Stion, a four-year-old San Jose-based solar photovoltaic startup, anticipates the creation of hundreds of new jobs within 18 months in a major expansion spurred by a $50 million strategic investment by a Taiwanese manufacturing giant and another $20 million from venture capital firms, company officers said Thursday.
The ramp-up of Stion's facility on San Ignacio Avenue in South San Jose should result directly and indirectly in 500 jobs in the region in 2010 and 2011, executives said. Stion's manufacturing facility now annually produces thin-film photovoltaic panels capable of generating 10 megawatts in a year, enough to power up to 10,000 homes. It will be able to produce 10 times that amount when the expansion is complete.
That volume of panels would represent about $200 million in annual revenue for the company, said Stion director Peter Nieh of Lightspeed Venture Capital: "This really puts us on the map."
Stion CEO Chet Farris predicted that Stion, which now has about 80 employees, will add about 300 jobs directly and indirectly add to payrolls of subcontractors and other supporting companies.
Stion's alliance with Taiwan Semiconductor, a manufacturing contractor that played a prominent role in the development of the "fabless" semiconductor industry, will enable it to augment its San Jose production capacity to meet the anticipated demand for its panels. Stion's current orders are backed up through 2012 with its current production, Nieh said.
Farris touted the deal with Taiwan Semi as "a win-win relationship" that "leverages both companies' strengths to achieve market leadership and to deliver on the promise of efficient, affordable solar energy."
Silicon Valley has become a hub of cleantech innovation in recent years, including a bustling thin-film solar sector that includes prominent startups such as Solyndra, MiaSolé and Nanosolar. Stion has impressed investors by developing panels that many consider more efficient, convenient and aesthetic than competing products. Said to offer improved performance in partial shading, the panels are considered suitable for commercial, government, residential, utility and off-grid uses.
Some solar startups, Farris and Stion investors pointed out, have raised hundreds of millions of dollars, while Stion has progressed rapidly at much lower cost. Before the $70 million in fourth-round funding, Stion had raised $44.6 million. "Stion will show how a PV startup gets to positive cash flow with a $100 million equity investment," said Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures, one of Stion's investors.
Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed and two other previous investors, General Catalyst Partners and Braemar Energy Ventures, provided the $20 million additional venture investment.
Taiwan Semiconductor's investment arm, VentureTech Alliance, provided $50 million to take a 21 percent stake in Stion. Under the agreements, Stion licenses and transfers its thin-film technology to Taiwan Semi, while Taiwan Semi will provide a certain quantity of solar modules to Stion using the technology. Taiwan Semi and Stion will also work together to enhance the thin-film technology through joint development.
"With TSMC's R&D capabilities and manufacturing expertise, we believe we can achieve long-term overall leadership in solar PV solutions, and we are happy to be able to contribute to a greener economy," said Rick Tsai, Taiwan Semi's president of new business.
