GAFFNEY, S.C. — First Solar has opened the first phase of its $330 million solar module plant in Gaffney, and about 500 people are already working at the Cherokee County site, according to HERE Spartanburg. The Arizona-based manufacturer marked the opening Oct. 28 with a ribbon cutting attended by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Gov. Henry McMaster and state Sen. Harvey Peeler, the outlet reported.
The first phase gives the plant 1.7 gigawatts of annual module capacity, trade publication PV Tech reported. A second phase, expected to be finished by mid-2027, would double that to 3.4 gigawatts a year and lift employment to nearly 700. Factory workers will average about $74,000 a year, HERE Spartanburg reported, a figure CEO Mark Widmar described as roughly twice Cherokee County’s per-capita income.
The Gaffney plant handles the final manufacturing steps for First Solar’s Series 6 Plus thin-film modules, completing products whose early stages are made at the company’s overseas factories, according to both outlets. Widmar said every module leaving the facility is “made without dependence on Chinese crystalline silicon supply chains,” PV Tech reported. The site is the company’s sixth U.S. plant, joining operations in Ohio, Alabama and Louisiana, and First Solar already runs a distribution center in Duncan in neighboring Spartanburg County, HERE Spartanburg said. The company announced the Gaffney project in late 2025 and expects to have put more than $5 billion into U.S. manufacturing and research infrastructure by the end of 2026, according to PV Tech.
The opening adds to a run of large industrial commitments in Cherokee County. In June, state commerce officials announced that USA Rare Earth will invest $1.2 billion in a permanent magnet and rare earth metals plant at Bailey Park in Blacksburg, with about 490 jobs and a targeted April 2028 start, the Post and Courier reported. In August, UFP Packaging announced a $5.31 million operation in the county expected to create 136 jobs, according to the S.C. Department of Commerce.
For commercial real estate professionals, the Gaffney plant is one of the largest single payrolls to come online in the Upstate this year, and its staffing is already largely in place rather than years away. Several hundred additional jobs at above-average wages are scheduled to arrive within about eight months, which should support demand for rental housing, retail and service space in Gaffney and nearby communities along the Interstate 85 corridor between Spartanburg and Charlotte. Combined with First Solar’s existing Duncan distribution operation and the USA Rare Earth project now taking shape in Blacksburg, the plant also strengthens the case for supplier, logistics and flex industrial space in Cherokee and northern Spartanburg counties.
The second phase is the next milestone to watch: its mid-2027 completion would bring the plant to full capacity and full employment, giving investors and developers a clearer read on how much spin-off demand the project generates.
Sources: HERE Spartanburg, PV Tech, Post and Courier, S.C. Department of Commerce
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