UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM SD
SPECIALIZED DISCLOSURE REPORT
FIRST SOLAR, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Delaware | | 001-33156 | | 20-4623678 |
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | | (Commission File Number) | | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
350 West Washington Street
Suite 600
Tempe, Arizona 85288
(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)
Jason Dymbort
General Counsel & Secretary
(602) 414-9300
(Name and telephone number, including area code, of the person to contact in connection with this report.)
Check the appropriate box to indicate the rule pursuant to which this Form is being submitted, and provide the period to which the information in this Form applies:
☑ Rule 13p-1 under the Securities Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13p-1) for the reporting period from January 1 to December 31, 2024.
☐ Rule 13q-1 under the Securities Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13q-1) for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.
Section 1 – Conflict Minerals Disclosure
Items 1.01 and 1.02 Conflict Minerals Disclosure and Report, Exhibit
A copy of First Solar, Inc.’s Conflict Minerals Report for the year ended December 31, 2024 is attached as Exhibit 1.01 hereto and is publicly available at investor.firstsolar.com.
Section 3 – Exhibits
Item 3.01 Exhibits
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the duly authorized undersigned.
| | | | | | | | | | | |
| FIRST SOLAR, INC. |
| | | |
Date: May 29, 2025 | By: | | /s/ JASON DYMBORT |
| Name: | | Jason Dymbort |
| Title: | | General Counsel & Secretary |
EXHIBIT 1.01
Conflict Minerals Report of First Solar, Inc.
For the Year Ended December 31, 2024
Introduction
First Solar, Inc., together with its subsidiaries (“First Solar,” “the Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our”), has prepared this Conflict Minerals Report pursuant to Rule 13p-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the requirements of Form SD (collectively, “the Rules”).
We are America’s leading photovoltaic (“PV”) solar technology and manufacturing company. The only U.S.-headquartered company among the world’s largest solar manufacturers, First Solar is focused on competitively and reliably enabling power generation needs with our advanced, thin film PV technology. Developed at research and development labs in California and Ohio, the Company’s technology represents the next generation of solar power generation, providing a competitive, high-performance, and responsibly produced alternative to conventional crystalline silicon PV solar modules. Our PV solar modules are produced using a fully integrated, continuous process that does not rely on Chinese crystalline silicon supply chains. We are the world’s largest thin film PV solar module manufacturer and the largest PV solar module manufacturer in the Western Hemisphere.
First Solar operates as one business, which involves the design, manufacture, and sale of cadmium telluride solar modules, which convert sunlight into electricity. Our third-party customers include system developers, independent power producers, utilities, commercial and industrial companies, and other system owners and operators. For further discussion of our products and services, see our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024. The information contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K is not incorporated by reference into this Conflict Minerals Report or our Form SD for 2024 and should not be considered part of this Conflict Minerals Report or the associated Form SD.
Minerals including tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold (“3TG”) are classified as “conflict minerals,” some of which may be necessary to the functionality or production of certain products that we manufacture or purchase for use in our solar modules. As such, we are subject to the Rules with respect to those necessary conflict minerals. The Rules require us to conduct, in good faith, a reasonable country of origin inquiry (“RCOI”) into those necessary conflict minerals to determine whether they originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (“DRC”) or an adjoining country (a “covered country” and together, the “covered countries”) or are from recycled or scrap sources. If, as a result of our RCOI procedures, we know or have reason to believe that any of our necessary conflict minerals originated in one or more of the covered countries and are not from recycled or scrap materials, then we are required to exercise due diligence to determine the source and chain of custody of such conflict minerals.
First Solar Conflict Minerals Policy
To the extent we source minerals from the covered countries, we are dedicated to protecting and respecting human rights by responsibly sourcing such minerals. We have a long-standing commitment to conducting our business in compliance with applicable laws and regulations and condemn human rights abuses associated with the extraction, transport, or trade of minerals. Similarly, we have a no-tolerance policy with respect to corruption, money laundering, and/or bribery. We require all direct suppliers to agree to follow such principles.
