Linton Crystal to Relocate Production of Photovoltaic Equipment to the United States

Linton Crystal to Relocate Production of Photovoltaic Equipment to the United States; by the end of the first year, 1 to 2 gigawatts of production capacity will be added, a demonstration line will be established, and a new facility will be added, according to Linton.

European equipment providers and PV manufacturers talked about the $1 billion to $1.5 billion market opportunity the Inflation Reduction Act has created in the United States at an event conducted last week in Washington, D.C. According to Lawrence Heath, a consultant at McKinsey, the U.S. market opportunity is predicated on the expectation that 50 GW of new PV manufacturing capacity will be added by 2030.

Linton appears to be the only equipment manufacturer to publicly announce a relocation to the United States, even though numerous manufacturers have widely publicized on-shoring of solar modules, cells, ingots, and polysilicon. In the case of Linton, it is a return to its manufacturing roots in the United States.

For the semiconductor, machined part, and solar industries, Linton Crystal Technologies, based in Rochester, New York, designs, develops and manufactures Czochralski (CZ) furnaces. The business still manufactures diamond wire saws, from which it gained its start, in addition to other specialized tools for forming, polishing, and cutting ingots into wafers.

Linton, which is currently controlled by Chinese investors and has manufacturing facilities in China, has kept the intellectual property rights to the CZ furnaces, which will soon be produced in the United States. In Q2 2023, the business intends to start construction at an undisclosed location.

President and CEO of Linton Crystal Technologies Todd Barnum said, “We’ve been working on this plan for a while now and are looking forward to reshoring manufacturing to the United States. As a U.S. company with Chinese ownership, Linton Technologies Group, the geopolitical issues have been difficult to navigate.”

The business declared its intention to develop and showcase its entire line of equipment in a production facility. This comprises the machinery used to produce solar ingots and wafers, such as wire saws and polishing tools, as well as CZ furnaces for ingots of monocrystalline silicon that are both semiconductor and solar quality.

By the end of the first year, 1 to 2 gigawatts of production capacity will be added, a demonstration line will be established, and a new facility will be added, according to Linton. The employment will first increase to more than 75 workers, to reach close to 200 by the end of year two. When the business was still producing in New York in 2008, it had roughly 200 workers working there.

“I’m excited to break ground.  This creates more opportunities for our employees, new employees, and their families,” Barnum said. “The IRA and CHIPS Act has created the pathway for manufacturing investment to fulfill the need for U.S. made products. We’re going to meet that demand and we have the expertise to scale rapidly.”