First Solar Scales U.S. Manufacturing to Meet Rising Demand

First Solar Inc. FSLR, the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer in the Western Hemisphere, has been investing heavily in ramping up the U.S. production capacity of its modules to meet the nation’s growing solar demand. The company expects to exit 2026 with installed nameplate capacity of approximately 14 gigawatts (GW) in the United States.

To achieve this target, FSLR begun commercial operations at its fourth manufacturing facility in the United States in the second quarter of 2025. It is also making significant progress on the construction of its fifth U.S. facility, expected to begin operations in the second half of 2025. First Solar projects its remaining investment in these U.S. facilities and upgrades to be approximately $0.6 billion throughout 2025 and 2026.

Such manufacturing capacity expansion plans should allow First Solar to maintain its position as the largest U.S. solar module manufacturer.

Other Solar Firms Also Scaling Up

With more and more companies turning to renewable sources to meet sustainability goals, declining cost of solar installation, government support in the form of incentives, growing electricity demand backed by data center growth and solar having emerged as a leading force in the U.S. clean energy transition, other solar stocks like Canadian Solar Inc. CSIQ and SolarEdge Technologies SEDG are also expanding their manufacturing capacity to keep up with rising demand.

Canadian Solar is on track to ramp up production at its module factory in Mesquite, TX. This facility is expected to contribute approximately three GW of volume delivery this year, thereby increasing the share of domestically produced products in the company’s total U.S. shipments.

SolarEdge Technologies is also expanding its U.S. manufacturing capacity to meet growing demand and take advantage of federal incentives. The company is currently increasing its manufacturing of three-phase inverters in Florida and batteries in Utah, to reap the benefits of the nation’s Inflation Reduction Act.

FSLR’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of FSLR have lost 45.1% in the past year compared with the industry’s 49% decline.

The company’s shares are trading at a discount on a relative basis, with its forward 12-month Price/Earnings being 7.99X compared with its industry’s average of 14.40X.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FSLR’s 2025 and 2026 earnings has gone south over the past 60 days.

FSLR stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research