Spire enters into commercial agreements with Korea's Uni-CHEM

BEDFORD, USA: Spire Corp., a global solar company providing capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic (PV) modules and turnkey manufacturing lines worldwide has entered into two contracts to supply Uni-CHEM Co. Ltd. (Uni-CHEM) of Seoul, South Korea, via its United States (US) entity, Uni-CHEM Solar, a 60 megawatt (MW) per year turnkey Cell Line and a 50MW per year turnkey Module Line, as well as the associated utilities and infrastructure support.

Uni-CHEM has indicated its intent to lease space from Spire at its Hudson, New Hampshire's Spire Semiconductor facility to house the automated 60MW Cell Line and 50MW Module Line. Terms of the sub-lease are not yet fully defined and currently under negotiation. The Uni-CHEM integrated Cell and Module Lines are planned to become operational in the second half of 2010.

Additionally, Uni-CHEM has agreed it will form a US entity, which will purchase 51 percent of Spire Solar Systems, Spire Corporation's system integration business, subject to definitive documentation. Such definitive agreements have not yet been finalized.

Roger G. Little, Chairman and CEO of Spire Corp., said: "We are excited to have finalized the cell and module turnkey manufacturing agreements with Uni-CHEM. We believe their cell and module manufacturing will position them to participate in the US solar market, which is anticipated to be one of the world's fastest growing. The total value of the contracts, including those relating to the investment in the systems integration business, is approximately $60 million."