in Santa Clara, California on the development of advanced CdTe PV technologies, compared to a broader research and development effort up until now. We eliminated 101 positions company-wide as part of the restructuring initiatives.

In February 2012, executive management completed an evaluation of and approved a set of manufacturing capacity and other initiatives primarily intended to adjust our previously planned manufacturing capacity expansions and global manufacturing footprint. The primary goal of these initiatives is to better align production capacity and geographic location of such capacity with expected geographic market requirements and demand. In connection with these initiatives, we expect to incur total charges to operating expense of up to $135 million during the first half of 2012 and up to $140 million in total by the time such initiatives are complete, which is expected to be by the end of 2012. These expected charges consist primarily of (i) between $60 million to $100 million of asset impairment and related charges due to our decision in February 2012 not to proceed with our 4-line manufacturing plant under construction in Vietnam (carrying value of $134.4 million as of December 31, 2011), (ii) between $20 million and $30 million of asset impairment and related charges due to our decision in February 2012 to cease the use of certain manufacturing machinery and equipment intended for use in the production of certain components of our solar modules (carrying value of $28.5 million as of December 31, 2011), and (iii) between $5 million to $10 million of asset impairment and related charges primarily due to our decision in February 2012 to cease use of certain other long-lived assets (carrying value of $7.2 million as of December 31, 2011).

Based upon expected future market demand and our focus on providing utility-scale PV generation solutions primarily to

sustainable geographic markets, we have decided not to proceed with our previously announced 4-line plant in Vietnam. We expect to actively market the plant for sale after all necessary construction has been completed, which is currently expected to occur in the first half of 2012. Once certain criteria are met including the completion of all necessary construction activities and active marketing of the Vietnam plant, we expect to meet the “held for sale” criteria, at which time we expect to record an impairment charge based primarily upon the then-current fair value of the Vietnam plant.

Foreign Currency Gain (Loss)

Foreign currency gain (loss) consists of gains and losses resulting from holding assets and liabilities and conducting transactions denominated in currencies other than our functional currencies.

Interest Income

Interest income is earned on our cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities, and restricted cash and investments. Interest income also includes interest received from notes receivable and interest collected for late customer payments.

Interest Expense, Net

Interest expense, net of amounts capitalized, is incurred on various debt financings. We capitalize interest expense into our property, plant and equipment, project assets, and deferred project costs when such costs qualify for interest capitalization.

Income Tax Expense

Income taxes are imposed on our income by taxing authorities in the various jurisdictions in which we operate, principally the United States, Germany, and Malaysia. The statutory federal corporate income tax rate in the United States is 35.0%, while the tax rates in Germany and Malaysia are approximately 28.5% and 25.0%, respectively. In Malaysia, we have been granted a long-term tax holiday, scheduled to expire in 2027, pursuant to which substantially all of our income earned in Malaysia is exempt from income tax.

Critical Accounting Estimates

In preparing our financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States (GAAP), we make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect the amounts of reported assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, as well as the disclosure of contingent liabilities in our financial statements and the related notes thereto. Some of our accounting policies require the application of significant judgment by management in the selection of the appropriate assumptions for making these estimates. By their nature, these judgments are subject to an inherent degree of uncertainty. We base our judgments and estimates on our historical experience, our forecasts, and other available information, as appropriate. Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 2. “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies,” to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2011 included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our critical accounting estimates, which require the most significant management estimates and judgment in determining amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, are as follows:

Revenue Recognition - Percentage of Completion Method. We recognize revenue for arrangements entered into by the systems business generally using two revenue recognition models, following the guidance in ASC 605, Accounting for Long-term Construction Contracts or, for arrangements which include land or land rights, ASC 360, Accounting for Sales of Real Estate. We use the percentage-of-completion method using actual costs incurred over total estimated costs to complete a project (including module costs) for our construction contracts that do not include land or land rights and thus are accounted for under ASC 605, as our basic accounting policy, unless we cannot make reasonably dependable estimates of the costs to complete the contract, in which case we would use the completed contract method. We periodically revise our contract cost and profit estimates and we immediately recognize any losses that we identify on such contracts. Such estimates include significant judgment. Incurred costs include all direct materials, costs for solar modules, labor, subcontractor costs, and those indirect costs related to contract performance, such as indirect labor, supplies, and tools. We recognize direct material costs and costs for solar modules as incurred costs when the direct materials and solar modules have been installed. When construction contracts or other agreements specify that title to direct materials and solar modules transfers to the customer before installation has been performed, we defer revenue and associated costs and recognize revenue once those materials are installed and have met all other revenue recognition requirements. We consider direct materials to be installed when they are permanently attached or fitted to the solar power systems as required by engineering designs.

