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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004

OR

For the transition period from to                          to                        

Commission file number 1-13828

MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code

(636) 474-5000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

(Title of Class)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  x    No  ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K    ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 12b-2)    Yes  x    No  ¨

The aggregate market value of the voting stock held by nonaffiliates of the registrant, based upon the closing price of such stock on June 30, 2004, as reported by the New York Stock Exchange, was approximately $815,357,601.

The number of shares outstanding of the registrant’s Common Stock as of March 1, 2005, was 208,892,494 shares.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

1. Portions of the registrant’s 2004 Annual Report to Stockholders (Part II)

2. Portions of the registrant’s 2005 Proxy Statement (Part III)

PART I

Overview

We are a leading worldwide producer of wafers for the semiconductor industry. We are one of the top three wafer suppliers in the world. We are one of four wafer suppliers having more than a 10% share of the overall market. We operate manufacturing facilities in every major semiconductor manufacturing region throughout the world, including Europe, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States. Our customers include virtually all of the major semiconductor device manufacturers in the world, including the major memory, microprocessor and applications specific integrated circuit, or ASIC, manufacturers, as well as the world’s largest foundries. We provide wafers in sizes ranging from 100 millimeters (4 inch) to 300 millimeters (12 inch) and in three general categories: prime polished, epitaxial and test/monitor. A prime polished wafer is a highly refined, pure wafer with an ultra-flat and ultra-clean surface. An epitaxial wafer consists of a thin, silicon layer grown on the polished surface of the wafer. A test/monitor wafer is substantially the same as a prime polished wafer, but with some less rigorous specifications.

We were formed in 1984 as a Delaware corporation and completed our initial public stock offering in 1995. Our corporate structure includes, in addition to our wholly owned subsidiaries, an 80%-owned consolidated joint venture in South Korea (MEMC Korea Company or MKC). In February 2004, we acquired approximately 100% ownership of Taisil Electronic Materials Corporation (Taisil) in Taiwan. Prior to February 2004, Taisil was a 45%-owned unconsolidated joint venture. In addition, in August 2004, we acquired 100% ownership of MEMC Southwest Inc. in Sherman, Texas. Prior to August 2004, MEMC Southwest Inc. was an 80%-owned consolidated joint venture.

On November 13, 2001, an investor group led by Texas Pacific Group and including TPG Wafer Holdings LLC and funds managed by Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. and TCW/Crescent Mezzanine Management LLC (collectively, TPG) acquired beneficial ownership of approximately 72% of our outstanding common stock and approximately $910 million of our debt from E.ON AG. All of the debt acquired by TPG from E.ON has been restructured or repaid. As part of the restructuring, TPG received shares of our Series A Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock. On July 10, 2002, TPG converted all of the outstanding shares of Series A Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock and the related accumulated but unpaid dividends into 125,010,556 shares of MEMC common stock. TPG sold approximately 15 million, 34 million and 66 million shares of our common stock in public offerings in May 2003, February 2004 and February 2005, respectively. TPG currently beneficially owns approximately 34% of our outstanding common stock.

We are engaged in one reportable industry segment—the design, manufacture and sale of electronic grade wafers for the semiconductor industry. Financial information regarding this industry segment is contained in our 2004 Annual Report, which information is incorporated herein by reference.

Industry Background

Almost all semiconductors are manufactured from wafers, and thus the performance of the wafer industry is highly correlated to the unit shipments of the semiconductor device industry. The worldwide semiconductor device industry grew at a compound annual growth rate of 10% from 73 billion units in 1985 to 433 billion units in 2004, according to SIA & WSTS. In 2004, semiconductor device units increased 19% from 2003, according to SIA & WSTS.

The silicon wafer industry grew at a compound annual growth rate of 9% from 1,118 million square inches in 1985 to 6,262 million square inches in 2004, according to SIA/SEMI. In 2004, silicon wafer volumes grew 22%, according to SEMI.

The fabrication of semiconductor devices requires a large number of complex and repetitive processing steps to layer different materials and imprint various features on a single wafer. Wafers are becoming

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increasingly differentiated by specific physical and electrical characteristics such as flatness, silicon purity and uniform crystal structures. As markets for semiconductor devices continue to evolve and become more specialized, we believe device manufacturers recognize the enhanced role that wafers and other materials play in improving device performance and reducing their production costs.

