Applied CEO sees solar taking an upward turn, spurred by China

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Applied Materials (Nasdaq:AMAT) CEO Mike Splinter is seeing what he thinks are the first signs that the solar sector could be recovering, with production capacity growing in China, according to Thomson Reuters.

Specifically, Splinter said he’s seeing solar investments increase in China because demand is expected to follow, especially in wafers for crystalline silicon solar cells.

He cited that the Chinese economy is already showing signs of recovery (see Orders are up as Chinese solar power companies post 2Q09 profits, losses and Trina CEO expects 10x growth in China solar market).

Applied, the world’s largest producer of chip-making gear, has been faced with declining sales of its semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and launched into the solar equipment sector so the company could recover (see Applied Materials gets $1.9B solar equipment order and Applied Materials buys solar equipment maker).

But with the economic downturn, the solar sector has reached record lows. In the second quarter of 2009, solar took a dramatic nose dive to its lowest level of investment in more than three years (see Cleantech may have seen the worst, rebounding to $1.2B in 2Q09).

After not receiving any new orders in its last fiscal quarter for thin-film equipment, Splinter told Reuters that all of Applied’s businesses are growing, with marked improvement in displays and its chip business. However, he declined to comment on whether the company’s thin-film business had received any new orders.

Applied has said it expects to break even this quarter, with revenue increasing over the previous quarter. But Reuters reported that the company’s solar equipment business, which has seen orders and sales drop, is still “a swing factor.”

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