We also apply the percentage-of-completion method to certain arrangements covered under ASC 360, when the sale has been consummated, when we have transferred the usual risks and rewards of ownership to the buyer, the initial or continuing investment criteria have been met, we have the ability to estimate our costs and progress toward completion, and other revenue recognition criteria have been met. Such estimates include significant judgment. Depending on the value of the initial and continuing payment commitment by the buyer, we may align our revenue recognition and release of project assets to cost of sales with the receipt of payment from the buyer for sales arrangements accounted for under ASC 360.

Accrued Solar Module Collection and Recycling Liability. At the time of sale, we recognize an expense for the estimated fair value of our future obligation for collecting and recycling the solar modules that we have sold when they have reached the end of their useful lives. We base our estimate of the fair value of our collection and recycling obligations on the present value of the expected probability weighted future cost of collecting and recycling the solar modules, which includes the cost of packaging the solar modules for transport, the cost of freight from the solar module installation sites to a recycling center, the material, labor, and capital costs of the recycling process, and an estimated third-party profit margin and return on risk for collection and recycling services. We base this estimate on our experience collecting and recycling our solar modules and on our expectations about future developments in recycling technologies and processes, about economic conditions at the time the solar modules will be collected and recycled, and about the expected timing of when our solar modules will be returned for recycling. In the periods between the time of our sales and our settlement of the collection and recycling obligations, we accrete the carrying amount of the associated liability by applying the discount rate used for its initial measurement. During the fourth quarter of 2011, we completed an annual cost study and updated our estimates for the expected future recycling costs. As a result, we adjusted our module collection and recycling liability accordingly. At December 31, 2011, our estimate of the fair value of our liability for collecting and recycling solar modules was $167.4 million. A 10% decrease in our estimate of the future cost of collecting and recycling a solar module would reduce this estimated liability by $16.7 million, to $150.7 million; a 10% increase in our estimate of the future cost of collecting and recycling a solar module would increase this estimated liability by $16.7 million, to $184.1 million.

Product Warranties and Manufacturing Excursion. We have historically provided a limited warranty against defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service conditions for 5 years following delivery to the owners of our solar modules. For solar module sales made subsequent to September 30, 2011, we have increased the limited warranty we provide against defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service conditions from 5 years to 10 years.

We also warrant to the owners of our solar modules that solar modules installed in accordance with agreed-upon specifications will produce at least 90% of their power output rating during the first 10 years following their installation and at least 80% of their power output rating during the following 15 years. In resolving claims under both the defects and power output warranties, we have the option of either repairing or replacing the covered solar module or, under the power output warranty, providing additional solar modules to remedy the power shortfall. For modules sold after September 30, 2011, we also have the option to make a payment for the then current market module price to resolve claims. Our warranties are automatically transferred from the original purchasers of our solar modules to subsequent purchasers upon resale. When we recognize revenue for module sales, we accrue a liability for the estimated future costs of meeting our limited warranty obligations for those modules. We make and revise this estimate based on the number of our solar modules under warranty at customer locations, our historical experience with warranty claims, our monitoring of field installation sites, our in-house testing of and the expected future performance of our solar modules, and our estimated per-module replacement cost. Such estimates have changed, and may in the future change, based primarily upon additional information received from completed voluntary remediation efforts at certain sites and from the evaluation of information available after completion of the analysis on certain outstanding claims. Such additional information provides further understanding of, and additional data regarding, the number of replacement modules expected to be required in connection with our voluntary remediation efforts.