At the same time, we support sourcing from the covered countries when performed in accordance with accepted international standards, specifically within the guidance from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”). Suppliers with minerals not found to be conflict free in their sourcing will be given a reasonable amount of time to begin sourcing minerals responsibly and in a manner consistent with the principles of responsible sourcing from conflict-affected areas.
Description of Product Identification and RCOI Processes
During 2024, we purchased components of our products that incorporated or were produced using certain conflict minerals. As such, we conducted an RCOI process to determine whether any of the conflict minerals originated, or may have originated, in the covered countries and whether such conflict minerals originated from recycled or scrap sources. We consider parts and components used in the production of our thin film solar modules to be subject to the Rules, and such items are included in the RCOI process.
We conducted an assessment to determine which of our direct suppliers may be providing components of our products that are likely to contain conflict minerals. We identified the applicable list of components by consulting with members of our supply chain department, including commodity managers, suppliers, senior management, and other individuals familiar with our sourcing and operations. We verified with such personnel that the population of components and suppliers was complete for our 2024 procedures. From that list, we then identified the suppliers to survey from which we directly procured materials (“tier one” or “direct” suppliers). Six tier one suppliers, which were Responsible Mineral Assurance Program (“RMAP”) compliant, were also confirmed to have supplied products or components to us that contained, or were produced using, conflict minerals during the year ended December 31, 2024, and all six responded to our surveys.
Results
Leveraging the Responsible Minerals Initiative’s (“RMI”) Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (“CMRT”), our RCOI consisted of surveying tier one suppliers confirmed to have supplied products, which were used to manufacture our solar modules, that contained conflict minerals. This template includes information regarding the smelters, origins of conflict minerals, supplier due diligence programs, and whether the materials originate from recycled or scrap sources.
As part of reviewing the completed CMRT surveys, we assessed the responses for reasonableness by comparing them to prior year information and reviewing the completeness of current year surveys provided. Incomplete CMRT surveys were rejected and returned to the suppliers to complete and resend. For non-responsive suppliers, we have internal escalation procedures, which escalate the survey status to senior members of our global supply chain organization depending on certain milestones within our RCOI timeline and may include efforts to directly contact such non-responsive suppliers. For the suppliers that we considered to be subject to the Rules, we received a 100% response rate after following our internal procedures.
Our tier one suppliers performed similar RCOI procedures to identify the chain of custody from their suppliers back to the smelter and country of origin. We relied on the good faith efforts of our tier one suppliers to provide us with reasonable information and representations relating to the smelter and country of origin. The smelter or refiner facilities that were used to process our necessary conflict minerals are contained in Appendix A. See “Smelter and Refiner Facilities” below for more detail regarding the information contained in Appendix A.
Based on the surveys received from our suppliers and the RCOI procedures conducted for our business, we concluded we had reason to believe that a portion of our necessary conflict minerals could have originated in the covered countries and such necessary conflict minerals may not have been from recycled or scrap sources. Based on this result, we exercised due diligence to determine the source and chain of custody of such conflict minerals as described below.
Framework Used to Develop Due Diligence Measures
In accordance with the Rules, we undertook due diligence efforts to determine the country, mine, or location of origin and facilities used to produce the conflict minerals used in our products. We designed our due diligence measures to conform in all material respects with the internationally recognized due diligence framework as set forth in the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (“OECD Framework”) and related supplements for 3TG.
Due Diligence Undertaken to Comply with the OECD Framework
Our due diligence process for 2024 included the following steps:
OECD Step 1: Establish a Company Management System
•We have adopted and communicated our conflict minerals policy both publicly and to relevant internal and external parties, which conflict minerals policy is available at www.firstsolar.com/-/media/First-Solar/Sustainability-Documents/FS-Mineral-Policy.ashx and is not incorporated herein by reference.
•We include conflict minerals compliance requirements in new supplier agreements and purchase order terms and conditions.
•We have an operating, cross-functional internal governance team with representatives from our supply chain, compliance, and legal departments to ensure policy statements and control processes are followed.
•We have an existing records retention process and a grievance mechanism for reporting policy violations via our ethics hotline.
