Swift Solar has acquired manufacturing assets and IP from Meyer Burger to accelerate the production of perovskite-silicon tandem solar technology in the US.
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I started Swift Solar with my co-founders almost a decade ago. We spent years figuring out if perovskites could work at scale, pushing boundaries in the lab, and trying to convince skeptical investors—who previously burned their hands on thin-film solar—that this time around, the physics was actually different.
Now it's happening.
Today we're announcing that Swift Solar has acquired the core manufacturing assets and intellectual property of Meyer Burger—one of Europe's most storied solar manufacturers. We're bringing in GW-scale silicon heterojunction (HJT) manufacturing equipment, a deep global IP portfolio, and a world-class team of manufacturing veterans, equipment engineers, and silicon experts, led by Gunter Erfurt (former Meyer Burger CEO) and Marcel Koenig (former Global Head of R&D).
This acquisition puts Swift Solar on track to speed-run gigawatt-scale solar manufacturing in the United States. Everything is pointing in the same direction—tax credits, tariffs, supply chain reshoring, AI. The US needs more solar, and we need it built here.
Solar is already the fastest-growing source of new electricity on the planet. But with AI data centers, electrification, and re-industrialization driving us into a new era of power demand, we need fundamentally better solar technology.
Today's silicon solar cells are approaching a hard ceiling on efficiency around 30%. Our perovskite-silicon tandem technology breaks through that ceiling by stacking a new semiconductor on top of silicon to capture light that silicon wastes. Thermodynamics is on our side, and Swift has spent years figuring out how to make it real.
It hinges on HJT: a proven, high-efficiency silicon cell technology—and the ideal bottom cell for tandems.
Which is why this deal supercharges our path to scale.
Step 1: Build a GW-scale HJT cell and module factory in the US, serving customers eager to buy American-made cells today.
Step 2: Add perovskite tandems to that same factory.
Step 3: Dominate solar.
Gunter built and ran Meyer Burger's gigawatt-scale factories as CEO and CTO. Marcel led global R&D. They and Meyer Burger's top manufacturing talent are joining Swift’s world-class team to help ramp US production.
We're combining German silicon manufacturing expertise with American perovskite technology leadership to build a company that can deliver not just one generation of solar technology, but many generations to follow.
Almost a decade into Swift Solar's journey, I feel a renewed sense of urgency and potential. We're going to make the best solar cells right here in the US. Then we're going to make them even better.
The physics is inevitable. And now, so are we.
—Joel Jean, CEO & Co-founder, Swift Solar
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Read the full story by Ashlee Vance
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