First Solar raised prices on every deal since August; the $0.38 per watt import floor lands December 4
Management told the Q3 call it has repriced every post-tariff deal upward even as sales fell 23% and profit rose 25%. The $0.38-per-watt import floor lands December 4, and about 4 GW of older contracts face decision days around it.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
Prices up on every deal since August
On the October 29 earnings call, First Solar chief executive Mark Widmar said the company has raised prices on every deal still in early negotiation and on all new opportunities since the Section 232 proclamation of August 6 1. That trade action sets minimum import prices from December 4, including $0.38 per watt on finished modules, plus a 15% tariff on polysilicon derivatives 2.
First Solar's−1.25% — First Solar, down 1.25 percent today cadmium telluride film uses no polysilicon, so the floors fall on imported rivals 3. Buyers are stalling anyway: Widmar cited a 2 GW procurement that died under a state moratorium 1. US bookings this year, 4.9 GW of them, cleared near $0.36 per watt 1, just under the level importers must pay from December 2.
The $0.38 floor sits above this year's bookings, below BMO's post-floor view
- Module price
- Estimate
Data
| Module price | |
|---|---|
| 2026 US bookings | $0.36/W |
| Section 232 floor | $0.38/W |
| BMO post-floor view (estimate) | $0.43/W ($0.43–0.44/W) |
Fewer panels, more profit
The squeeze already shows in the numbers. Third-quarter net sales fell 23% from a year earlier to $1.23 billion, net income rose 25% to $571 million, and gross margin came in near 58% 14. The board authorized a $500 million buyback with no expiration the same day 4.
First Solar is selling fewer panels for more money, and Washington wrote the price list. It still cut 2026 sales guidance to $4.6–4.9 billion on 16–17 GW shipped 4, the shortfall reported here on October 30, and the plan still assumes $2.07–2.19 billion of Section 45X domestic manufacturing credits 4.
Sales down 23%, profit up 25%: the tariff scissors at First Solar
- Net sales
- Net income
Data
| Net sales | Net income | |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 2024 | $1.51B | $0.39B |
| Q1 2025 | $0.85B | $0.21B |
| Q2 2025 | $1.1B | $0.34B |
| Q3 2025 | $1.6B | $0.46B |
| Q4 2025 | $1.68B | $0.52B |
| Q1 2026 | $1.04B | $0.35B |
| Q2 2026 | $1.06B | $0.42B |
| Q3 2026 | $1.23B | $0.57B |
Four gigawatts on a five-month clock
The exposure is paper signed before the tariff. About 4 GW of variable volume sits outside the 44 GW backlog, and roughly half of it faces a decision day within five months, repricing between old backlog rates and current quotes 1.
Enforcement leaks: by one analyst's count on the call, Commerce has blocked about 60 of roughly 400 importers of record, and Widmar reckons about 140 more are circumventing 1.
The moat kept growing all week: a October 29 license to CubicPV's US perovskite patents, "freedom to operate" in Widmar's words 5; a hard line against Swift Current's lawsuit, honoring only warranties tied to early Series 7 stabilization 1; and the first 1.7 GW of a $330 million, 3.4 GW plant in Gaffney, South Carolina, opened October 30 6.
December 4 starts the test
Skeptics still expect a 2027 margin trough, with $115–135 million of underutilization across Malaysia and Vietnam, and shorts held 11.5% of the float in August 3. BMO, the bull case, sees US module prices reaching $0.43–0.44 per watt once the floors bind 3. What settles it: whether the decision days on those variable contracts reprice upward, and the binary first-half 2027 call on Malaysia, run at 1.8 GW or shut 1. The clock starts December 4 2.
Get Power by email, free
How AI's hunger for electricity moves utilities, power plants and the grid. In our daily email, every weekday.
