SCHOTT AG is a German manufacturer of high-quality industrial glass products, its main markets are household appliances, pharmaceutical industries, solar energy, electronics, optics as well as automotive. According to the 2008 Annual Report, Schott AG employs 17,363 people in 42 countries.
Schott AG is well known by the photographic community for manufacturing the glass components of Zeiss and Schneider Kreuznach lenses. They also publish the Schott Glass Catalog, which is a standard reference for the properties of the many optical glasses produced by them and other companies.
In 2008 Schott announced plans to build a factory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA to build receivers for concentrated solar thermal power plants (CSP) and 64 MW of photovoltaic modules. They are already making 15 MW of photovoltaics annually in Billerica, Massachusetts. Schott plans to produce crystalline PV cells and modules with a total of 450 MW annually. In addition, the company will produce thin-film PV wafers with a capacity of 100 MW.[1] [2]