SunPower Inc.

The original SunPower Corporation received federal government grants from the Department of Energy; published annual environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reports aligned with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; and used “climate change” framing throughout its public documents and policy advocacy. ^{3  4  5}

The company has donated to left-of-center environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and the National Parks Conservation Association, as part of co-branded sales programs, and several of its senior policy staff held simultaneous or subsequent leadership roles at Vote Solar, a solar energy advocacy group with ties to the Natural Resources Defense Council and other left-leaning organizations. ^{6  7  8  9  10}

Background

SunPower Corporation was founded in 1985 in San Jose, California, by Richard M. Swanson, a Stanford University electrical engineering professor. Cypress Semiconductor founder T.J. Rodgers provided an emergency personal investment in 2001 and subsequently convinced the Cypress board to take a 40 percent stake in the company. Under Cypress’s ownership, SunPower completed an initial public offering in 2005 and reported its first profitable year in 2006 with $236.5 million in revenues. ^{11  12  13}

In 2011, French energy company TotalEnergies acquired a controlling interest in SunPower for approximately $1.37 billion. TotalEnergies progressively reduced its stake over the following decade, coinciding with Rodgers’s departure from the board. In 2020, SunPower spun off its solar panel manufacturing division as Maxeon Solar Technologies (Nasdaq: MAXN), retaining its North American residential business and dealer network. In 2022, SunPower sold its commercial and industrial business line to TotalEnergies, narrowing its focus to the residential market. ^{14  15  16}

Tom Werner worked as CEO from 2003 through 2020. Despite years of restructuring, SunPower Corporation reported a GAAP net loss of $247 million on 2023 revenues of approximately $1.69 billion, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2024. ^{17  18  19}

Bankruptcy, Asset Sale, and Relaunch

SunPower Corporation and nine affiliates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on August 5, 2024, citing a lack of viable standalone liquidity. Complete Solar Holdings, Inc. acquired the company’s core assets, including the Blue Raven Solar division, the New Homes division, the Non-Installing Dealer network, and the SunPower brand and intellectual property, for $45 million in cash plus assumed liabilities, closing September 30, 2024. SunPower Corporation was delisted from the Nasdaq on August 16, 2024. ^{19  20  21  22}

Complete Solar was a 65-person startup at the time of the acquisition. After former SunPower CEO Tom Werner contacted Rodgers about the bankruptcy, Rodgers developed the acquisition plan and oversaw the integration of 2,901 former SunPower Corporation employees. The successor entity formally rebranded as SunPower Inc. in April 2025, adopting the Nasdaq ticker “SPWR,” with the legal name change completed in October 2025. Within two quarters, the company reduced headcount from 2,901 to 900 employees, achieved over $300 million in annualized revenue, and had turned profitable. In September 2025, SunPower acquired Sunder Energy for $55 million, expanding to 45 states and becoming the fifth-largest U.S. residential solar installer. ^{13  1  2  23  24}

Financials

In 2023, the original SunPower Corporation reported revenues of approximately $1.69 billion but posted a net loss of $247 million, as operating expenses doubled and demand softened following a major policy change in California, the country’s largest rooftop solar market. Rising interest rates further reduced customer financing options. The company also disclosed accounting errors and saw its auditor, Ernst and Young, depart before the August 2024 bankruptcy filing. ^{18  25  21}

The original SunPower Corporation received several federal government grants over its history. In 2007, the Department of Energy (DOE) awarded SunPower approximately $24.7 million under the Solar American Initiative for solar technology research and development. In 2022, the DOE awarded the company an additional $17.2 million cooperative agreement through its Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The Biden administration also awarded SunPower a $6.65 million grant to build zero-energy-ready homes with rooftop solar and community battery storage. That grant was subsequently canceled by the second Trump administration during its early 2025 review of Biden-era weather-dependent energy spending. ^{3  26  27}

Following the bankruptcy and asset sale, the successor SunPower Inc. reported full-year 2025 revenues of $300 million and an operating loss of $26.9 million after audit adjustments. The company achieved four consecutive profitable quarters by year-end 2025, with record quarterly revenue of $88.5 million in Q4 2025. SunPower Inc. had stated a 2026 revenue target of over $400 million. ^{28  29  30}

SunPower Corporation PAC

The original SunPower Corporation maintained a federal political action committee (PAC), the SunPower Corporation Political Action Committee. In the 2023-2024 election cycle, the PAC raised $10,355, spent $8,696, and contributed $5,000 to federal candidates, split approximately evenly between Democratic and Republican recipients. The PAC’s last report was filed July 31, 2024, shortly before the parent company filed for bankruptcy protection. Federal lobbying disclosures for the original SunPower Corporation appear in Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act records. ^{31  32  33}

