SANYO Marks Groundbreaking of New Factory in Salem, Oregon

Production to Start from October 2009
SALEM, Ore.--(Business Wire)--
SANYO North America Corporation, SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
(SANYO)'s regional headquarters for the North American market, today
announced it had broken ground on its recently announced new factory
in the Renewable Energy and Technology Park of Salem, part of the City
of Salem, Oregon. The new factory is slated to begin operations in
October 2009, and will produce solar ingots and wafers used in the
manufacture of solar photovoltaic cells.

At the event, Mr. Kazuhiko Suruta, Executive Vice President of
SANYO and Head of the Solar Business, said, "Today we take an
important step to accomplish our plan for an annual production
capacity of greater than 600MW by FY 2010 as we break ground for the
new factory. SANYO is deeply grateful for the cooperation of the
government of the state of Oregon and the people of Salem which has
made this groundbreaking ceremony possible."

SANYO is planning to meet the growing demand in its three key
markets including America, Europe and Japan for solar power by
investing in expanding production, as part of its previously announced
plan to have a global annual capacity of more than 600MW by FY 2010.
SANYO Solar of Oregon LLC will provide the fundamental materials,
ingots and wafers, necessary to manufacture SANYO's proprietary HIT(R)
solar cells and modules.

SANYO first started researching and developing amorphous solar
cells in 1975, and was the world's first to commercialize
amorphous-type solar cell production in 1980. In 1997, SANYO started
the mass production and sales of its world-leading conversion
efficiency HIT solar cells, currently manufacturing the ingots and
wafers in the US, the cells in Japan, with module assembly plants
located in Mexico, Hungary and Japan.

About SANYO

SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. was incorporated in 1950. The name SANYO
in Japanese means "three oceans": the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian
oceans, and symbolizes the Company's global perspective. SANYO aims at
becoming a leading provider of Environment- and Energy-related
products, providing product solutions for the Environment, Energy and
Lifestyle with consolidated sales of US$20,178 million for Fiscal Year
2007. SANYO's businesses cover a broad range of products and services
such as photovoltaic (solar) systems, rechargeable batteries, HVAC/R
equipment, digital imaging devices, home appliances, electronic
components and others. Based on its brand vision "Think GAIA", SANYO
is committed to providing cutting-edge solutions for a sustainable
world by weaving together its numerous proprietary technologies. For
further information, please visit http://www.sanyo.com.

SANYO North America Corporation
Akihiko Oiwa
Corporate Communications
+1-619-661-1134 (office)
http://us.sanyo.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008