First Philippine Solar Corp. is a member of the Lopez Group headed by Oscar Lopez, Chairman and CEO.

A wafer is a thin slice of semi-conducting material, like silicon crystal, upon which microcircuits are constructed by doping either by diffusion or ion implantation for chemical etching, and deposition of various materials. Wafers are vital for the fabrication of semiconductor devices such as integrated circuits.

They are made in various sizes ranging from 1 inch (25.4 mm) to 11.8 inches (300 mm), and thicknesses of the order of 0.5 mm. Generally, they are cut from a boule of semiconductor using a diamond blade or diamond wire, then polished on one or both faces.

The wafer will be used in the production of solar modules for solar energy applications.

Based on the PEZA application, First Philippine Solar Corp. will generate annual export sales of.756 million. It will also provide jobs to 297 workers.

Solar Corp. is a joint venture of First Philippine Electric Corp. (First Philec) of the Lopez-owned First Philippine Holdings Corp. in joint venture with Cayman, American and Indian investors.

First Philec, in turn, is the joint venture partner of SunPower Philippine Manufacturing Ltd. (SPML).

SPML will deliver silicon ingots to FPSC and FPSC, in turn, will slice and deliver silicon wafers to SPML that will support up to the equivalent of approximately 660 megawatts of power per year.

The expected cost of construction and development of the project is approximately $ 76 million. FPSC is expected to be operational by the second half of 2008.