People

As of April 2026, Thurman “T.J.” Rodgers was both CEO and executive chairman of SunPower Inc. Rodgers founded Cypress Semiconductor in 1982 and worked as its CEO for 34 years. He first invested personally in SunPower in 2001 and served as chairman of the original SunPower Corporation from 2002 to 2011, departing when TotalEnergies acquired the company. As of 2026, Rodgers directly owned approximately 33.81 percent of SunPower’s outstanding shares and had sat on the board of Enphase Energy since January 2017. Rodgers is publicly known as a critic of ESG-style corporate governance, having opposed proxy advisory firms and shareholder activism during his tenure at Cypress Semiconductor, a position that stands in contrast to the extensive ESG commitments made by the original SunPower Corporation under prior leadership. ^{12  13  34  35  36}

Other senior officers as of 2026 include Wendell Laidley as chief financial officer, Nick Wenker as chief legal officer and general counsel, and Chris Lundell as chief compliance officer. The board of directors included Ronald Pasek, Adam Gishen, Jamie Haenggi, John McCranie, Antonio Alvarez, Christopher Whatley, Tidjane Thiam, Lothar Maier, and William Anderson, in addition to Rodgers. ^{37  38}

Environmental and Policy Advocacy

The original SunPower Corporation was an active participant in federal and state energy policy advocacy. The company maintained a dedicated federal policy team and, as of 2023, described its work as actively shaping the federal government’s implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act and working with the Department of Energy to address permitting delays for rooftop solar and battery storage. SunPower’s senior director of policy and strategy, Suzanne Leta, simultaneously sat on the Vote Solar Leadership Council, the board of Advanced Energy United, and the advisory council of Clean Energy for America while employed at SunPower. ^{39  40  9}

SunPower Corporation published annual environmental, social, and governance reports, explicitly aligning its corporate strategy with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including UN SDG 13, “Climate Action.” The company used “climate change” language throughout its public documents, framing its products as tools in “the fight against climate change.” Its 2021 ESG report committed the company to net-zero emissions across its logistics operations by 2030, conversion of its U.S. vehicle fleet to electric or hybrid vehicles by 2030, and a “25×25 Initiative” pledging to increase workforce “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) in the solar industry by 2025. ^{4  5}

Connections to Advocacy Organizations

The original SunPower Corporation donated to left-wing environmental organizations as part of co-branded sales programs. In 2019, SunPower launched a partnership with the Sierra Club under which SunPower donated $1,000 to the Sierra Club for each system sold through the program, explicitly framing the effort as advancing “climate solutions” and moving the country toward 100 percent weather-dependent energy. In 2018, SunPower entered a similar arrangement with the National Parks Conservation Association, making an initial minimum donation of $10,000 and committing $500 per installation sold through the group’s membership. ^{6  41}

Several senior SunPower Corporation staff held simultaneous or subsequent leadership roles at Vote Solar, a solar energy advocacy organization with stated ties to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the Energy Foundation. Howard Wenger, a SunPower executive for ten years and president of its Business Units division, sat on the Vote Solar board as of 2026. Ed Smeloff worked as SunPower’s director of utility and power plant sales from 2007 to 2016 before becoming managing director of Vote Solar’s regulatory team. Suzanne Leta, while working as SunPower’s head of policy and strategy, simultaneously held a position on the Vote Solar Leadership Council. Sachu Constantine worked at SunPower before joining Vote Solar in 2017, where he later became executive director. ^{8  42  10  9  43  44}

Related Entities

The current SunPower Inc. (Nasdaq: SPWR) is legally and operationally distinct from the original SunPower Corporation, which was founded in 1985, went public in 2005, and was delisted and liquidated in 2024. The two entities share a brand name and certain intellectual property but not a tax identification number or corporate continuity. SunPower Inc. has explicitly stated: “SunPower Corporation is the company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2024. SunPower Inc. is the result of a separate company.” ^{21  22  45  19}

Maxeon Solar Technologies (Nasdaq: MAXN) was spun off from the original SunPower Corporation in August 2020 and operates independently as a manufacturer of premium solar panels primarily for international markets. Maxeon retained the right to market SunPower-branded panels outside the United States and Canada. ^{14  16}

Blue Raven Solar, a residential solar installation company acquired by the original SunPower Corporation for $165 million, was among the assets purchased by Complete Solar in the 2024 bankruptcy sale and operates as a division of the current SunPower Inc. ^{22  19}

The SunPower Foundation is a company-sponsored private grantmaking foundation established by the original SunPower Corporation, classified as a 501(c)(3) private foundation. The foundation has historically received discretionary contributions from the corporate entity and makes grants in the areas of solar accessibility, workforce development, and solar economic opportunities. ^{46  47}