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Cloudy Future for Applied Material's SunFab - Barron's

very nicely written article.

@Duru: you are right, less efficient but MUCH cheaper in terms of cost per area. So, if you have enough space, you probably end up in more cost-efficient panels = cost/Wp (Watt peak). However, installation cost rise, therefore my understanding is wafer-based panels can still compete, especially in residential installtion.
Same irradiance provided, the amount of energy (money) that you can generate with a certain capacity (Wp) depends on how the cell technology absorbs the sunlight. Thin-film based panels usually doesnt have such a negative temperature coefficient and it can better absorb indirect irradiance.

@Eli: I think you underestimate AMAT, they have huge experience in building fabs, semi and display, which is not so much different from solar.
They also hired some of the finest scientists in the solar industry (former chief scientist of Nanosolar).