We must also make an estimate for the cost of the remediation program described further in “—2008-2009 Manufacturing Excursion.” Our estimates for the remediation program have changed, and may in the future change, significantly in light of our ongoing remediation efforts and our continued analysis of remaining claims. In the fourth quarter of 2011, we processed approximately 40% of the claims related to the manufacturing excursion that we received. In light of the additional data we gained from processed claims, as well as experience from our remediation efforts, our estimates have been subject to change.

Our estimate for such remediation costs is based on evaluation and consideration of currently available information, including the estimated number of affected modules in the field, historical experience related to our remediation efforts, customer-provided data related to potentially affected systems, the estimated costs of performing the removal, replacement and logistical services, and the post-sale expenses covered under our remediation program.

Accounting for Income Taxes. We are subject to the income tax laws of the United States, and its states and municipalities and those of the foreign jurisdictions in which we have significant business operations. These tax laws are complex and subject

to different interpretations by the taxpayer and the relevant governmental taxing authorities. We must make judgments and interpretations about the application of these inherently complex tax laws when determining our provision for income taxes and must also make estimates about when in the future certain items affect taxable income in the various tax jurisdictions. Disputes over interpretations of the tax laws may be settled with the taxing authority upon examination or audit. We regularly assess the likelihood of assessments in each of the taxing jurisdictions resulting from current and subsequent years’ examinations, and we record tax liabilities as appropriate.

We establish liabilities for potential additional taxes that may arise out of tax audits in accordance with FASB Accounting Standards Codification Topic (ASC) 740, Income Taxes. Once established, we adjust the liabilities when additional information becomes available or when an event occurs requiring an adjustment. Significant judgment is required in making these estimates and the actual cost of a legal claim, tax assessment, or regulatory fine or penalty may ultimately be materially different from our recorded liabilities, if any.

In preparing our consolidated financial statements, we calculate our income tax expense based on our interpretation of the tax laws in the various jurisdictions where we conduct business. This requires us to estimate our current tax obligations and the realizability of uncertain tax positions and to assess temporary differences between the financial statement carrying amounts and the tax bases of assets and liabilities. These temporary differences result in deferred tax assets and liabilities, the net current amount of which we show as a component of current assets or current liabilities and the net noncurrent amount of which we show as other assets or other liabilities on our consolidated balance sheet.

We must also assess the likelihood that each of our deferred tax assets will be realized. To the extent we believe that realization of any of our deferred tax assets is not more likely than not, we establish a valuation allowance. When we establish a valuation allowance or increase this allowance in a reporting period, we generally record a corresponding tax expense in our consolidated statement of operations. Conversely, to the extent circumstances indicate that a valuation allowance is no longer necessary, that portion of the valuation allowance is reversed, which generally reduces our overall income tax expense.

We also consider the earnings of our foreign subsidiaries and determine whether such amounts are indefinitely reinvested outside the United States. We have concluded that, except for the earnings of our Canadian subsidiary and with respect to previously taxed income, all such accumulated earnings are currently indefinitely reinvested. Accordingly, no additional taxes have been accrued that might be incurred if such amounts were repatriated to the United States. If our intention to indefinitely reinvest the earnings of our foreign subsidiaries changes, additional taxes may be required to be accrued. See Note 20. “Income Taxes,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.

Long-Lived Asset Impairment. We are required to assess the recoverability of the carrying value of long-lived assets when an indicator of impairment has been identified. We review our long-lived assets each quarter to assess whether impairment indicators are present. We must exercise judgment in assessing whether an event of impairment has occurred.

For purposes of recognition and measurement of an impairment loss, a long-lived asset or assets is grouped with other assets and liabilities at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. We must exercise judgment in assessing the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities.

For long-lived assets, when impairment indicators are present, we compare undiscounted future cash flows, including the eventual disposition of the asset group at market value, to the asset group's carrying value to determine if the asset group is recoverable. This assessment requires the exercise of judgment in assessing the future use of and projected value to be derived from the assets to be held and used. Assessments also consider changes in asset group utilization, including the temporary idling of capacity and the expected timing of placing this capacity back into production.

