SunPower

SunPower Corporation is an American provider of photovoltaic solar energy generation systems and battery energy storage products, primarily for residential customers. The company, headquartered in San Jose, California, was founded in 1985 by Richard Swanson, an electrical engineering professor from Stanford University. Cypress Semiconductor bought a majority interest in the company in 2002, growing it quickly until SunPower went public in 2005. TotalEnergies, a French energy and oil company purchased a controlling interest in SunPower for billion in 2011. The company previously developed and manufactured photovoltaic panels, before spinning off that part of its business in 2020 as Maxeon Solar Technologies. The company had also previously marketed its products to commercial and industrial customers before agreeing to sell that business line to TotalEnergies in February 2022. SunPower was founded on April 24, 1985, by Richard Swanson, who was a Stanford University professor focused on electrical engineering. Swanson studied solar power efficiency in the Stanford Electronics Laboratory with funding from research grants. After breaking a record for solar power efficiency in lab conditions, he took a sabbatical to start SunPower and commercialize the technology. Initially, the company was called Eos and was funded with $2,000 in savings between Swanson and his friend Richard Crane. In 1989, Robert Lorenzini invested in the company, became its chairman, and changed the name to SunPower. Some of SunPower's early revenues were from research grants and using its manufacturing facilities to create silicon wafers for semiconductor companies. Interest grew as SunPower completed prototype installations and portable electronics that use solar power became more popular. Swanson resigned from his academic position at Stanford in 1991, in order to focus on SunPower full-time. The company's revenues grew from$600,000 in 1989 to $1.4 million in 1995, and$6 million in 1996. However, by 2001 the company was anticipating having to lay off half of its employees.