Swift Solar bought Meyer Burger’s 1,288 solar patents out of bankruptcy, going from 67 to 1,355 publications. Acquiring IP out of bankruptcy can win a market.
Swift Solar just acquired five decades of solar R&D in a single transaction.
The IP came from Meyer Burger, a Swiss-German firm that filed 1,288 patent publications covering heterojunction solar cells, thin-film deposition, and advanced wafer processing across 20 countries. Meyer Burger filed for Chapter 11 in June 2025 after its Arizona factory couldn’t reach profitability. The company didn’t survive, but the IP did.
On March 12, Swift Solar acquired that portfolio along with Meyer Burger’s engineering team and manufacturing assets. Before the deal, the California startup held 67 patent publications focused entirely on perovskite solar cells. After it, the combined portfolio covers the full perovskite-silicon tandem stack and 50 years of R&D that Swift Solar did not have to repeat.
Like timing the stock market, the returns go to whoever holds the right IP when the market finally engages.
The pattern repeats across industries. Companies build IP ahead of the market, fail when the timing is off, and leave patent portfolios sitting in bankruptcy courts. If perovskite-silicon tandems reach commercialization, Swift Solar is now positioned to capitalize.
Is there a distressed portfolio that would transform your position, or IP inside your own business worth protecting before the market turns? Talk to ipCapital Group about acquiring, valuing, and positioning patent portfolios.
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Written by
John Cronin