For an asset group that fails the test of recoverability described above, the estimated fair value of long-lived assets may be determined using an “income approach”, “market approach”, “cost approach”, or a combination of one or more of these approaches as appropriate for the particular asset group being reviewed. All of these approaches start with the forecast of expected future net cash flows including the eventual disposition at market value of long-lived assets. If there is an impairment, a loss is recorded to reflect the difference between the asset groups fair value and carrying value. This may require judgment in estimating future cash flows and relevant discount rates and residual values applied in the income approach used in estimating the current fair value of the impaired assets to be held and used.

Our estimates are based upon our historical experience, our commercial relationships, and available information about future trends. We believe fair value assessments are most sensitive to market changes and the corresponding impact on volume and average selling prices and that these are more subjective than manufacturing cost and other assumptions. We believe our current

assumptions and estimates are reasonable and appropriate.

Goodwill. Goodwill represents the excess of the purchase price of acquired businesses over the estimated fair value assigned to the individual assets acquired and liabilities assumed. We do not amortize goodwill, but instead are required to test goodwill for impairment at least annually in the fourth quarter and, if necessary, we would record any impairment in accordance with ASC 350, Intangibles - Goodwill and Other. We will perform an impairment test between scheduled annual tests if facts and circumstances indicate that it is more-likely-than-not that the fair value of a reporting unit that has goodwill is less than its carrying value.

We may first make a qualitative assessment of whether it is more-likely-than-not that a reporting unit's fair value is less than its carrying value to determine whether it is necessary to perform the two-step goodwill impairment test. The qualitative impairment test includes considering various factors including macroeconomic conditions, industry and market conditions, cost factors, a sustained share price or market capitalization decrease, and any reporting unit specific events. If it is determined through the qualitative assessment that a reporting unit's fair value is more-likely-than-not greater than its carrying value, the two-step impairment test is not required. If the qualitative assessment indicates it is more-likely-than-not that a reporting unit's fair value is not greater than its carrying value, we must perform the two-step impairment test. We may also elect to proceed directly to the two-step impairment test without considering such qualitative factors.

The first step in a two-step impairment test is the comparison of the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount, including goodwill. Our two reporting units are the components and systems reporting units, which are the same as our reportable segments as described in Note 24. “Segment and Geographical Information,” to our consolidated financial statements. In accordance with the authoritative guidance over fair value measurements, we define the fair value of a reporting unit as the price that would be received to sell the unit as a whole in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. We primarily use the income approach methodology of valuation, which includes the discounted cash flow method, and the market approach methodology of valuation, which considers values of comparable businesses to estimate the fair values of our reporting units. We do not believe that a cost approach is relevant to measuring the fair values of our reporting units.

Significant management judgment is required when estimating the fair value of our reporting units including the forecasting of future operating results, the discount rates and expected future growth rates that we use in the discounted cash flow method of valuation, and in the selection of comparable businesses that we use in the market approach. If the estimated fair value of the reporting unit exceeds the carrying value assigned to that unit, goodwill is not impaired and no further analysis is required.

If the carrying value assigned to a reporting unit exceeds its estimated fair value in the first step, then we are required to perform the second step of the impairment test. In this step, we assign the fair value of the reporting unit calculated in step one to all of the assets and liabilities of that reporting unit, as if a market participant just acquired the reporting unit in a business combination. The excess of the fair value of the reporting unit determined in the first step of the impairment test over the total amount assigned to the assets and liabilities in the second step of the impairment test represents the implied fair value of goodwill. If the carrying value of a reporting unit's goodwill exceeds the implied fair value of goodwill, we would record an impairment loss equal to the difference. If there is no such excess then all goodwill for a reporting unit is considered impaired.

During the fourth quarter of 2011, we determined through a two-step goodwill impairment test that the $393.4 million in goodwill for our components reporting unit was fully impaired as discussed further in Note 5. “Goodwill and Intangible Assets” to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2011 included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Results of Operations

The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations as a percentage of net sales for the years ended December 31, 2011, December 31, 2010, and December 26, 2009:



