8 April 2011

Chinese silicon wafer maker LDK Solar enters sapphire wafer business

LDK Solar Co Ltd of Hi-Tech Industrial Park, Xinyu City in Jiangxi Province, China, which a is a vertically integrated manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) products and a manufacturer of solar wafers, has invested about $40m to establish a new manufacturing plant in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province with the capacity to supply 2 million 2”-equivalent sapphire wafers per year, with the aim of capturing the growing opportunities in the LED industry.

LDK Solar currently makes polysilicon, mono- and multicrystalline ingots, wafers, modules and cells, and also engages in project development activities in selected segments of the PV market. The firm also has a US office in Sunnyvale, CA.

“This new investment in manufacturing sapphire wafers has a great synergy with LDK Solar's crystallization and wafer engineering and manufacturing expertise, and will enhance LDK Solar’s product offerings,” believes chairman & CEO Xiaofeng Peng.

“We also would like to express our sincere appreciation to Nanchang City and Jiangxi Province for the support they have shown us during the planning and construction of our wafer and module plants over the past two years,” adds Peng.

LDK Solar is just the latest solar silicon wafer firm to expand into supplying sapphire substrates for the booming LED industry, following China’s Jiangsu Jixing New Material Co Ltd and Jiujiang Sapphire Tech Co Ltd, Taiwan’s San Chih Semiconductor Co Ltd, South Korea's OCI Company Ltd, and GT Solar International Inc of Merrimack, NH, USA.

See related items:

Doubling of monthly sapphire wafer demand in 2010 sends 2” price over $30s

Sapphire to exceed 50% of compound semiconductor substrate processed surface area from 2011

Sapphire faces shortage in second-half 2010, to be resolved in early 2011

Tags: Sapphire substrates

Visit: www.ldksolar.com

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