First Solar, Inc. is an American manufacturer of thin film photovoltaic (PV) modules, or solar panels, and a provider of PV power plants and supporting services that include finance, construction, maintenance and end-of-life panel recycling. First Solar uses cadmium telluride (CdTe) as a semiconductor to produce panels that are less expensive than those manufactured from crystalline silicon. In 2009, First Solar became the first solar panel manufacturing company to lower its manufacturing cost to $1 per watt (since reduced to 73 cents per watt).  Wikipedia