	Years Ended
	December 31, 2011		December 31, 2010		December 26, 2009
Net sales	100.0	%	100.0	%	100.0	%
Cost of sales	64.9	%	53.8	%	49.4	%
Gross profit	35.1	%	46.2	%	50.6	%
Research and development	5.1	%	3.7	%	3.8	%
Selling, general and administrative	14.9	%	12.5	%	13.2	%
Production start-up	1.2	%	0.8	%	0.7	%
Goodwill impairment	14.2	%	—	%	—	%
Restructuring	2.2	%	—	%	—	%
Operating (loss) income	(2.5	)%	29.2	%	32.9	%
Foreign currency gain (loss)	—	%	(0.1	)%	0.3	%
Interest income	0.5	%	0.6	%	0.5	%
Interest expense, net	—	%	—	%	(0.3	)%
Other income (expense), net	—	%	0.1	%	(0.1	)%
Income tax (benefit) expense	(0.5	)%	3.8	%	2.2	%
Net (loss) income	(1.4	)%	26.0	%	31.1	%

Fiscal Years Ended December 31, 2011 and December 31, 2010

Net Sales



	Years Ended				Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2011		2010		Year Change
Net sales	$	2,766,207	$	2,563,515	$	202,692	8	%

The 8% increase in net sales for 2011 compared to 2010 was primarily due to an 85% increase in net sales by our systems business and a 7% increase in the volume in watts of solar modules sold, partially offset by a 10% decrease in our module average selling price (ASP).

The 10% decline in our module ASP was attributable to a 15% decrease of our non-systems module ASP due to competitive pressures and geographic mix, partially offset by a 5% increase of our systems module ASP driven primarily by the mix of systems projects.

Net sales for our systems business increased by $320.0 million during 2011 compared to 2010, primarily due to an increase in the number and size of the various utility-scale solar power systems under construction by us in 2011.

Cost of Sales



	Years Ended						Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2011			2010			Year Change
Cost of sales	$	1,794,456		$	1,378,669		$	415,787	30	%
% of net sales	64.9		%	53.8		%

The increase in cost of sales was primarily due to increases of $218.9 million in BoS and other construction costs from an increase in the number and size of the various utility-scale solar power systems under construction by us in 2011, $71.2 million in personnel and other manufacturing costs related to the increase in volume of modules sold, $31.6 million of expense from voluntary remediation efforts for module removal, replacement and logistical services related to the manufacturing excursion discussed in “—2008-2009 Manufacturing Excursion” above, $70.1 million of expense due to an increase in the expected number of replacement modules required for such remediation efforts, $37.8 million for an increase in the expected number of warranty claims primarily related to potential module performance in certain climates, as described in “Module Installation in Non-Temperate Climates” above, and $13.8 million for certain inventory write-downs, primarily related to refurbished modules returned under the voluntary remediation efforts, as a result of ASP declines during the fourth quarter of 2011. These increases were partially offset by continuous cost reductions in our manufacturing operations.

We expensed $99.7 million total-to-date in connection with our voluntary remediation efforts for module removal, replacement and logistical services related to the manufacturing excursion and $70.1 million in warranty expense accruals related to an increase in the expected number of required replacement modules in connection with our remediation efforts. Such amounts include $132.3 million of expense in 2011 and $94.0 million in expenses in the fourth quarter of 2011, reflecting our most recent best estimate for these remediation efforts. See Note 8. “Consolidated Balance Sheet Details,” and Note 16. “Commitments and Contingencies,” to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2011 included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our average manufacturing cost per watt declined by $0.02 per watt, or 3%, from $0.77 in 2010 to $0.75 in 2011 and included $0.01 of non-cash stock based compensation.

Gross Profit



	Years Ended						Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2011			2010			Year Change
Gross profit	$	971,751		$	1,184,846		$	(213,095	)	(18	)%
% of net sales	35.1		%	46.2		%

Gross profit as a percentage of net sales decreased by 11.1 percentage points in 2011 compared with 2010. This decrease was attributable to the following: a 6.1 percentage point reduction due to a decline in our module ASP, a 1.5 percentage point reduction relating to voluntary remediation efforts for affected module removal, replacement and logistical services related to the manufacturing excursion discussed in Item 7: “2008-2009 Manufacturing Excursion” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, a 3.3 percentage point reduction due to an increase in the expected number of required replacement modules for such excursion related remediation efforts, a 1.8 percentage point reduction due to an increase in expected warranty claims for potential module performance in certain climates, and a 0.6 percentage point reduction due to inventory write-downs. These decreases were partially offset by a 1.9 percentage point increase attributable to continued manufacturing scale and reductions in our manufacturing cost per watt, a 0.2 percentage point increase due to segment mix between our components and systems businesses, and a 0.1 percentage point increase due to the weakening of the euro against the U.S. dollar exchange rate. We expect that gross profit will continue to be impacted in future periods by the product mix between our components and systems businesses.

