Solar Manufacturer to Establish Office in Austin, Texas

SunPower Corp., a San Jose, Calif.-based manufacturer of solar products, recently announced that the company has received a $2.5 million investment from the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) to establish a new office site in Austin, Texas.

The expansion will create 450 jobs in the region over the next four years, according to SunPower.

"We applaud Gov. [Rick] Perry, Mayor [Lee] Leffingwell and state and city officials, who are aggressively working to offer SunPower economic incentives to expand our operations to Austin and create hundreds of jobs," said SunPower CEO Tom Werner. "Texas has great potential to become a significant solar market. If policies creating a stable solar market across Texas are enacted, this commitment by SunPower could be the start of significantly more investment and job creation in the state by the rapidly growing solar industry."

In addition to the solar market potential in Texas and incentives offered by the state and city, SunPower cited Austin's workforce, semiconductor industry expertise and strong academic institutions as factors that influenced the selection.

The Austin facility will house marketing, legal and finance operations, according to the company.