In 2021, Canadian tech firm Ubiquity Solar said it would establish a nearly 2-GW solar cell manufacturing outfit in New York to supply both the space and utility sectors. The effort never got off the ground, and today the manufacturing equipment is listed for sale by Tiger Group and GESemi.
The AI and semiconductor auctioning companies are accepting offers on equipment used to produce high-efficiency gallium arsenide (GaAs) thin-film PV cells. The fully decommissioned lines are ready-to-ship from New York. The nearly 600 crates include equipment from Aixtron Group, Attolight, GigaMat, SCHMID, Hercules and KLA Corp.
Ubiquity gained the equipment through an acquisition of Alta Devices, which pioneered GaAs thin-film solar cells for use in many applications, including satellites and vehicles. The equipment was never used in New York and has been crated since.
“The advanced production lines available in this sale can be used to manufacture products for weight-sensitive applications like drones that require high-efficiency conversion of solar energy to electricity,” said GESemi COO Kevin Shows. “In addition, this is an excellent technology for the space market.”
Ubiquity patents (some acquired from Alta Devices) and other IP assets related to high-tech manufacturing of gallium arsenide wafers are also up for sale.
“With its PV technology products, Ubiquity Solar focused on offering more power in watts per square meter and better overall energy-production performance compared to space-grade silicon for the space market,” noted Chad Farrell, managing director of Tiger Commercial & Industrial. “The high utility of its thin, light, productive PV cell makes the machinery and equipment, patents and IP available in this sale particularly valuable to the sector.”
More details about the equipment up for auction can be found here.
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