Research and Development



	Years Ended						Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2011			2010			Year Change
Research and development	$	140,523		$	94,797		$	45,726	48	%
% of net sales	5.1		%	3.7		%

The increase in research and development expense was primarily due to a $19.3 million increase in personnel-related expenses (including a $4.5 million increase in share-based compensation expense) resulting from hiring for increased investment in various research and development projects, a $25.6 million increase in testing and qualification material cost, and a $2.3 million increase in facilities and utilities expenses. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in other expenses of $1.5 million. During 2011 we continued the development of our solar module technology by increasing the conversion efficiency of our modules by approximately 5% compared to 2010 from 11.3% to 11.9%.

Selling, General and Administrative



	Years Ended						Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2011			2010			Year Change
Selling, general and administrative	$	412,541		$	321,704		$	90,837	28	%
% of net sales	14.9		%	12.5		%

The increase in selling, general and administrative expense was primarily due to $34.8 million in estimated compensation payments to customers, under certain circumstances, for power lost prior to the remediation of the customer's system under our voluntary remediation program discussed above in "—2008-2009 Manufacturing Excursion,” a $15.2 million increase in infrastructure spending partially related to the implementation of a new ERP system, $14.5 million increase in salaries and personnel-related expenses (including a $1.5 million increase in share-based compensation expense), a $10.5 million allowance for doubtful accounts concerning the collectability of past due accounts receivable for a certain customer, an $8.6 million increase in expenses related to the development of systems projects and new markets, and a $7.3 million increase in expenses related to professional fees, facilities, and other operating expenses.

We expensed $45.9 million total-to-date for compensation payments to customers for power lost prior to the remediation of the customer’s system under our voluntary remediation program discussed above in "—2008-2009 Manufacturing Excursion.” Such amounts include $40.3 million of expense in 2011 and $31.8 million in expenses in the fourth quarter of 2011, reflecting our most recent best estimate.

Production Start-Up



	Years Ended						Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2011			2010			Year Change
Production start-up	$	33,620		$	19,442		$	14,178	73	%
% of net sales	1.2		%	0.8		%

During 2011, we incurred $33.6 million of production start-up expenses primarily due to manufacturing expansion activity in Germany, Malaysia, Vietnam, France, and Arizona, including legal, regulatory and personnel costs, compared with $19.4 million of production start-up expenses for manufacturing expansion activity in Malaysia, France, Ohio, and Germany during 2010. Production start-up expenses are comprised of the cost of labor and material and depreciation expense to run and qualify the production lines, related facility expenses, management of our replication process, and legal and regulatory costs.

Goodwill impairment



	Years Ended						Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2011			2010			Year Change
Goodwill impairment	$	393,365		$	—		$	393,365	100	%
% of net sales	14.2		%	—		%

As of December 31, 2010, the $393.4 million in goodwill related to our components reporting unit primarily represented goodwill originally allocated from the acquisitions of OptiSolar in 2009 and NextLight in 2010. The allocation of substantially all the goodwill from these acquisitions to our components reporting unit represented the expected synergies, economies of scale and vertical integration our components business would realize from using our solar modules in the project pipelines obtained from these acquisitions. The goodwill allocation to our components business was consistent with our historical view that the systems business functioned as an enabler for the components business to drive module throughput. Once goodwill has been assigned to a reporting unit, for accounting purposes, the goodwill is no longer associated with the underlying acquisitions that the goodwill originated from.

We determined the implied fair value of goodwill in the components reporting unit to be zero as of December 31, 2011. As a result, we impaired all of the goodwill in the components reporting unit and recorded $393.4 million of impairment expense.

