By Alexander Ahn

U.S. solar cell company Stion has agreed to invest $320 million in South Korea’s southeastern city of Daegu to manufacture high-efficiency thin-film solar cell modules, a city official said Friday.

He said Stion’s President and CEO Chet Farris reached the investment agreement with Daegu Mayor Kim Bum-il during the latter’s visit to the U.S. firm’s factory in Mississippi on Thursday.

“This investment will make Daegu one of the world’s major cities producing solar cell modules,” the official quoted Mayor Kim as saying.

Under the agreement, Stion will set up its Korean subsidiary and construct a thin-film photovoltaic (PV) module factory in the Seongseo Industrial Complex in Daegu by 2014.

The factory is designed to serve Stion’s Asian and European markets.

Farris visited Daegu to meet Kim and strike a preliminary investment deal last month.

The municipality said the deal is the largest-ever foreign investment in the city.

Stion was founded in 2006. Its headquarters is based in the Silicon Valley. The company makes nanostructure based CIGS thin-film PV panels.

The official said Stion is also considering making additional investment to produce solar cell modules in another industrial park in Daegu.