Chris Johnson, President of the American Energy Leadership Institute. It's a pleasure to emcee this today. We're here. Welcome to First Solar's ribbon cutting here today in Gaffney. I spend a lot of time in Washington talking about the SI, that is infrastructure, that will help determine our economic future. American workers should be the ones building the technology that supplies that power. Deliberate choices. Our leaders have to stand up for American industry, and companies have to be willing to commit their money and build here. First Solar is making that commit. That's what I want people to picture when they hear the words American energy dominance. That family, that community. To the First Solar this across the country in the years ahead. Thank you all for being here.
integral part in getting this facility here, and while they will not be speaking today, they're fundamental to First Solar's expansion in South Carolina. From the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Under Secretary for Industry and Security. I want to also recognize Representative Dennis Moss for House District 29, who has served Cherokee County in the South Carolina. And the Representative for House District 30, which includes Gaffney and all of Cherokee County, Representative Brian Lawson. Carolina a reality in under a year. Gentlemen, thank you all for being here. You'll be up on stage
chose to build in South Carolina. Today, South Carolina joins First Solar's mission to build America's energy future.
Historically, we're a textile community, but we
First Solar's sixth U.S. facility is an approximately $330 million investment in Gaffney. It's here that final production of our Series 6 Plus solar modules comes home, back on U.S. soil. Manufacturing jobs. About 500.
They're trying to figure out how they're going to keep food on the table, gas in the car, lights on at home. This investment changes that for them. They don't have to wonder and make a decision on whether they should pay for the medical bills or put food on the table. There's a 10-year-old child here in Cherokee County that wants to simply just play soccer. Nothing extravagant. That wants to be on the team, put on a uniform, get cleats. Now there's a family that can afford to make that happen for their child. That's what I want us to take from today. When we invest in jobs, when we're investing in the paychecks, we're investing into possibilities for our people. We're investing into a better life for so many people. We're investing into that mother that's working two jobs.
We're investing into that father who wants to provide a better life for his family, and the young person graduating from high school, community college, who wants to build a successful career and give back to their community. We're investing into that. That investment reached further than just the employees. Those investments reached into our local grocery stores, the gas stations, the restaurants, the barber shops, the small businesses that form the background of our community. When those hardworking families earn more, they have greater opportunities to spend, save, invest, and build a better life. When that's happening, our community benefits, and that's what economic development is truly about. That's what First Solar means to our community. To the CEO, to the entire First Solar family, I want to personally say thank you. Thank you for planting your flag here in our community.
Thank you for your decision to invest, because it sends a powerful message, not only to the state of South Carolina, but it sends a message to the entire nation that greatness already exists here in Cherokee County. We are a community of hardworking people, strong family, deep roots, and a lot of pride and tradition. While we are proud of our history, we're even more excited about the future because of investments just like this. Again, we are honored to have First Solar, and we look forward to a strong and lasting partnership. To the people of Gaffney, I want to leave everyone with this. Today, we aren't just celebrating opening a new facility.
We are celebrating the opportunity for a parent to earn a better living, for a child to have more opportunities, for a family to be more secure for their future, and for our community to continue becoming everything we know it can be. God bless First Solar. God bless the hardworking people in Cherokee County, Gaffney, and God bless you all. Thank you.
Thank you, Mayor. Our next speaker is Gaffney's own voice in the State Senate. Senator Harvey Peeler was born and raised in Gaffney, and he represented this community in the South Carolina Senate since 1981. He has served as Senate Majority Leader and as President of the Senate, and today he chairs the Senate Finance Committee. He is a Clemson graduate and an Army veteran, and he has worked as a dairy farmer and a businessman right here in Cherokee County. He has spent more than four decades making sure that a hometown like his, like this one, has a voice when the state makes its biggest decisions. Please join me in welcoming Senator Harvey Peeler.
God is good.
Amen.
All the time. All the time.
God is good.
That's right. Good afternoon, and it is indeed a good afternoon here in Gaffney. Well, every day is a good afternoon in Gaffney, right?
That's right.
