Maxeon announced that it will restructure its business and focus on the US market. This multinational company headquartered in Singapore will reach an agreement with its major shareholder (TCL)'s parent company to sell its sales and marketing businesses in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. TCL will establish a new department, TCL SunPower International, for non US entities prior to Maxeon, including Maxeon's manufacturing business in the Philippines.
Maxeon stated that with a new focus on the United States, it has signed a five-year lease agreement for an existing building in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and plans to begin production of solar panels at the 2-gigawatt factory in early 2026. Maxeon had previously planned to build a solar cell and panel manufacturing plant from scratch in Albuquerque.
As Maxeon strengthens its focus on the US market, our top priority is to further expand our growing network of residential and commercial partners and support our well-established utility scale customer base, "said George Guo, CEO of Maxeon. This strategic realignment of our business aims to bring us closer to and better suited to the needs of our American customer base, allowing us to leverage Maxeon's extensive experience and top reputation in product innovation and quality, which is almost entirely built upon 40 years of technological leadership and intellectual property investments
Guo also stated that currently the 2-gigawatt factory is only engaged in module assembly, and Maxeon will continue to evaluate its long-term goals for solar cell manufacturing.
Maxeon announced earlier this month that US Customs has detained its solar panels assembled in Mexico using Malaysian solar cells, as US Customs and Border Protection has intensified its scrutiny of the solar panel supply chain in search of links to Uyghur forced labor. Although these solar panels have no connection to Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region or China, Maxeon's sale of Asian business assets to TCL should improve document recording speed. Today's decision did not mention Maxeon's business in Malaysia.