See Note 5. “Goodwill and Intangible Assets,” to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2011 included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Restructuring



	Years Ended						Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2011			2010			Year Change
Restructuring	$	60,366		$	—		$	60,366	100	%
% of net sales	2.2		%	—		%

During 2011, we incurred $60.4 million of restructuring expenses due to charges relating to a series of initiatives to accelerate operating cost reductions and improve overall operating efficiency. See Note 4. “Restructuring and Acquisitions,” to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2011 included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Foreign currency gain (loss)



	Years Ended					Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2011		2010			Year Change
Foreign currency gain (loss)	$	995	$	(3,468	)	$	4,463	(129	)%

Foreign exchange gain increased during 2011 compared with 2010 primarily due to a decrease in our foreign currency denominated assets and liabilities in 2011.

Interest Income



	Years Ended				Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2011		2010		Year Change
Interest income	$	13,391	$	14,375	$	(984	)	(7	)%

Interest income decreased during 2011 compared with 2010 primarily as a result of interest received from notes receivable and penalties for late customer payments during 2010, partially offset by interest received on long-term investments during 2011.

Interest Expense, Net



	Years Ended						Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2011			2010			Year Change
Interest expense, net	$	(100	)	$	(6	)	$	(94	)	1,567	%

Interest expense, net of amounts capitalized, remained consistent during 2011 compared with 2010, as a result of substantially all interest expense being capitalized during both periods. See Note 8. “Consolidated Balance Sheet Details,” to our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2011 included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Other Income (Expense), Net



	Years Ended				Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2011		2010		Year Change
Other income (expense), net	$	665	$	2,273	$	(1,608	)	(71	)%

Other income, net, decreased during 2011 compared with 2010, primarily as a result of a realized gain associated with the sale of our equity investment in a related party in 2010 and changes in fair value of certain foreign exchange contracts in 2011, partially offset by realized gains on the sale of fixed income investments in 2011.

Income Tax (Benefit) Expense



	Years Ended						Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2011			2010			Year Change
Income tax (benefit) expense	$	(14,220	)	$	97,876		$	(112,096	)	(115	)%
Effective tax rate	(26.5		)%	12.8		%

Income tax (benefit) expense decreased by $112.1 million during 2011 compared with 2010. The reduction in income tax expense in 2011 compared to 2010 was primarily attributable to the reduction in pre-tax profits during such periods and a greater percentage of profits earned in lower tax jurisdictions, offset by an increase in tax expense related to the impairment of non-deductible goodwill. See Note 20. “Income Taxes,” to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information.

Fiscal Years Ended December 31, 2010 and December 26, 2009

Net Sales



	Years Ended				Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2010		2009		Year Change
Net sales	$	2,563,515	$	2,066,200	$	497,315	24	%

The increase in net sales was primarily driven by strong demand from German customers in advance of further FiT reductions, an increase in revenue from our systems business, and an increase in production volume, resulting in a 28% increase in megawatts sold during 2010 compared with 2009. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in our module ASP. The increase in megawatts sold was attributable to the full production ramp of our four-plant Malaysian manufacturing center in 2009, full

production ramp of our Perrysburg, Ohio expansion in 2010, continued improvements to our manufacturing process and line throughput, and growth in our systems business. In addition, we increased the average conversion efficiency of our modules by approximately 3% during 2010 compared with 2009. Our module ASP, excluding the impact of systems segment break-even reporting, decreased by approximately 10% during 2010 compared with 2009. The decline in our module average selling price was attributable to the following: a 5% decrease due to market price declines driven by FiT reductions in Europe, a 5% decrease due to annual contractual agreements, and a 2% decrease due to the weakening of the euro against the U.S. dollar exchange rate, partially offset by a 2% increase due to a shift in customer mix. Revenue recognized by our systems business during 2010 was $378.4 million and resulted primarily from the sale of utility-scale solar power systems in Europe and North America and from percentage-of-completion revenue recognition for utility-scale solar power systems in North America. During 2010 and 2009, 46% and 65%, respectively, of our net sales resulted from solar module sales to customers headquartered in Germany.