On behalf of the Cherokee County legislative delegation, Representative Dennis Moss and Representative Brian Lawson, I want to welcome you and thank you for your attendance and your work, and thank you to everybody that had a part in making today come about. It was a little over a year ago, the economic developers were looking at this area. They had this area, they were wanting to develop it. It just was an open field, nothing on it, just an open field. But I said at that time to those developers, "It's a field, but it's a field of dreams." Very much like the movie. And I told them, "If you build it, they will come." If we have the infrastructure, Interstate 85 improvement, infrastructure along the area, getting off 85, water and sewer, and so forth. We've got the manpower.
We've got the workers in this area to make this field of dreams be a reality, and it did. It came. I've been asked before, Mayor and Governor, "What's more important, a groundbreaking or a ribbon cutting?" I've thought about that. A groundbreaking is where an idea is planted and grows. A ribbon cutting is where an idea is harvested. What's more important, groundbreaking or ribbon cutting?
Today, I think it's a ribbon cutting. What's important, what the Mayor said, everything he said is true, but the most truthful thing he said was the workers that are here that work in this business. They're old-fashioned workers that are ready to work in a new modern facility like this. So on behalf of the State of South Carolina, thank you for choosing Cherokee County. The field of dreams came. When they built it, they will come, and come in they did.
Indeed, they came. To the tune of 600 new jobs, and they're just getting started. $330 million being spent, and they're just now getting started. I'm just now getting started, but I'll stop right now. Thank you.
That was great. Thank you, Senator Peeler. Our next speaker leads the company that chose Gaffney. First Solar is the only U.S.-headquartered, U.S.-founded utility-scale solar manufacturer at scale. Its unique technology was invented in Toledo, Ohio. Go Bucks. It is designed and manufactured right here in the United States without relying on the Chinese polysilicon supply chain. With five factories already running in Ohio, Alabama, and Louisiana, First Solar operates the largest fully domestic solar manufacturing footprint in the Western Hemisphere. Today, Gaffney joins that family. He has led First Solar as Chief Executive Officer through this growth. Please welcome Mark Widmar.
Thank Chris, and thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Senator Peeler, for that warm welcome. Hopefully, everyone, if you want a copy of that video, we'll be more than happy to give it to you. I think it tells you who we are. Right? Who we are at our core and what we're trying to do. I love the stories about it's not just about the American worker, it's about the American family. We made a purpose decision to commit to American technology, American supply chain, American worker, and American families. This is just another step in that journey of what we've been able to accomplish.
These are the days that we all here as part of the leadership team feel most proud about and what we're doing and what we're doing to give back and to help create that American passion to make sure that we can win and innovate. That's what we're trying to do. I'm honored to be here today with an all-star lineup and to recognize and support the American worker and the American family. It's really been a great journey, and it's great to see the people here today that are going to help us celebrate it. Governor McMaster, Senator Graham, and Secretary Lutnick, Under Secretary Kessler, Under Secretary Kimmitt, Special Advisor and Chief Counsel Shapiro, Mayor Dawkins, Senator Peeler, Representative Moss, Representative Lawson, Secretary Lightsey, and distinguished guests good afternoon, and welcome to First Solar's newest American facility.
Less than a year ago, and I think it's already been communicated, we announced that we would be coming to Gaffney. It's been a great partnership. The support that we've gotten at both the federal level, the state level, and the local level is beyond any expectations that we had. It's those types of partnerships that will enable the success that we're not only beginning today, but as we continue to evolve forward and as we continue to grow. Today, we're inaugurating the first phase of this facility, and we're ready to produce American solar technology built by South Carolina workers. It's proof that we can still build things here in the U.S., and that we can build them fast. It's a reminder that we are a nation of builders.
We hear the doubt and the speculation all the time about things have passed us by, American can't compete anymore, Americans can't innovate anymore. We're here today to help prove that that's wrong. We're here today to prove that what we can do, we can out-innovate, we can build faster, and we can be more creative than anyone else in this world. Ladies and gentlemen, we're proud of what this facility stands for as a symbol of American energy dominance and re-industrialization. We're just as proud of what it means for here in Cherokee County. I love the fact that we've came to another community, and it's one of many that we've came to, where there's been some form of people have turned their back on the community. People have taken jobs, and they've left. Just think how devastating it's been for those families.
