LDK Solar

LDK Solar Co., Ltd. was established in July 2005 by its founder, Peng Xiaofeng, in Xinyu, China. Peng, who had previously founded and led Suzhou Liouxin, a personal protective equipment manufacturer, identified a gap in the Chinese market for locally produced solar cell wafers. He invested $30 million of his own capital along with $80 million in venture financing to launch the company.

The company pursued a vertically integrated business model, controlling the photovoltaic manufacturing process from polysilicon production to finished solar modules. Its core business involved manufacturing and selling multicrystalline and monocrystalline solar wafers, which are essential components for producing solar cells. LDK Solar served a global client base, supplying wafers to other solar cell and module manufacturers, and also sold its own line of branded modules for residential, commercial, and utility-scale projects. The operational strategy was centered on achieving economies of scale and reducing costs by managing the entire supply chain, including polysilicon plants, ingot and wafer production, and cell and module assembly.

LDK Solar experienced a period of rapid expansion, becoming one of the world's largest solar wafer producers by capacity. The company achieved its first commercial sale of multicrystalline wafers in April 2006 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker LDK on May 31, 2007, raising $469 million in its initial public offering. By 2008, its annualized wafer capacity reached 1 gigawatt, and by 2010, it hit 4 gigawatts. However, the company's aggressive growth, funded heavily by debt, coincided with a global downturn in the solar market characterized by oversupply and plummeting prices. This led to severe financial distress, and despite government support, LDK Solar and its US-based subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 and Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in 2014. Following the offshore restructuring, its main Chinese operating subsidiaries were forced into bankruptcy proceedings in China in late 2015. The U.S.-listed entity was ultimately liquidated in 2016.

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