Semiconductor device manufacturers continue to move towards devices with shrinking device geometrics (i.e., the distance between the electrical contacts on the device) and more stringent technical specifications. The wafers required to produce these next-generation devices are being developed in larger diameters. Thus, semiconductor device manufacturers continue to move to larger diameter wafers, with the 200 millimeter wafer being the primary wafer used today. Though semiconductor manufacturers are using 300 millimeter wafers for volume production, the 200 millimeter wafer is expected to be the primary wafer size through 2008 or 2009, according to Gartner Dataquest estimates (Source: Silicon Wafer Market Outlook: The Pendulum Swings to Supply Tightness, Takashi Ogawa, July 2004).

Over the past decade, we believe the wafer industry has consolidated, with only four suppliers now having more than a 10% share of the overall market. We believe this change in the competitive landscape is causing segmentation between larger and smaller producers with larger manufacturers gaining an increasing share of the overall wafer market. Semiconductor device manufacturers seek suppliers with whom they can better align wafer technology development with their own product development efforts. We believe these manufacturers will continue to select wafer suppliers that offer advanced technology capabilities, a broad product portfolio and superior service to satisfy their exacting device requirements.

Strategy

Our objective is to maintain and enhance our position as a leading worldwide producer of wafers for the semiconductor device industry. Our strategies to achieve this objective include:

Focus solely on providing wafers

Throughout our history, we have focused on developing innovative products and process technologies within the wafer industry. Because we are focused exclusively on wafers, we have the ability to respond rapidly to changing technology requirements and to develop close relationships with our customers. Our customers, who represent the leading semiconductor device manufacturers in the world, are the primary source in determining where we channel our financial and human resources and focus our technological efforts. A key component of our customers’ requirements is the continual development of new products and refinement of existing products to meet their needs. We offer a broad range of high-quality wafers and give our customers choices from thousands of unique combinations of wafer specifications.

Maintain and enhance our technology leadership position

We have been a pioneer in the design and development of wafer technologies over the past four decades. The model for our research and development group combines engineering innovation with specific commercialization strategies. We will continue to use and develop our portfolio of technologies to provide a combination of product features that fulfills the exacting specifications of our customers’ manufacturing requirements for increasingly complex wafers. Two of our more recent innovations are Magic Denuded Zone^®, or MDZ^®, wafer technology and crystalline defect-free crystal, both of which we have incorporated in our OPTIA^™ product. These two innovations are designed to help our customers improve the yield and capability of their semiconductor fabrication processes. We have also entered into a license agreement for certain layer-transfer wafer technology and we are in the process of establishing production capability for 200mm and 300mm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers.

Focus on continuous cost reduction and return on invested capital

Continuous cost reduction and a disciplined capital expenditure program are key components of our long-term financial strategy. During the past few years, we have taken significant steps to reduce our cost structure

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and improve the efficiency of our global manufacturing processes. These steps have included headcount reductions, process improvements, streamlining of material flows and working with our suppliers to reduce the total cost of ownership of our materials and supplies. With our reduced cost structure, we believe we have substantially reduced the minimum annual sales level we need to achieve positive operating income.

Products

We offer wafers with a wide variety of features satisfying numerous product specifications to meet our customers’ exacting requirements. Our wafers vary in diameter, surface features, composition, purity levels, crystal properties and electrical properties. We provide our customers with a reliable supply of high-quality wafers with consistent characteristics. These wafers range from 100 millimeter to 300 millimeter in diameter. Our wafers are used as a starting material for the manufacture of various types of semiconductor devices, including microprocessor, memory, logic and power devices. In turn, these semiconductor devices are used in computers, cellular phones and other mobile electronic devices, automobiles and other consumer and industrial products.

We are continually advancing our products’ capabilities. In addition to other new product offerings, we offer wafers with the Magic Denuded Zone^®, or MDZ^®, product feature. As compared to traditional techniques, this patented product feature can increase our customers’ yields in both prime polished and epitaxial wafers by drawing impurities away from the surface of the wafer in a manner that is efficient and reliable, with results that are reproducible.

