Press for Clean Energy
Thin film solar company Stion Corp. has raised $70 million in Series D funding from strategic investor Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and returning backers, President and Chief Executive Chet Farris told VentureWire.
Taiwan Semiconductor announced earlier Wednesday that it is contributing $50 million for a 21% stake in the start-up.
Stion will use the capital to build an additional 90 megawatts of annual production capacity at its San Jose factory where it currently can manufacture 10 MW a year, according to the CEO. He said he plans to reach that capacity in 12 months.
Stion, one of dozens of companies racing to oust current solar market leaders, has raised $70 million to ramp up production of its thin-film solar cells and modules.
Boston’s Innovation Month is in full bloom and there is tremendous excitement in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. We are seeing a level of startup activity that has not been seen in almost a decade, with new companies emerging in both new and old sectors: e.g. IT, Life Sciences and Cleantech.
The chip-making powerhouse that is the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is going the way of its American competitors, like Applied Materials, by investing heavily in promising new solar technology. Its choice: Stion, a San Jose, Calif.-based startup working to develop thin-film solar panels using CIGSS (copper indium gallium sulfur-selenide) technology.