We're back here to support them. We're not going to turn our back. We're going to grow this facility, and we're going to create more jobs. These manufacturing workers earn an average annual compensation of $74,000, roughly twice the per capita income in this county. These are good-paying jobs. These are careers that let people build a life without moving away from home.
These are jobs that allow people from Gaffney to raise their families in the communities that they were raised in. The facility exists because the moment demanded it. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the Trump administration's trade policies drove real demand for American energy technology, and we chose to move quickly to meet the moment by onshoring as rapidly as we could. Secretary Lutnick, when we met earlier this year, we offered you an opportunity to come celebrate this milestone with us in person.
We're so thankful that you were able to do that and to be here with us today. Your Department Section 232 actions with tariffs and minimum import prices that run from polysilicon all the way through finished modules creates the opportunity generally for American workers like us and American workers to thrive based on our own ingenuity and passion to win, and that's the most important thing is the passion to win. Give us the opportunity, and the American workers has the passion to win. It gives companies like ours the confidence to make commitments like the one we are celebrating today. Inside the building, our team is manufacturing a uniquely differentiated, one-of-a-kind technology, and we're celebrating that today. Inside the building, our team is manufacturing capabilities that no one else does today. We're that unique. This is just the first phase.
When the second phase is completed in mid-2027, we expect to double this facility's capacity to, we'll throw out a number, it says 3.4 GW a year. I'm pretty sure most of you don't even know what that number means, but the way I always like to try to translate it's about three and a half large nuclear reactors every year. This facility will be creating power that is equivalent to three and a half large nuclear reactors every year, and we do that within a 12-month span. Building three and a half large nuclear reactors will take you more than a decade. We can do that annually, and we can deploy that fast. First Solar has unique technology that was developed in American labs and has no dependency on Chinese crystalline silicon supply chains.
In the global competition with China, whose strategy objective is to dominate and control the supply chain and manufacturing, it matters who controls the on/off switch. We're not vulnerable to the decisions that China makes around that on/off switch. We're independent of that throughout the supply chain, the technology, the equipment, the tool sets. We do everything outside of China, which gives us complete degrees of freedom to make investments like today and to move quickly to execute against that. When it comes to speed to power, solar can be deployed faster than most other forms of new power generation, and it delivers affordable electricity for families and businesses. These modules will power manufacturing, energize communities, and help power American dominance. That capacity is additive. Solar doesn't have to replace natural gas or nuclear. It serves shoulder to shoulder to deliver the electricity a growing economy needs.
Gaffney is our sixth American facility and the newest community to join our manufacturing footprint, alongside Perrysburg, Ohio, Trinity, Alabama, and New Iberia, Louisiana. Pretty good football programs. I know Chris is a big Bucks fan, but we're very happy now to have the South Carolina Gamecocks as part of that family, and congratulations on a big win over the weekend. We're not new to South Carolina. Duncan, South Carolina, we already host a distribution center there. We're also proud of our longstanding relationship with the Inland Port Greer. What we're doing in South Carolina mirrors what we've done across the country. By the end of the year, we expect to have invested more than $5 billion in American manufacturing and R&D infrastructure since 2019. Last year, we supported 30,000 American jobs.
By the end of next year, we expect that support to be 40,000 jobs, and that will be equivalent to $4 billion of annual payroll. As an American solar company, we are proud of the role we play. I would like to close by thanking the Trump administration for the industrial and trade policies that are serving as a catalyst for American re-industrialization, Governor McMaster, Secretary Lightsey, and the South Carolina Department of Commerce, Senator Peeler, Representative Moss and Lawson, Mayor Dawkins, and the leaders of Cherokee County. Thank you for being uncompromising pro-business and pro-growth. You move at the speed of business. You made it possible for us to do the same. Senator Graham, thank you for your support and your presence here today.