Our products include three general categories of wafers:

Prime Polished Wafers

Our prime polished wafer is a highly refined, pure wafer with an ultraflat and ultraclean surface. Our prime polished wafers are manufactured with a sophisticated chemical-mechanical polishing process that removes defects and leaves an extremely smooth surface. As devices become more complex, wafer flatness and cleanliness requirements, along with crystal perfection, become increasingly important because these properties have a significant impact on our customers’ processes and yields.

Our OPTIA^™ wafer is a 100% defect-free crystalline structure based on our patented technologies and processes, including MDZ^®. We believe the OPTIA^™ wafer is the most technically advanced polished wafer available today. We are shipping significant volumes of OPTIA^™ wafers to some customers for use in commercial production, and we are in the process of qualifying OPTIA^™ wafers with other customers.

Our annealed wafer is a prime polished wafer with near surface crystalline defects dissolved during a high-temperature thermal treatment. We expect that our sales of annealed wafers will continue to increase in the future.

Epitaxial Wafers

Our epitaxial, or EPI, wafers consist of a thin silicon layer grown on the polished surface of the wafer. Typically, the epitaxial layer has different electrical properties from the underlying wafer. This provides our customers with better isolation between circuit elements than a polished wafer, and the ability to tailor the wafer to the specific demands of the device. Without sufficient isolation of the various elements, the elements could communicate electrically with each other, which could render the device useless. Epitaxial wafers provide improved isolation, thereby allowing for increased reliability of the finished semiconductor device and greater efficiencies during the semiconductor manufacturing process, which ultimately allows for more complex semiconductor devices.

Our AEGIS^™ product is designed for certain specialized applications requiring high resistivity epitaxial wafers and our MDZ^® product feature. The AEGIS^™ wafer includes a thin epitaxial layer grown on a standard

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starting wafer. The AEGIS^™ wafer’s thin epitaxial layer eliminates harmful defects on the surface of the wafer, thereby allowing device manufacturers to increase yields and improve process reliability.

Test/Monitor Wafers

We supply test/monitor wafers to our customers for their use in testing semiconductor fabrication lines and processes. Although test/monitor wafers are substantially the same as prime polished wafers with respect to cleanliness, and in some cases flatness, other specifications are generally less rigorous. This allows us to produce test/monitor wafers from the portion of the silicon ingot that does not meet customer specifications for wafers to be used in the manufacture of semiconductors. Therefore, sales of test/monitor wafers allow us to experience a higher overall yield.

Sales, Marketing and Customers

We market our products primarily through a global direct sales force. We have customer service and support centers globally, including in China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States. A key element of our marketing strategy is establishing and maintaining close relationships with our customers. We accomplish this through multi-functional teams of technical, sales and marketing, and manufacturing personnel. These teams work closely with our customers to continually optimize our products for their production processes in their current and future facilities. We monitor changing customer needs and target our research and development and manufacturing to produce wafers adapted to each customer’s process and requirements. We complete sales principally through indicative-only contracts of one year or less, which indicate expected volumes and specify price.

We sell our products to virtually all major semiconductor device manufacturers, including the major memory, microprocessor and ASIC manufacturers as well as the world’s largest foundries. We made approximately 60% of our sales to ten customers in 2004. Samsung accounted for more than 10% of our sales in 2004. No other customer represented 10% or more of our 2004 sales.

We sell our products to certain customers under consignment arrangements. Generally, these consignment arrangements require us to maintain a certain quantity of product in inventory at the customer’s facility or at a storage facility designated by the customer. Under these arrangements, we ship the wafers to the storage facility, but do not charge the customer or recognize revenue for those wafers until title passes to the customer. Title passes when the customer pulls the product from the MEMC storage facility or storage area or, if the customer does not pull the product within a stated period of time (generally 60–90 days), at the end of that period, or when the customer otherwise agrees to take title to the product. Until that time, the wafers are considered part of MEMC’s inventory and are reflected on MEMC’s books and records as inventory. As such, these consignment arrangements are essentially inventory transfer arrangements. At December 31, 2004, we had approximately $22 million of inventory held on consignment.

Manufacturing

To meet our customers’ needs worldwide, we have established a global manufacturing network consisting of nine manufacturing facilities.

