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June 18, 2008 
Nearly every time Miasolé CEO Joseph Laia runs into an analyst, the first question is the same: When will First Solar get some competition?
That's because Wall Street darling First Solar (NSDQ: FSLR), by far the largest thin-film solar manufacturer, boasts better margins than the rest of the solar industry (see First Solar Rides High, Wall Street's Love Affair with First Solar Continues and Thin Film to Survive Solar Shakeout).
As a result, First Solar shares are soaring above $270 per share. And analysts say the company's picture could get even rosier as market trends are expected to press prices down, further favoring lower-cost technology such as First Solar's thin films (see Thin Film to Survive Solar Shakeout).
Laia certainly hopes to give First Solar some competition.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Miasolé makes copper-indium-gallium-diselenide films, also known as CIGS, which have proven to be the most efficient of all the thin-film technologies at converting sunlight into electricity - at least in the labs.
So far, Miasolé has been able to produce panels with 9- to 10-percent efficiency, meaning the panels are able to convert 9 to 10 percent of the sunlight that hits them into electricity.
First Solar, which makes cadmium-telluride films, reached an average cell efficiency of 10.6 percent at the end of the fourth quarter, according to investment bank Piper Jaffray.
Moreover, First Solar makes thin film at a lower cost than the reigning solar-power technology, crystalline-silicon panels.
Last month, Greentech Media sat down with the usually tight-lipped CEO, who shared his take on why competition hasn't caught up with First Solar, his thoughts on the increasing complaints about high solar valuations and Miasolé's plans to pursue building-integrated solar despite declining a $20 million government grant for the technology.
Q: Why are thin-film companies taking so long to catch up with First Solar?
A: There are two parts to that answer. First, anybody can go home and, in an Easy-Bake Oven, make 5- or 6-percent CIGS cells. But making it 10, 11, 12 percent, that's hard. It's hard to have high efficiency and your costs under control. I don't think anybody has figured it out because you can't buy a good CIGS module at a low price from anybody in the world. ... Why hasn't anybody [else aside from First Solar] figured out cadmium-telluride yet? The answer is it's hard. If it were easy than there would be gobs of guys out there.
Q: What's the other reason?
A: [First Solar] has been at it for more than 15 years. In my experience, if you want a brand-new machine to make a brand-new film -- just one film, not the sandwich (of films that are put together to make a cell) -- it typically takes four to five years to figure it out and it takes about $25 million a year. We have developed the hardware, the process, the packaging, the whole thing. For Miasolé it's been fourish years. So its not like it's taking a long time.