Cost of Sales



	Years Ended						Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2010			2009			Year Change
Cost of sales	$	1,378,669		$	1,021,618		$	357,051	35	%
% of net sales	53.8		%	49.4		%

The increase in cost of sales was due to higher sales volumes, including an increase in the completion and sale of utility-scale solar power projects by our systems business, the full production ramp of our first four plants at our Malaysian manufacturing center in 2009, and the full production ramp of our Perrysburg, Ohio expansion in 2010. The increased production and sales volumes in our components business and increased volume sold through our systems business had the following effects: a $225.4 million increase in direct material expense, a $79.2 million increase in manufacturing overhead costs, an $18.0 million increase in sales freight, a $18.2 million increase in warranty expense, and a $16.3 million net increase in other costs.

The $79.2 million increase in manufacturing overhead costs for 2010 was due to a $32.9 million increase in salaries and personnel-related expenses (including a $10.8 million increase in share-based compensation expense), a $17.0 million increase in depreciation and equipment expenses, a $2.0 million increase in facility related expenses, and a $27.3 million increase in incremental systems costs. Each of these manufacturing overhead cost increases primarily resulted from increased production capacity resulting from the full ramp of our Malaysian manufacturing center, expansion of our Perrysburg, Ohio plant, and ramp of our systems business.

The net increase in other costs for 2010 includes $23.7 million related to an increase in estimated expenses for certain module replacement efforts beyond normal warranty related to the manufacturing excursion described above under "—2008-2009 Manufacturing Excursion." Accordingly, we accrued additional expenses of $30.8 million in 2010 and $37.9 million in total-to-date to cover the replacement of the anticipated affected module population in the field. Such amounts include $8.5 million in expenses accrued during the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010, reflecting updated best estimates of the total replacement costs, based on our field data and execution to date of the module replacement program.

Our average manufacturing cost per watt declined by $0.10 per watt, or 11%, from $0.87 in 2009 to $0.77 in 2010 and included $0.02 of non-cash stock based compensation.

Gross Profit



	Years Ended						Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2010			2009			Year Change
Gross profit	$	1,184,846		$	1,044,582		$	140,264	13	%
% of net sales	46.2		%	50.6		%

Gross profit as a percentage of net sales decreased by 4.4 percentage points in 2010 compared with 2009. This decrease was attributable to the following: a 4.0 percentage point reduction due to a decline in our module ASP, a 3.9 percentage point reduction due to segment mix between our components and systems businesses, a 1.1 percentage point reduction relating to the manufacturing excursion discussed above under “—2008-2009 Manufacturing Excursion,” and a 0.6 percentage point reduction due to the weakening of the euro against the U.S. dollar exchange rate, partially offset by a 5.2 percentage point margin improvement attributable to continued manufacturing scale and reductions in our manufacturing cost per watt. We expect that gross profit will be impacted in future periods by the volatility of the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the euro and product mix between our components and systems businesses.

Research and Development



	Years Ended						Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2010			2009			Year Change
Research and development	$	94,797		$	78,161		$	16,636	21	%
% of net sales	3.7		%	3.8		%

The increase in research and development expense was due to a $10.6 million increase in personnel-related expenses (including a $2.2 million increase in share-based compensation expense) resulting from increased headcount devoted to working on various projects to increase the efficiency of our modules at converting sunlight into electricity, and a $9.6 million increase in depreciation, testing, and qualification material costs, partially offset by a $3.6 million decrease in other expenses. During 2010, we continued the development of solar modules with increased efficiencies at converting sunlight into electricity and increased the conversion efficiency of our modules by approximately 3% compared with 2009.

Selling, General and Administrative



	Years Ended						Year Over
(Dollars in thousands)	2010			2009			Year Change
Selling, general and administrative	$	321,704		$	272,898		$	48,806	18	%
% of net sales	12.5		%	13.2		%

The increase in selling, general and administrative expense was due to a $2.7 million increase in salaries and personnel-related expenses due to growth (after giving effect to a $2.5 million decrease in share-based compensation expense due to one-time charges associated with our executive management team in 2009), a $17.6 million increase in expenses related to our systems business, a $14.8 million increase in facility and depreciation expenses, a $6.3 million increase in professional fees and expenses associated with the implementation of a new ERP system, and a $7.4 million increase in other expenses. Selling, general and administrative expense also included $5.3 million of other operating expenses related to impairment charges of certain project assets.

Production Start-Up