We are grateful for your leadership on behalf of South Carolina and Washington, and we hope you carry with you a clear example of what is possible when communities and states come together alongside durable federal policies that level the playing field and enable America to build more at home. To the community, this factory is more than a building, it is a commitment. We are grateful that you are here today with us.
As we grow our footprint in the community, we look forward to working with all of you to ensure the growth benefits will endure to everyone. To the First Solar team that has built this day belongs to you. For those of you who have traveled to be with us today from near and far, thank you for joining us. Thank you for believing in the role First Solar is playing to re-industrialize. Thank you.
Together, we can build American energy future and secure American energy dominance. Few people have done more to make South Carolina a place where companies come to build. Governor McMaster has served his state as U.S. attorney, as attorney general, as lieutenant governor, and since 2017 as governor. When we chose Gaffney, he and his team matched our pace every step of the way, and today's milestone is a direct result of that leadership. Now it is my privilege to introduce the 117th governor of South Carolina, Governor Henry McMaster.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
I have something for you. This is a flag. This is a palmetto flag. There it is. Those palmetto trees are soft, and that's what Fort Sullivan was built with, and that's why we whooped their britches when they came.
There you go.
That's for you, and we thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you, Governor.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
I will be brief. Reminds me of the old joke, it was Elizabeth Taylor said to her seventh husband, I think, said, "I will not keep you long." Was not that the one? I am happy to be here, and I will be brief. Mr. Secretary, I know you came from up north, so I got a little story for you because it is about the people of South Carolina. And that is, there is a city slicker coming up, big city up north, coming down to see one of his old buddies he went to school with, had a cabin way out in the woods, and a bunch of folks out there. It is New Year's Eve. Well, by the time he got within about 50 mi, it started raining. Hard, dark rain. Getting clear, he had to slow down. Could not see a thing.
Struggling along in his big, long black limousine, trying to find his way through. Didn't see the stop sign, went right through it. Bam! Ran into something. Rain let up a little bit, he got out his car and went over, and pickup truck there. He looked, and the old farmer was getting out.
He went over to him and said, "You're not saying this is my fault, are you? It's not my fault." Farmer says, "No, I ain't saying that." He said, "Well, you're not going to sue me, are you?" He said, "No, I don't sue people." He said, "Well, you're not hurt, I'm not hurt. So I'm not going to make it to the New Year's Eve party. I got a bottle of whiskey in the trunk. We ought to toast our good health." Farmer said, "Okay." Pulled out the bottle. City slicker, said, "Here, your turn.
Take a swig." Farmer says, "I believe I'll wait till after the police get here." That's common sense. That's what we got plenty of. You don't have to study too hard to see that First Solar is a great company and it's going to be a great addition. Mr. Mayor, you inspired me listening to you because it reminded me of one fact that every business leader that comes to this place that I get to talk to ends up saying it one time or another. Every single one. What is it, sir, that made the difference to you in making this decision to invest a few billion dollars or $100 million here in this state, this beautiful place? Was it the taxes? Was it the great legislature? We got great legislature, the most business-friendly legislature, leaders in the whole country, I think.
Was it that, or was it the 1,600 or 1,800-year-old cypress trees down in the Beidler Forest, the oldest, largest uncut growth of such in the entire world? Was it the flora and the fauna? Was it the birds that come through every year and go to the same little knothole in that swamp? Same one. Prothonotary warbler, or something like that. They come in and they mate right there in that same knothole every year till they pass away. Was it the flight of the monarch butterflies they come through? What was it? Was it the lakes, the waters, the river? You know what they always say every time? They say it is that and it is the people of South Carolina. Those same people that you are talking about. What's different about them? Why is it that they seem to be latching on to us?
Well, it goes back to the beginning. Where we came from makes a difference. What happened to you makes a difference. The place where you live makes If you live in a desert, you think one way. You live in a forest, you might think another. Might eat different food. Well, our people, over the years, started coming in 1670, and they came from nine different European countries for various reasons. They came to other colonies as well, but they came here. Also, the British then brought some people who didn't want to come from Western Africa. There were 19 separate cultures there that today comprise four West African countries. Also, there were people that had already been here for about 10,000 or 12,000 years that we know of. Those are the Native Americans.
