Ceradyne announced the opening of a new factory in Tianjin, China. Ceradyne Tianjin Advanced Materials will produce high-purity ceramic crucibles for the forming of large polysilicon ingots for use in the manufacturing of photovoltaic silicon solar cells.
According to a company press release, this is the company's second high-purity ceramic crucible manufacturing facility in China.
Ceradyne's scope extends well beyond solar components. In an interview filmed in 2009, Ceradyne's founder and CEO Joel Moskowitz discussed the company's strategy to expand into non-armor areas such as specialty crucibles for preparing solar-grade polysilicon.
"Next year they may call us a solar company and in five years maybe they will call us an aluminum company" he says.