First Solar, Inc. is an American publicly traded manufacturer of solar panels. First Solar uses rigid thin-film modules for its solar panels, and produces CdTe panels using cadmium telluride as a semiconductor. The predecessor company, Solar Cells, Inc., was founded in 1990 by inventor Harold McMaster. In 1999, Solar Cells, Inc., was purchased by True North Partners, LLC, led by Michael Ahearn, and rebranded as First Solar, Inc. The company went public in 2006, trading on the NASDAQ as FSLR. It has been listed on the Photovoltaik Global 30 Index since the beginning of this stock index in 2009. Its current chief executive is Mark Widmar, who succeeded the previous CEO, James Hughes, on July 1, 2016. First Solar operates three manufacturing facilities in Ohio, one in Alabama, and one in Louisiana. As of March 2026, the company had approximately 14 GW of annual domestic nameplate capacity.