All our rivers are named after them, the Wateree, the Edisto, the Congaree, all of them. And those people came in at different times, different conditions, and they had to struggle every time. They had to struggle. And we had hurricanes, we had wars, we had floods. We had a lot of floods. Got hurricanes, a lot of fighting going on. In the Revolutionary War, the historians say it was won in South Carolina. Why was that? It's because we would not quit fighting. You remember Muhammad Ali? You all remember him. Great champion. I think everybody in the world cried when he went up to light that Olympic torch at the end of his career. Well, a little boy asked him one time, said, "Champ, didn't you get knocked down by George Foreman?" He says, "Son, I ain't ever down.
I'm either up or getting up." Well, that is the same attitude that these people had. Lord Cornwallis himself said, "The Southern strategy is over. We can't beat these people in South Carolina. They will not quit fighting." The most people were lost in one battle in Camden. I think it's in 1780. Things looked bad, but then the tide turned. We kept fighting. We kept fighting. And then came Kings Mountain, then came Cowpens, and that was when it was over. The Southern strategy was dead. He went on up north. They finally gave it up in Virginia, and that was the end of the Revolutionary War. There was a little fighting that kept going on because word didn't get out very quick. Didn't have cell phones back then. But that's the kind of people that came to this place and stayed in this place.
And with this kind of investment going on, there's no reason to leave. Used to be you had to go somewhere else to get a good job. Those days are gone. It is happening in this state right now, and this is another example of it. This is a splendid company. They're doing great work, and we appreciate it very much. And we promise you won't let us down, we won't let you down either, because these people here, business is our business in South Carolina. And I want everybody to remember, if you remember nothing else when you look at this business, look at the others that are going up all over, remember to remind your children that there's not a better place in the entire world to live, work, and raise a family than right here in South Carolina. So God bless everybody. Thank you.
Thank you, Governor. Thought that was great, especially following Mark talking about the narrative of decline that has been basically consensus for my entire life, and getting that history lesson right there and talking about America, how we've won wars, we've built great things, and America's best days are ahead of us. So thank you, Governor. Thank you for your leadership and for the work of the South Carolina Department of Commerce that helped bring this project to Gaffney. Our next speaker is serving South Carolina in the United States Senate. Appointed by Governor McMaster in July, Darline Graham was sworn in on July 14th as the first woman to represent South Carolina in the United States Senate. Before coming to Washington, she served since 2019 as a commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind.
She holds degrees from the College of Charleston and South Carolina State University. Please join me in welcoming Senator Darline Graham.
Thank you all for having me here today, at First Solar in Cherokee County. I want to start by thanking everyone who made this possible. I also want to start by saying why. Why do I have to follow Governor McMaster? You have the coolest stories. I don't have any cool stories. You're always so funny, but Governor McMaster, you will always be known as the governor who drove economic growth and jobs in South Carolina. You and your team have made South Carolina a destination for companies. I cannot thank you enough for what you've done for the people of this state. Tremendous. Second, I want to thank First Solar CEO, Mark Widmar, for choosing South Carolina. You had choices. You could have gone anywhere. You chose us, and we are so appreciative. I want to thank the city of Gaffney in Cherokee County.
Projects like this don't happen by accident. They happen because local leaders roll up their sleeves and do the work. I want to thank Secretary Lutnick and the Trump administration. Thank you for being here today, and thank you for getting the federal government out of the way by cutting unnecessary regulations and partnering with the state and local governments to create jobs and prosperity right here in the U.S. Now, let's talk about what this means. First Solar is a $330 million investment. It will create more than 600 new jobs. That makes it the largest job creator in Cherokee County. Those aren't just any jobs. These are quality manufacturing jobs averaging $74,000 a year. This investment solidifies a term which I know means a lot to everyone here, Made in the U.S.A. Not China, the U.S.A.
