Image: First Solar

US cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film module manufacturer First Solar has sold US$311.8 million in tax credits to a leading financial institution under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) framework.

The transaction, completed last Friday, exchanged the credits for US$296.2 million in cash, with a pricing ratio of US$0.949 per US$1 of credit. This mirrors a similar deal from February, when First Solar sold US$857 million in tax credits.

The transferred credits are 45X advanced manufacturing credits, a cornerstone of the IRA designed to incentivize domestic clean energy manufacturing. Final guidance for the 45X credit was issued in October 2024, contributing to a surge in U.S. solar manufacturing. As of early 2025, the country’s annual solar module production capacity surpassed 50GW, with more than US$92 billion in clean energy manufacturing investments announced since the IRA’s enactment in 2022.

First Solar is actively scaling its U.S. manufacturing footprint and targets 10GW of integrated manufacturing capacity by the end of 2025.

Despite the IRA-driven growth, the company has faced headwinds from policy uncertainty, including tariffs on foreign solar goods proposed by former President Donald Trump. Earlier this year, First Solar revised its 2025 net sales forecast, cutting it by nearly US$1 billion due to rising operating costs and anticipated declines in module sales.