BUILDING ON THE PAST, READY FOR THE FUTURE: - MEMC

P A S T , P R E S E N T A N D F U T U R E
S O L A R T E C H N O L O G Y I S B U I L T O N U S
2009 MARKS MEMC’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY • In 1959, MEMC produced its first silicon wafers for the emerging semiconductor
industry. Since then, our wafers have enabled significant advances in technology that the world has enjoyed for the last fifty
years, including advances in the solar power industry. At MEMC, we’re proud of our past and focused on the future.
www.memc.com
MEMC proudly announces its fiftieth anniversary celebration.
advances in wafer technology and increased
customization that allows MEMC broader market
penetration. In the last five years alone, MEMC
has invested over $187 million in research and
development and currently holds more than six
hundred worldwide patents on silicon products
and processes, as well as an additional three
hundred-plus worldwide patent applications
currently on file. MEMC’s focus on research and
development and its long-standing tradition of
quality and customer service have culminated in
a company that is better positioned than at any
point in its history to meet the demands of the
highly competitive and fluctuating electronics
industry.
In the past five decades, MEMC has played
a major role in the explosion of technology
in the Information Age. From the early
quarter-sized finished wafers (complete
with tiny devices) pictured right, to
today’s multicrystalline solar cells for the
solar industry, MEMC is helping to build
technology.
MeetIng the CustoMer’s needs
Understanding that MEMC’s success is dependent
upon the success of the customers it serves, MEMC’s
products are manufactured to their precise and
demanding specifications. The combination of
varying diameters combined with physical and
electrical specifications geared to each customer
and application equates to more than 2,200 different
wafer specifications and could reach close to 3,000
by the end of the decade. Reflecting this level of
application-specific production, John Kauffmann,
senior vice president of Worldwide Sales, Customer
Service, and Marketing, describes MEMC’s sales
strategy as one that focuses on “delivering targeted
products to strategic partners.”
MeMC’s CoMPetItIve edge:
a truly gloBal workForCe
One of MEMC’s greatest assets is without question
its people—a global workforce that brings a
variety of problem-solving approaches to the table
and a unique ability to interact with customers
around the world. They bring with them a drive
that fosters innovation, always anticipating the
needs of the future semiconductor, and now solar
Equations for Success 73