Our wafer manufacturing process begins with high purity semiconductor grade polysilicon. The polysilicon is melted in a quartz crucible along with minute amounts of electrically active elements such as arsenic, boron, phosphorous or antimony. We then lower a silicon seed crystal into the melt and slowly extract it from the melt. The resultant body of silicon is called an ingot. The temperature of the melt, speed of extraction and rotation of the crucible govern the diameter of the ingot, while the concentration of the electrically active element in the melt governs the electrical properties of the wafers to be made from the ingot. This is a complex, proprietary process requiring many control features on the crystal-growing equipment.

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We then grind the ingots to the specified diameter and slice the ingots into thin wafers. Next, we prepare the wafers for surface polishing with a multi-step process using precision wafer planarization machines, edge contour machines and chemical etchers. Final polishing and cleaning processes give the wafers the clean and ultraflat mirror polished surfaces required for the fabrication of semiconductor devices. We further process some of our products into epitaxial wafers by utilizing a chemical vapor deposition process to deposit a single crystal silicon layer on the polished surface.

In certain of our manufacturing facilities we have fully integrated manufacturing capabilities that encompass the full range of wafer manufacturing process steps, including ingot growth, wafer slicing, wafer polishing and epitaxial deposition. We conduct certain of our processes in state-of-the-art cleanroom environments.

Raw Materials

We obtain our requirements for several raw materials, equipment, parts and supplies from sole suppliers. The main raw material in our production process is polysilicon. In 2004, we produced over 90% of our gross polysilicon requirements internally. We sell some polysilicon to third parties. We use two types of polysilicon: granular polysilicon and chunk polysilicon. We produce all of our requirements for granular polysilicon at our facility in Pasadena, Texas. We do not believe there are other sources of semiconductor grade granular polysilicon. Chunk polysilicon can be substituted for granular polysilicon, although our manufacturing throughput and yields could be adversely affected. We believe our ability to meet the majority of our polysilicon requirements through in-house capabilities provides us with a key cost advantage to compete more effectively in the wafer industry.

Research and Development

The wafer market is characterized by continuous technological development and product innovation. We believe that continued and timely development of new products and enhancements to existing products are necessary to maintain our competitive position. Our goal in research and development is to maintain a close working relationship with our customers to continually develop new products and refine existing products to meet the needs of the marketplace. Our research and development model combines engineering innovation with specific commercialization strategies. Our model closely aligns our technology efforts with our customers’ requirements. We accomplish this through a better understanding of our customers’ technology requirements and through targeted research and development projects aimed at developing products to meet those technology requirements. Some of these projects involve formal and informal joint development efforts with our customers.

In addition, in order to strengthen our customer relationships and interaction and to better target our research and development efforts, we assign research and development engineers to key customers worldwide. We do this through our Applications Engineering Group, in four of our laboratories located in the United States, Italy, Japan and South Korea, as well as field and resident engineers located at strategic locations throughout the world. Certain resident engineers are dedicated to specific accounts. The primary purpose of the Applications Engineering Group is to establish a close, technical working relationship with our customers to obtain a better knowledge of our customers’ material requirements.

We devote a portion of our research and development resources to enhance our position in the crystal technology area. We have dedicated engineers and scientists, located in our St. Peters, Missouri, Merano, Italy and Chonan, South Korea facilities, to further our understanding of defect control, cost reduction and the use of granular polysilicon. In conjunction with these efforts, we are developing wafering technologies to meet advanced flatness and particle requirements of our customers. In addition, we continue to focus on the development of our advanced epitaxial wafer technology with a dedicated staff of scientists located primarily in our St. Peters, Missouri, Novara, Italy and Utsunomiya, Japan facilities, who focus on the development of new epitaxial wafer products and cost reduction processes.

In addition to our focus on advancements in wafer material properties, we also continue to invest in research and development associated with larger wafer diameters. We produced our first 300 millimeter diameter wafer in

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1991 and continue to enhance our 300 millimeter technology program using our staff of research and development scientists, engineers and technicians located primarily in our St. Peters, Missouri and Utsunomiya, Japan facilities. In addition, we continue to focus on process design advancements to drive cost and productivity improvements.

