"This number one ranking validates our leadership position in the growing thin-film solar PV market and is another acknowledgement of Oerlikon Solar's ability to successfully deliver low-cost, high-performance end-to-end production solutions to the thin film solar PV market," says Jeannine Sargent, CEO of Oerlikon Solar.

According to Andrew Thomas, a VLSI Research Analyst, Oerlikon Solar was first to market with large-scale turnkey solutions for solar silicon thin-film-on-glass technology, and the company definitely benefited in 2008 from its first-mover advantage. Thomas further pointed out that Oerlikon Solar continues to announce new projects and that he expects the company to further benefit as existing customers seek to upgrade to its Micromorph® tandem-junction technology and to expand manufacturing capacity in the future, Oerlikon said in a statement.