Think about what today's announcement means for a family here in Cherokee County. That's a paycheck that they can raise a family on. For most of my career, I've been in workforce development, helping South Carolinians find jobs. I've seen firsthand what a good job does for a person. It gives them more than a paycheck. It gives them dignity. It gives them independence. It gives them hope. That's what First Solar is bringing to Cherokee County more than 600 times over. First Solar is an American company. They're creating jobs in America for American workers. For too long, we were told manufacturing was gone, that those jobs went overseas and weren't coming back, that America didn't make things anymore. South Carolina never believed that. Go down I-85 and you'll find some of the best cars on the road being made at BMW.
Take I-26 to Charleston and you'll see that we make big, beautiful airplanes, the Boeing 787. And now right here in Cherokee County, we're going to make solar panels, American energy for the American people. How do we keep this going? It takes three things. It takes economic investment from companies like First Solar who believe in America. It takes government cooperation and leadership from the White House to the State House to the county council, and it takes hard work from South Carolinians. Let me tell you, nobody outworks South Carolinians. That's the formula, and it's working, and we're going to keep it going. To our new friends at First Solar, welcome to South Carolina. I look forward to many, many years of a wonderful new relationship. Thank you, and God bless South Carolina.
Thank you, Senator Graham. Our next speaker traveled here to be with us today, and we are grateful. Howard Lutnick was confirmed as the 41st Secretary of Commerce in February 2025. Before joining the cabinet, he spent more than four decades at Cantor Fitzgerald, where he served as chairman and chief executive officer. Today, he leads the administration's trade agenda and the Department of Commerce that he runs sits at the center of how America competes and builds. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick.
Well, it's so nice to be here today with you. It's great for me to be back in South Carolina. I was here about a month ago with opening a new and giant aluminum smelting facility. We cover a lot of bases in the Trump administration. Thank you, Mark Widmar, for hosting us today. I really appreciate it. He came to visit me in my office, and we had a really good conversation. Governor McMaster, really nice to see him, and I love listening to you. That was great fun. Senator Darline Graham, it's great to see you. I knew your brother really well. He's such a fantastic guy, and it's great to see you carrying the torch forward and I'm honored to be here with you and helping you deliver for what we need in Washington.
I'm going to talk a bit about it today, but you're going to finally understand how all these things come together that we talk about. Mayor Dawkins, nice to meet you. Love the haircut, you and me, baby, we're there. Got the beard, you got the. That's the right kind of look. This is where we're going places. State Senator Harvey Peeler, nice to know you, and great to see you. I'm proud to celebrate today what President Trump and the Trump administration is delivering across our great country and right here in South Carolina. It's exceptional American technology produced by great American workers. That's what we're driving for. That's what we're here for today. A $330 million investment will expand high-tech solar manufacturing right here in Gaffney, a 1.2 million sq ft facility.
They turn thin film semiconductor technology into ready-to-install solar modules, 700 jobs, 3.4 GW, as they said, in annual solar production. Opportunity for families, as you talked about before, a future for the next generation of South Carolina being built right here, building careers and building community right here. This is President Trump's America First trade agenda at work. The press talks about it like, "Oh, that's just a generality." First Solar is able to build in America because these jobs and products would not be possible without the President and Departments of Commerce's strong tariffs on polysilicon, which have protected this important industry from non-market countries which seek to destroy American technological leadership, and with it, great American workers and their jobs. I have with me my department, the people who lead this for me.
Under Secretary Jeff Kessler is here, Under Secretary William Kimmitt, and my special advisor, David Shapiro. These guys drive this. What does that mean? It means the foreign countries subsidize, the government subsidizes their industry. China dominates the solar panel business around the world because we think there's a company that you're competing with, but you're not. You're competing with the Communist Party of China. Think about trying to compete with the Chinese Communist Party. Imagine competing, right, with the federal government of the United States. "Charge whatever you want. Let's just put everybody else out of business. We don't care. We've got trillions." That is what this company, First Solar, was faced with. Dumping. What does dumping mean? It means selling literally below cost.
