Applied Materials announced on March 18 that Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang toured the company's state-of-the-art SunFab Solar Module Reliability Testing facility in Xi'an, China. The Vice Premier viewed the solar PV array at the campus, the largest in Shaanxi province and one of the largest in China.
Applied Materials, Inc. provides nanomanufacturing technology solutions with a broad portfolio of equipment, service and software products for the fabrication of semiconductor chips, flat panel displays, solar photovoltaic cells, flexible electronics and energy efficient glass.
"Vice Premier Li's visit to Applied underscores the importance the Chinese government is placing on renewable energy and in particular solar," said Barry Quan, President of Applied Materials China.
Applied Materials established an Engineering and Development Center in Xi'an in 2007 and opened the SunFab Module Reliability Testing laboratory there in 2008. The lab is the first of its kind in China which enables Applied to test solar modules in-house as it continues to improve its processes and product offerings over time.
The company also recently broke ground on phase two of its new Global Solar R&D Center in Xi'an. When completed, the facility will include a state-of-the-art solar technology center for R&D, engineering, demonstration, validation and training for both crystalline silicon and thin film solar equipment and processes.
Today, the U.S. and China together use about half of the total energy consumed in the world and produce a similar share of greenhouse gas emissions. More than two-thirds of China receives over 2000 hours of sunlight each year providing a great opportunity to harness the power of the sun as a clean, renewable source of energy to help meet the needs of a growing economy.
