‘Don’t worry California, we don’t need all those nasty computer companies anyway - we’re gonna lead the nation in greeen jobs.’
What happened was, Solyndra created a new product, a cylindrical solar panel, instead of a flat one. This had the advantage of always having a direct facing to the sun. A CFO of another solar company once told me that the costs of silicon went down as PC demand went down, freeing up silicon for other use. This made the manufacturing costs of Solyndra cells more expensive than the competition, so the company canceled its IPO, canceled its expansion, and began laying off workers.
-PJ