SOLAR-FABRIK AG, a German-based maker of solar-powered electricity generators, has acquired 100 per cent of Global Expertise Wafer Division Ltd (GEWD), a silicon wafer trader with its main operating office in Kuala Lumpur.

A spokesman for the company, Martin Schlenk, said by purchasing GEWD, Solar-Fabrik is expected to double its production of solar wafers, exceeding 30 megawatts for 2006.

"Solar-Fabrik faced bottlenecks in the supply of solar cells in the first half of this year. "As a result, in the past few months Solar-Fabrik was not able to run at full production capacity even though its order books are full.

"With the takeover of GEWD, we will have enough solar cells for further corporate growth," he told Business Times via email.

He said GEWD is considered the market leader in the recycling of semiconductor silicon and has a secure supply in Asia and the US into 2008.

"The takeover of GEWD will allow us to double our production in a strategic market for future expansion," he said.

Schlenk said the wafers of the new subsidiary will now be sold to cell manufacturers who will use them to produce high-quality solar cell exclusively for Solar-Fabrik.

"The global boom in the photovoltaics market has made wafer resources a scarce commodity, so the secure supply from GEWD is really very important for us," he said.

With the takeover, Solar-Fabrik expects growth to average 30 per cent annum in future.

"Solar-Fabrik wants to expand in the value chain backwards. We have now solar module capacities here in Germany, we have wafer capacities and in future we want to build up our solar cell capacities.

"One of our main goals is to own the whole value chain of solar industry," he said.

Schlenk said the purchase of GEWD has expanded the strategic position of Solar-Fabrik.

GEWD was established in 1996. It maintains its headquarters in the Channel Islands with its main operating office in Kuala Lumpur. It has supplied over 23 million fallout silicon wafers to solar companies worldwide.

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