We have also entered into a license agreement for certain layer-transfer wafer technology and we are in the process of establishing production capability for 200mm and 300mm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers using a dedicated group of engineers and scientists located in our St. Peters, Missouri facility.

Research and development expenses were $38.0 million in 2004, $32.9 million in 2003 and $27.4 million in 2002 or, 3.7%, 4.2%, and 4.0% of our net sales for those periods, respectively.

Competition

The market for wafers is highly competitive. We compete in all the major semiconductor-producing regions of the world and face intense competition from established manufacturers. We estimate there are fewer than ten major competitors in our industry; however, our major competitors are Shin-Etsu Handotai, Sumitomo Mitsubishi Silicon and Siltronic. Some of our competitors have substantial financial, technical, engineering and manufacturing resources. Our wafers compete with wafers manufactured by others on the basis of product quality, consistency, price, technical innovation, customer service and product availability. We believe we are competitive on the basis of these factors.

Proprietary Information and Intellectual Property

We believe that the success of our business depends in part on our proprietary technology, information, processes and know how. We try to protect our intellectual property rights based on patents and trade secrets as part of our ongoing research, development and manufacturing activities. As of December 31, 2004, we owned of record or beneficially approximately 216 U.S. patents, of which approximately 16 will expire by 2009, approximately 33 will expire between 2010 and 2014 and approximately 167 will expire after 2014. As of December 31, 2004, we owned of record or beneficially approximately 314 foreign patents, of which approximately 55 will expire by 2009, approximately 26 will expire between 2010 and 2014 and approximately 233 will expire after 2014. These foreign patents are generally counterparts of our U.S. patents. As of December 31, 2004, we had approximately 53 pending U.S. patent applications and approximately 332 pending foreign patent applications. The patents we beneficially own relate to polysilicon technology. We exclusively licensed these patents from Albemarle Corporation in connection with our purchase of Albemarle’s granular polysilicon business. We may request that these patents be assigned to us at any time in exchange for a nominal purchase price.

We have agreed to indemnify some of our customers against claims of infringement of the intellectual property rights of others in our sales contracts with these customers. Historically, we have not paid any claims under these indemnification obligations and we do not have any pending indemnification claims.

Employees

At December 31, 2004, we had approximately 5,000 full time employees and 500 temporary workers worldwide. We have approximately 2,000 unionized employees in our St. Peters, Missouri, Pasadena, Texas, South Korea and Italy facilities. We have not experienced any material work stoppages at any of our facilities during the last several years.

Geographic Information

Information regarding our foreign and domestic operations is contained in Note 19 on pages 52 and 53 of our 2004 Annual Report, which information is incorporated herein by reference.

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Risk Factors

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those set forth under “Item 1. Business” and “Item 3. Legal Proceedings” and those incorporated herein by reference from our 2004 Annual Report. In addition to the business risks and uncertainties discussed elsewhere in this Form 10-K, the following are important risk factors which could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement made by us.

Our business depends on the semiconductor device industry and if that industry experiences future downturns, our sales could decrease and we could be forced to reduce our prices while maintaining fixed costs, all of which could have significant negative effects on our operating results and financial condition.

Our business depends in large part upon the market demand for our customers’ semiconductors and products utilizing semiconductors. The semiconductor device industry experiences:

From time to time, the semiconductor device industry has experienced significant downturns. These downturns often occur in connection with declines in general economic conditions. Some of these downturns have lasted for more than a year and have resulted in a substantial decrease in demand for our products. For example, in 2001, the semiconductor industry experienced a significant downturn as a result of weakened demand and a broad-based inventory correction. The 2001 downturn continued into early 2003. In the second half of 2004, much of the semiconductor industry experienced a downturn related to product oversupply and a resulting inventory correction. These industry conditions have continued into 2005. If the semiconductor device industry experiences future downturns, we will face pressure to reduce prices and we may need to further rationalize capacity and reduce fixed costs. At the same time, our ability to reduce expenditures for capital, research and development and global infrastructure during an industry downturn is limited because of the need to maintain our competitive position. If we are unable to reduce our expenses sufficiently to offset reductions in price and volume, our operating results and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Our dependence on single and limited source suppliers could require us to obtain new qualifications from customers and adversely affect our manufacturing throughput and yield.