Imagine you build a business, you invent great technology, you work your tail off, you build a great factory, you're producing a great product, and a competitor comes in and sells a competing product below the cost of manufacturing. You wake up in the morning, you say, "It can't be. It costs $100 to make the thing. You can't sell it for $75. You just can't do it. That's just not possible." No, no. That's not possible if you're an American company, but if you're a Chinese company, it's more than not possible. It's the likely outcome. When we talk about a non-market economy, we talk about someone who doesn't think of business and capitalism the way we do. The Trump administration is trying to finally take care of American technology and American workers so that we can produce our products at home for us.
Because remember, the American consumer is the greatest in the world because American entrepreneurship, American innovation, American drive, American ambition, the American dream raging inside of each and every one of us, that is what makes our economy $32 trillion economy, the greatest economy in the world, playing by our rules, the real rules, the right rules. Everyone else is trying to just pick us off, cheat us, steal our money, and take our businesses away from us. For far too long, as the senator just said, politicians in Washington thought that's the way it's going to be. President Trump, he watched it. If you go online, you can see him complain about it in the mid-1980s, talking about how we used to make 80% of our own cars right here in America.
Now we make 45% of our own cars, and President Trump's going to change that. This year, by the way, 2026, we're crossing 55% of domestic cars. You can change it if you give a hoot because what happens is the other markets, they subsidize, and they don't do it fairly. If you don't give the people in America that chance to compete, of course, they're going to lose to a sovereign government who's just paying away and losing money trying to get their people jobs and trying to take those jobs away from us. The solar industry is like the central point of this. The Chinese have put everybody out of business because they sell below cost. You got a company, First Solar. Think of what he has to say. He has to say the entire supply chain is non-Chinese.
Why would he have to say that? Because they won't give him. If he has one part that he needs from China, you know what they're going to do? They're not going to give it to him, right? They're not going to give it. We read about that last year, right? There's these things called rare earth magnets. When I got this job, I never heard of a rare earth magnet. I'm thinking, "Boy, this must be something special," right? Yeah, they were invented in 1965. They keep the fan from banging into other stuff. In a car, you know how much that costs? It's about $25. You sell it by the pound. They sell it by the pound. Anything you sell by the pound is just not that sexy, okay?
The Chinese said, "I'm not going to send it to you." It's like not sending you the key to your car. You can't produce it without that element. You see? The reason that that came out is because President Trump called them out. He went on trade, he went on tariffs, and he got them to announce their strategy. "I'm going to choke you, America." President Trump said, "The hell you will." That's what caused all the stuff a year ago. You remember that. This was not what the media, the fake news, which he calls it, would say what was going on.
What was going on was China had a variety of strategies, and President Trump called them out, brought them out, brought them into the bright daylight, and showed all of American business that when you are just buying cheap stuff from someone who's going to choke you later, that's not smart business. You need to do it here. Think of where we are now. We set, the Trump administration, the first administration to ever understand business because you got the greatest businessman who's ever sat in the Oval Office in that office. If you don't understand that. Look, I was a big business, right? My company had over 12,000 employees. Some of you know my story, that my firm was located in the top of the World Trade Center. Right? We had the top five floors of that trade center.
I was taking my son to his first day of kindergarten when the plane hit that building 25 years ago. I lost all my friends, everyone I worked with, and I had to rebuild that company from scratch. Now, as I said, when I left, it had about 12,000 employees, did over $10 billion in revenue. Big, successful company. If you had asked me two years ago, would I ever work for anybody? This was my company. What am I going to work for someone else for, right? The only person I would go work for is President Donald Trump. He is the most intuitive person I have ever met. He just feels it right, and when he feels it, he is correct. He has a good conversation with you, and he talks about it, and you can talk back to him, and it is amazing.
