SunPower Corp., a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of high-efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems, announced that the company has received a $2.5 million investment from the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) and a $900,000 grant from the City of Austin to expand operations with a major new corporate operations center in Austin, Tex. SunPower will create 450 jobs in the region over the next four years, beginning with 115 jobs created in 2011.

"We appreciate Gov. Perry, Mayor Leffingwell and state and city officials for providing SunPower the economic incentives that will support our expansion to Austin and create hundreds of local jobs," said SunPower CEO Tom Werner. "Austin offers highly capable human resources and Texas is blessed with an excellent solar supply.  If policies creating a stable market across Texas are enacted, this could be the start of considerable increases in investment and job creation across the state by SunPower and the rapidly growing global solar market."

State-level and Austin area officials successfully competed with other jurisdictions that SunPower considered for its North America expansion. In addition to the solar market potential in Texas and development incentives offered by the state and city, SunPower cited Austin's talented workforce, semiconductor industry expertise and strong academic institutions as factors that influenced the selection.

A global company, SunPower employs approximately 5,500 people with more than 900 in the U.S. With this investment, Texas will become one of SunPower's top three office locations in the U.S. The Austin facility will house operations including marketing, legal and finance functions.