We obtain several raw materials, equipment, parts and supplies from sole suppliers. Likewise, we obtain all of our requirements for granular polysilicon from our facility in Pasadena, Texas. In the case of granular polysilicon, we believe that we could substitute chunk polysilicon for granular polysilicon. However, in either case, it may take us several months to transition to a new supplier and we may be required to obtain new qualifications from our customers in order to change or substitute materials or sources of supply. We cannot predict whether we would be successful or how long the qualification process would take. In addition, our manufacturing process could be interrupted and our manufacturing throughput and yields could be adversely affected. A failure to obtain a new qualification or a decrease in our manufacturing throughput or yields could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

From time to time we have experienced limited supplies of certain raw materials, equipment, parts and supplies, particularly polysilicon. Because of the cyclical nature of our industry, we may experience shortages of our key raw materials, equipment, parts and supplies in the future. A prolonged inability to obtain raw materials, equipment, parts or supplies, or increases in prices resulting from these shortages could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

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We are subject to periodic fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates which can cause reported financial results to vary significantly from period to period.

Approximately 72% of our sales in 2004 were made outside North America. We expect that international sales will continue to represent a significant percentage of our total sales. In addition, a significant portion of our manufacturing operations is located outside of the United States. Sales outside of the United States expose us to currency exchange rate fluctuations. Our risk exposure from these sales is primarily related to Euro, Japanese Yen, Korean Won and New Taiwanese Dollar. Our risk exposure from expenses at international manufacturing facilities is concentrated in Euro, Japanese Yen, Korean Won, Malaysian Ringgit and New Taiwanese Dollar. To the extent that our sales in foreign currencies occur at foreign sites which incur expenses in those currencies, our net exposure is reduced. We generally hedge receivables denominated in foreign currencies at the time of sale.

Our foreign subsidiaries have debt denominated in Euro, Japanese Yen, New Taiwanese Dollars and U.S. Dollars. We generally do not hedge these net foreign currency exposures.

We recognized net current losses totaling approximately $2 million in 2004 and net currency gains totaling approximately $14 million and $11 million in 2003 and 2002, respectively. We cannot predict whether these foreign currency exchange risks inherent in doing business in foreign countries will have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial results in the future.

We experience intense competition in the wafer industry which could force us to reduce our prices to retain market share or face losing market share and revenues.

We face intense competition in the wafer industry from established manufacturers throughout the world. If we cannot compete effectively with other wafer manufacturers, our operating results could be materially adversely affected. Some of our competitors have substantial financial, technical, engineering and manufacturing resources to develop products that currently, and may in the future, compete favorably against our products.

We compete on the basis of product quality, consistency, price, technical innovation, customer service and product availability. We expect that our competitors will continue to improve the design and performance of their products and to introduce new products with competitive price and performance characteristics. We may need to reduce our prices to retain market share, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

If we fail to meet changing customer demands, we may lose customers and our sales could suffer.

The wafer industry changes rapidly. Changes in our customers’ requirements result in new and more demanding technology, product specifications and diameters, and manufacturing processes. Our ability to remain competitive will depend upon our ability to develop technologically advanced products and processes. We must continue to meet the increasingly demanding requirements of our customers on a cost-effective basis. As a result, we expect to continue to make significant investments in research and development and equipment. We cannot be certain that we will be able to successfully introduce, market and cost effectively manufacture any new products, or that we will be able to develop new or enhanced products and processes that satisfy customer needs or achieve market acceptance.

Because we cannot easily transfer production of specific products from one of our manufacturing facilities to another, manufacturing delays at a single facility could result in a loss of product volume.

It typically takes three to six months for our customers to qualify a manufacturing facility to produce a specific product, but it can take longer depending upon a customer’s requirements and market conditions. Interruption of operations at any of our primary wafer manufacturing facilities could result in delays or cancellations of shipments of wafers and a loss of product volume. Likewise, interruption of operations at our granular polysilicon manufacturing facility could adversely affect our wafer manufacturing throughput and yields and could result in our inability to produce certain qualified wafer products, delays or cancellations of shipments of wafers and a loss of product volume. A number of factors could cause interruptions, including labor disputes,

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equipment failures, or shortages of raw materials or supplies. Unions represent employees at our wafer facilities in St. Peters, Missouri, Italy and South Korea and our granular polysilicon facility in Pasadena, Texas. A strike at any of these facilities could cause interruptions in manufacturing. We cannot be certain that alternate qualified capacity would be available on a timely basis or at all.