OECD Step 2: Identify and Assess Risks in Supply Chain
•We conducted our surveys leveraging the CMRT, which were sent to all suppliers considered to be subject to the Rules. We used the CMRT to identify smelter or refiner facilities and countries of origin of our necessary conflict minerals.
•We relied on RMI and other information provided by our suppliers to identify countries of origin for RMAP compliant smelter or refiner facilities.
•We reviewed the responses from the CMRT questionnaires with our supply chain department and crosschecked the list with RMAP facilities found at www.responsiblemineralsinitiative.org, which website is not incorporated herein by reference.
OECD Step 3: Design and Implement a Strategy to Respond to Identified Risks
•We report information on the source and chain of custody of our necessary conflict minerals to our executive management on a periodic basis.
•As part of our internal conflict minerals policy, we have a conflict minerals risk mitigation plan that defines supplier risk management strategies, including (i) continued procurement, (ii) assistance in identifying alternate sources of supply, and (iii) disengagement, the severity of which is at the discretion of our executive management.
OECD Step 4: Independent Third-Party Audit of Smelter/Refiner Due Diligence Practices
•As we do not source directly from smelter or refiner facilities, we rely on the RMAP to oversee and coordinate third-party audits of these facilities. The RMAP audit protocols and procedures were designed by the RMI. These audit protocols and procedures require the smelters or refiners to engage specially trained third-party auditors to independently verify that these smelters and refiners can be considered conflict free.
•We rely on the publicly available audit results of the RMAP third-party audits to validate the sourcing practices of facilities in our supply chain.
OECD Step 5: Report Annually on Supply Chain Due Diligence
•We file a Form SD and Conflict Minerals Report with the Securities and Exchange Commission on an annual basis, as necessary. Our Form SD and Conflict Minerals Report are also available on our website at investor.firstsolar.com and are not incorporated herein by reference.
Smelter and Refiner Facilities
In connection with our RCOI and due diligence efforts, our suppliers provided us with lists of facilities that may have processed the necessary conflict minerals used in our products during 2024. Such facility information is included in Appendix A and summarized by mineral in the following table. As of May 8, 2025, all facilities were RMAP conformant or undergoing an RMAP assessment.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | Number of Smelters or Refiners | | Percentage |
| Tantalum | | — | | | — | % |
| Tin | | 56 | | | 75 | % |
| Tungsten | | 19 | | | 25 | % |
| Gold | | — | | | — | % |
| Total | | 75 | | | 100 | % |
Due Diligence Efforts to Identify Country, Location, and Mine of Origin of Conflict Minerals in Products
After obtaining CMRT forms and related documentation through our RCOI and due diligence processes as described above, we compared the smelters and refiners used by relevant suppliers with the list of smelters and refiners from the RMAP, as well as responses in the CMRT, to gather the country, location, and mine of origin information. We also reviewed public information, to the extent available, in an attempt to verify the mine or location of origin. All of our smelters reported to be sourcing from “Level 1” countries (defined below) or from recycled or scrap sources, or were validated as RMAP conformant by RMI.
The countries of origin of the conflict minerals processed by the RMAP conformant smelters or refiners identified to us by our suppliers include the countries identified below:
Level 1 – Countries that are not identified as conflict regions or plausible areas of smuggling or export from these regions of conflict minerals:
•Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam.
Level 2 – Countries that are known or plausible countries for smuggling, export out of region, or transit of materials containing conflict minerals:
•None.
Level 3 – The smelter is sourcing from the DRC or its adjoining countries:
•DRC and Rwanda.
