SunPower flat on silicon supply deal

Solar manufacturer SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR) today announced a 10-year silicon supply agreement with Hemlock Semiconductor of Michigan—the world's leading maker of silicon, the raw material of solar cells.

Yet, at this writing, the market has yawned.

Quantities and financial terms weren't disclosed, but deliveries from Hemlock are to begin in 2010.

The silicon supplied by the agreement is expected to support more than two gigawatts of solar cell production by SunPower at planned silicon utilization rates over that period, the company said.

"SunPower is seeking to achieve economies of scale that will contribute to our goal to reduce installed solar system costs by 50 percent between 2006 and 2012," said Tom Werner, SunPower CEO.

While announcements of other solar vendors' silicon supply agreements have sent their shares stratospheric (see Hoku signs $678M silicon deal with Suntech and JA Solar silicon deal swells stock).

Yet SunPower is relatively flat on the news, up less than one percent today to $68.98 on volume of 765,278 shares.

SunPower designs, manufactures and delivers high-performance solar electric systems worldwide for residential, commercial and utility-scale power plant customers.

The company is headquartered in San Jose, California.

SunPower is a majority-owned subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor (NYSE: CY).