San Jose’s SunPower buys solar rival — and avoids Trump’s tariffs

SunPower of San Jose reported Wednesday that it will buy SolarWorld Americas, a solar manufacturer in Oregon, in a sign of how the industry is reconfiguring itself to deal with the Trump administration’s protectionist moves.

SunPower will use SolarWorld’s factory in Hillsboro, Ore., to build its own panels, while the facility continues to make SolarWorld products. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close by the end of June, were not disclosed.

. . . Although SunPower operates a small, pilot manufacturing line in San Jose, the company makes most of its cells and panels in France, Malaysia, Mexico and the Philippines.