Appendix A
Table of Our Conflict Minerals Processing Facilities*
(As of May 8, 2025)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Conflict Mineral | | Smelter or Refiner Name | | Location | | RMAP Status |
| Tin | | Alpha Assembly Solutions Inc | | United States | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Aurubis Beerse | | Belgium | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Aurubis Berango | | Spain | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Chifeng Dajingzi Tin Industry Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tin | | China Tin Group Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tin | | CRM Synergies | | Spain | | Conformant |
| Tin | | CV Ayi Jaya | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | CV Venus Inti Perkasa | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Dowa | | Japan | | Conformant |
| Tin | | EM Vinto | | Bolivia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Fenix Metals | | Poland | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Gejiu Non-Ferrous Metal Processing Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Guangdong Hanhe Non-Ferrous Metal Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Jiangxi New Nanshan Technology Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Luna Smelter, Ltd. | | Rwanda | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Magnu's Minerais Metais e Ligas Ltda. | | Brazil | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Malaysia Smelting Corporation (MSC) | | Malaysia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Malaysia Smelting Corporation Berhad (Port Klang) | | Malaysia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Metallic Resources, Inc. | | United States | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Mineracao Taboca S.A. | | Brazil | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Mining Minerals Resources SARL | | DRC | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Minsur | | Peru | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Mitsubishi Materials Corporation | | Japan | | Conformant |
| Tin | | O.M. Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd. | | Thailand | | Conformant |
| Tin | | O.M. Manufacturing Philippines, Inc. | | Philippines | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Operaciones Metalurgicas S.A. | | Bolivia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Aries Kencana Sejahtera | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Artha Cipta Langgeng | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT ATD Makmur Mandiri Jaya | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Babel Inti Perkasa | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Babel Surya Alam Lestari | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Bangka Prima Tin | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Bangka Serumpun | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Bukit Timah | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Cipta Persada Mulia | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Masbro Alam Stania | | Indonesia | | Active |
| Tin | | PT Menara Cipta Mulia | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Mitra Stania Prima | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Mitra Sukses Globalindo | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Premium Tin Indonesia | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Prima Timah Utama | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Putera Sarana Shakti (PT PSS) | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Rajawali Rimba Perkasa | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Rajehan Ariq | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Refined Bangka Tin | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Conflict Mineral | | Smelter or Refiner Name | | Location | | RMAP Status |
| Tin | | PT Sukses Inti Makmur (SIM) | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Timah Tbk Kundur | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Timah Tbk Mentok | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | PT Tinindo Inter Nusa | | Indonesia | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Rui Da Hung | | Taiwan | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Super Ligas | | Brazil | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Thaisarco | | Thailand | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Tin Smelting Branch of Yunnan Tin Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Tin Technology & Refining | | United States | | Conformant |
| Tin | | White Solder Metalurgia e Mineracao Ltda. | | Brazil | | Conformant |
| Tin | | Yunnan Chengfeng Non-ferrous Metals Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | A.L.M.T. Corp. | | Japan | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | China Molybdenum Tungsten Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Chongyi Zhangyuan Tungsten Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Ganzhou Jiangwu Ferrotungsten Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Global Tungsten & Powders LLC | | United States | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | H.C. Starck Tungsten GmbH | | Germany | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Hunan Chenzhou Mining Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Hunan Shizhuyuan Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd. Chenzhou Tungsten Products Branch | | China | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Japan New Metals Co., Ltd. | | Japan | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Jiangwu H.C. Starck Tungsten Products Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Jiangxi Gan Bei Tungsten Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Jiangxi Yaosheng Tungsten Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Kennametal Huntsville | | United States | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Masan High-Tech Materials | | Vietnam | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Niagara Refining LLC | | United States | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | TANIOBIS Smelting GmbH & Co. KG | | Germany | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Wolfram Bergbau und Hutten AG | | Austria | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Xiamen Tungsten (H.C.) Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
| Tungsten | | Xiamen Tungsten Co., Ltd. | | China | | Conformant |
——————————
*We note the following in connection with the table above:
•All smelters and refiners have committed to undergo an RMAP audit or are participating in one of the cross-recognized certification programs.
•Though we request that our tier one suppliers provide responses at the product-level, some of our suppliers provided responses at the company-level, meaning that they reported smelter and refiner information for all of their products, not just for the products sold to us. Accordingly, our list of processing facilities disclosed in this appendix may contain more facilities than those that actually process or refine the conflict minerals contained in our products.
First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Jun 2025 até Jul 2025
First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Jul 2024 até Jul 2025
