NEW YORK (AP) -- SunPower Corp. said Thursday it plans to form a joint venture with AU Optronics Corp. that will own and operate a solar cell manufacturing plant in Malaysia.
SunPower CEO Tom Werner said the deal will help his company cut expenses while capitalizing on manufacturing expertise from AU Optronics.
The Taiwanese company specializes in building liquid-crystal displays.
Werner said the deal will help SunPower produce more solar cells "faster, at lower cost, with substantially less cash contribution from SunPower."
The solar cell plant is already under construction.