Think of what he has done to help this plant open in Gaffney, South Carolina. Right? It is your plant. We set a minimum price, a fair price for the product first so that they cannot dump it in. It basically takes their government off the game, right? If this should be $100, you cannot sell it in America for less than $100 because I need to take the government out of the pocket of First Solar's competitors. Then we set a tariff of 15% that said, "Come on, make it here." It was a two-prong. Take the government out because governments. Let us say we set a 15% tariff. You think the central Chinese establishment gives a hoot about 15%? They just give them a little more money and sell right through it. Set a price floor, then have a tariff.
The result is First Solar can play their hand. Do they have the right technology? Can they service their clients? Can they deliver the product they say they are going to deliver? You know what that sounds like? It sounds like America, doesn't it? That sounds like America. Is it a great company? Can it succeed? Does it have the right workers? Does it have the right everything to win in America? First Solar is winning in America because they have invented their own technology, they are building their own technology, and they are building it in South Carolina, and that is why I have come to visit. Right? My department has sponsored more than $3 trillion worth of deals, right? Down the road where Boeing is building those planes, our department sold $210 billion of them. They should like me in South Carolina.
I set the aluminum tariff, so Century has got the line running, right? They are building a new line, so they like me there. See, I only go to places where people like me because I am the city slicker, you understand? That is why I was telling that story because I am good. I get the hair like it. I am okay with that. It is no problem. The key is it takes business thinking to do it right, and the press is never going to understand it because they say tariffs are bad.
Another way to say it is let China have their way with us, and someday we will have to sweat them, and he is not going to do it. When we walked in here, we did not build semiconductors. You realize everything we do has a semiconductor. Every button. I am 65, right?
When I used to get in a car, there was a lever. You pulled the lever, and you slid the seat up and down. Now you press a button. You press a button, that means it has a semiconductor in it. Maybe an old one. It is not fancy, slick one that goes in an Apple iPhone, but everything has a semiconductor. You know how many we made? Virtually none. So our whole way of life is imported from Taiwan or South Korea. All of it.
What percent? A little bit made in Singapore. That is it. How can that be smart? What did the President say? He said, "Howard, bring it home." So we announced semiconductor tariffs. We do a deal with Taiwan. You realize we have announced two deals. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is building $265 billion worth of plants in America, and Micron is building $250 billion.
I just gave you two companies for $500 billion of semiconductors. Last week, I was up in New York opening a 300 mm factory. They are the ones that do it for cars. They are not fancy, sexy chips. They are the ones we all use in our lives. A $20 billion factory financed by our trade deal with Japan. A trade deal with Japan. You know who can do that?
Donald Trump's administration with a Secretary of Commerce who has been his friend for a long time, who is a businessman, and the two of us can get stuff done. So I am proud to be here because I want to see the things I talk about. I want to see them in the ground. I like groundbreakings, but you are completely correct, Senator. I like ribbon cuttings the best because that is the baby being born, right? That is what I like the best.
So I am proud to be here, and I am thrilled with South Carolina generally. I think it is a spectacular place to do business. What I tell everybody is I am creating the right environment for America to do business, but it is up to the states, it is up to the Governor. It is up to their Senator, it is up to their Congressman, it is up to their local legislature to make business feel that this is the place they should do business. They are going to be appreciated. They are going to be loved. There is going to be the right frame of mind to win, and that they have great people who can fill those factories and fill those jobs and win. South Carolina is a winner, and I am thrilled to be here with you today. Thanks, everybody.
Thank you, Secretary. That was fantastic. Speaking of narratives that have stuck with me my whole life, it has always been assumed that these non-market economies that commit these trade practices where they have zero labor standards, zero environmental standards, they subsidize their industries, that that just is how things are, and there is nothing we can do. The cheap stuff that we get from them that the Secretary mentioned, that is pretty nice. That gives no concern to the fact that many of these countries genuinely hate us and Chinese Communist Party, and a lot of these stories about jobs and the dignity that it provides, no amount of cheap stuff is comparable to that. We get to make things here efficiently and make them affordable. This is a great story. So thank you, Secretary Lutnick, and thank you to all the speakers.
Right here on stage is the First Solar module, and we would like the people who made today possible to sign it, and to take a photo to mark the day. We are going to sign this solar module, which is going to be a lot of fun.