Bruce Sohn, President & Board Member, First Solar, Inc.
Bruce Sohn joined First Solar in March 2007 as President. Mr. Sohn was formerly a senior executive at Intel Corporation and has served on First Solar’s Board of Directors since 2003. During his 24 years at Intel, Mr. Sohn played a leadership role in developing and manufacturing leading-edge semiconductor technology. He served as an integral part of the start-up team at five Fabs, was program manager for Intel’s conversion to 300mm wafers and managed Intel’s two largest Fabs. Mr. Sohn is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a certified Jonah and has been a guest lecturer at several universities including MIT and Stanford. He has published research in a variety of high technology topics including: applying constraint theory to semiconductor process lines, high-volume factory design, silicon surface defects, oxygen gettering, gate oxide quality, transistor design and statistical design of experiments. As First Solar’s President, Mr. Sohn is responsible for technology development, manufacturing, expansion, quality, sales, EHS, supply chain, MIS and worldwide human resources.
About First Solar, Inc.
First Solar, Inc. manufactures solar modules with an advanced thin film semiconductor process that significantly lowers solar electricity costs. By enabling clean renewable electricity at affordable prices, First Solar provides an economic alternative to peak conventional electricity and the related fossil fuel dependence, greenhouse gas emissions, and peak time grid constraints. First Solar utilizes high throughput, automated manufacturing lines that integrate each production step in one continuous process. First Solar uses a systematic replication process to build new production lines with operating metrics comparable to its base plant in Perrysburg, Ohio. First Solar has increased its module production capacity from 25MW in 2005 to over 200 MW in 2007. The Company has over 910 MW of production capacity in operation or under construction to be completed in 2009. First Solar sells its solar modules to project developers, system integrators, and operators of renewable energy projects under long term supply contracts for commercial, grid-connected solar power plant applications. Bruce Sohn was elected a director of First Solar in July 2003 and has served as President of First Solar since March 2007. Prior to joining First Solar as President, Mr. Sohn worked at Intel Corporation for 24 years, where he most recently served as Plant Manager. Mr. Sohn serves on the boards of the International Symposium on Semiconductor Manufacturing, the IEEE-Electron Devices Society Manufacturing Technology Committee and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History Foundation. He is a senior member of IEEE and a certified Jonah. Mr. Sohn has been a guest lecturer at several universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Materials Science and Engineering.
