Mark Widmar

Mark Widmar has served as CEO of First Solar since 2016, leading the only major solar panel manufacturer headquartered and primarily manufacturing in the United States. First Solar produces thin-film photovoltaic panels using cadmium telluride (CdTe) technology — a fundamentally different approach from the crystalline silicon panels produced by Chinese manufacturers that dominate over 80% of the global solar market. The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022 was transformative for First Solar. The law's domestic manufacturing tax credits (Section 45X) provide approximately $0.17 per watt in production subsidies for U.S.-made solar modules, and additional domestic content bonuses for projects using American-made panels (Section 48/48E). This effectively created a significant price advantage for First Solar over imported Chinese panels, and the company's order backlog surged to multi-year visibility. Widmar responded by aggressively expanding manufacturing capacity — building new factories in Alabama, Louisiana, and expanding existing facilities in Ohio, while also operating a plant in India and building one in Europe. His key challenges include executing this massive capacity expansion without cost overruns or quality issues, maintaining technology competitiveness against rapidly improving Chinese crystalline silicon, navigating political risk around the IRA's potential modification, and managing raw material supply chains for cadmium and tellurium. Bookings pace, module ASP, and manufacturing cost per watt are the primary stock drivers.