PVTIME – First Solar has revised its intellectual property enforcement strategy and confirmed plans to voluntarily withdraw its Section 337 complaint before the United States International Trade Commission. The associated investigation will be terminated without prejudice, thereby preserving the firm’s ability to refile at a later date.
Legal proceedings that were previously suspended in the US District Court will now resume. The existing TOPCon patent infringement actions cover affiliates of Canadian Solar, Jinko Solar, T1 Energy and Trina Solar. First Solar will also resume global enforcement activities for its TOPCon patent portfolio, which were suspended when the Section 337 submission was lodged.
This strategic adjustment follows import measures driven by national security concerns for polysilicon and derivative goods under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. The TOPCon patent assets were acquired through First Solar’s purchase of TetraSun Incorporated in 2013. The granted patents span multiple jurisdictions and remain valid until 2030 and beyond, alongside further pending applications in key international markets.
First Solar has the largest solar manufacturing and research presence in the Western Hemisphere. It has five operational production facilities across Alabama, Louisiana and Ohio, and a sixth site in South Carolina is under construction, with phase one of commissioning scheduled for the second half of 2026. Cumulative investment in domestic manufacturing and research infrastructure is set to exceed USD 5 billion between 2019 and the end of 2026. Planned US module manufacturing capacity is set to reach approximately 17GW by 2027, with no reliance on Chinese crystalline silicon supply chains.
An independent economic analysis commissioned by the company projects an increase in domestic economic contributions. The study estimates that First Solar supported almost 30,000 US jobs and generated USD 5.8 billion of gross domestic product (GDP) during 2025. Forecasts suggest that this figure will increase to more than 39,000 supported jobs and USD 7.8 billion of GDP by 2027.