If we do not continue to reduce our manufacturing costs and operating expenses, we may not be able to compete effectively in our industry.

The success of our business depends, in part, on our continuous reduction of manufacturing costs and operating expenses. The wafer industry has historically experienced price erosion and will likely continue to experience such price erosion. If we are not able to reduce our manufacturing costs and operating expenses sufficiently to offset future price erosion, our operating results will be adversely affected. During the past few years, we have engaged in various cost-cutting and other initiatives intended to reduce costs and increase productivity. These activities have included reduction of headcount, refinement of our processes and efforts to increase yields and reduce cycle time. In addition, our 2001 financial restructuring resulted in substantially reduced depreciation expense. We cannot assure you that we will be able to continue to reduce our manufacturing costs and operating expenses. Moreover, any future closure of facilities or reduction of headcount may adversely affect our ability to manufacture wafers in required volumes to meet customer demand and may result in other production disruptions.

We may acquire other businesses, products or technologies; if we do, we may be unable to integrate them with our business, which may impair our financial performance.

If we find appropriate opportunities, we may acquire businesses, products or technologies that we believe are strategic. If we acquire a business, product or technology, the process of integration may produce unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures and may absorb significant attention of our management that would otherwise be available for the ongoing development of our business. If we make future acquisitions, we may issue shares of stock that dilute other stockholders, expend cash, incur debt, assume contingent liabilities or create additional expenses related to amortizing other intangible assets with estimated useful lives, any of which might harm our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our business may be harmed if we fail to properly protect our intellectual property.

We believe that the success of our business depends in part on our proprietary technology, information, processes and know how. We try to protect our intellectual property rights based on trade secrets and patents as part of our ongoing research, development and manufacturing activities. However, we cannot be certain that we have adequately protected or will be able to adequately protect our technology, that our competitors will not be able to utilize our existing technology or develop similar technology independently, that the claims allowed with respect to any patents held by us will be broad enough to protect our technology or that foreign intellectual property laws will adequately protect our intellectual property rights. Moreover, we cannot be certain that our patents do or will provide us with a competitive advantage.

The protection of our intellectual property rights and the defense of claims of infringement against us by third parties may subject us to costly patent litigation.

Any litigation in the future to enforce patents issued to us, to protect trade secrets or know how possessed by us or to defend us or indemnify others against claimed infringement of the rights of others could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results. From time to time, we receive notices from other companies that we may be infringing certain of their patents or other rights. If we are unable to resolve these matters satisfactorily, or to obtain licenses on acceptable terms, we may face litigation, which could have a material adverse effect on us. In fact, we are presently involved in pending litigation involving allegations of patent infringement. Regardless of the validity or successful outcome of any such intellectual property claims, we may need to expend significant time and expense to protect our intellectual property rights or to defend against

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claims of infringement by third parties, which could have a material adverse effect on us. If we lose any such litigation, we may be required to:

Any of these outcomes could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

We have a limited number of principal customers and a loss of one or several of those customers would hurt our business.

Our operating results could materially suffer if we experience a significant reduction in, or loss of, purchases by one or more of our top customers. We made approximately 60% of our sales to ten customers in 2004. Samsung accounted for more than 10% of our sales in that period.

We are subject to periodic foreign economic downturns and political instability, which may adversely affect our sales and cost of doing business in those regions of the world.

Economic downturns in the Asia Pacific region and Japan have affected our operating results in the past, and economic downturns in those and other regions in which we operate could affect our operating results in the future. Additionally, other factors may have a material adverse effect on our operations in the future, including:

We cannot predict whether these economic risks inherent in doing business in foreign countries will have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial results in the future.

We are required to evaluate our internal control under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and any adverse results from such evaluation could result in a loss of investor confidence in our financial reports and have an adverse effect on our stock price.

Pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, beginning with this annual report on Form 10-K, we are required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting. Such report contains among other matters, an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of the end of our fiscal year, including a statement as to whether or not our internal control over financial reporting is effective. This assessment must include disclosure of any material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting identified by management. Such report must also contain a statement that our auditors have issued an attestation report on management’s assessment of such internal controls. Public Company Oversight Board Auditing Standard No. 2 provides the professional standards and related performance guidance for auditors to attest to, and report on, management’s assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting under Section 404.

Each year we must perform the system and process documentation and evaluation needed to comply with Section 404, which is both costly and challenging. During this process, if our management identifies one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, we will be unable to assert such internal control is effective. If we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective (or if

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our auditors are unable to attest that our management’s report is fairly stated or they are unable to express an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls), we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which would have an adverse effect on our stock price. In 2004, we determined that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as there was more than a remote likelihood that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements with respect to income taxes would not be prevented or detected, on a timely basis, by our employees in the normal course of performing their assigned functions. See Item 9A.

If we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner or if our auditors are not able to complete the procedures required by Auditing Standard No. 2 to support their attestation report, we would likely lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which would have an adverse effect on our stock price.

We are subject to numerous environmental laws and regulations, which could require us to discharge environmental liabilities, increase our manufacturing and related compliance costs or otherwise adversely affect our business.

We are subject to a variety of foreign, federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the protection of the environment. These environmental laws and regulations include those relating to the use, storage, handling, discharge, emission, disposal and reporting of toxic, volatile or otherwise hazardous materials used in our manufacturing processes. These materials may have been or could be released to the environment at properties currently or previously owned or operated by us, at other locations during the transport of the materials, or at properties to which we send substances for treatment or disposal. If we were to violate or become liable under environmental laws and regulations or become non-compliant with permits required at some of our facilities, we could be held financially responsible and incur substantial costs, including cleanup costs, fines and civil or criminal sanctions, third-party property damage or personal injury claims. Groundwater and/or soil contamination has been detected at four of our facilities. We believe we are taking all necessary remedial steps at these facilities. As of December 31, 2004, the aggregate remediation cost for these facilities was expected to be approximately $5.2 million over the next 30 years. As a result, we do not expect these known conditions to have a material impact on our business. However, environmental issues relating to presently known or unknown matters could require additional investigation, assessment or expenditures. In addition, new laws and regulations or stricter enforcement of existing laws and regulations could give rise to additional compliance costs and liabilities.

Our loan instruments contain highly restrictive covenants, any of which, if violated, would upon election of the lenders cause outstanding amounts under each of our loan instruments to become immediately due and payable, and we might not have sufficient funds and assets to pay such loans.

We are party to a $150 million revolving credit facility with Citibank/UBS and a $35 million revolving credit facility with TPG. These loan instruments contain certain highly restrictive covenants, including covenants to maintain minimum quarterly consolidated Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization, as defined, minimum monthly consolidated backlog, minimum monthly consolidated revenues, maximum annual capital expenditures and other covenants customary for revolving loans of this type and size. A continuing violation of any of these covenants, which in our industry could occur in a sudden or sustained downturn, would be deemed an event of default under all of these loan instruments. In such event, upon election of the lenders, the loan commitments under the revolving credit facilities would terminate and the loans and accrued interest then outstanding under the credit facilities would be due and payable immediately. We may not have sufficient funds and assets to cover any such required payments and may not be able to obtain replacement financing on a timely basis or at all. This would have a material adverse effect on us.

In the event TPG does not continue to own a substantial portion of our stock, we would be required to immediately repay outstanding loans and accrued interest under our credit facilities upon election of the lenders and we may not have the funds or assets to meet those obligations.

TPG currently beneficially owns 34% of our outstanding common stock. If (1) TPG’s ownership interest in us is reduced below 15% of our total outstanding equity interests, (2) another person or group acquires ownership

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of a greater percentage of our outstanding equity than TPG, or (3) a majority of our Board of Directors is neither nominated by our Board of Directors nor appointed by directors so nominated, then, upon election of the lenders:

We may not have sufficient funds to make the required payments and may not be able to obtain replacement financing on a timely basis or at all. This would have a material adverse effect on us.

Outstanding borrowings under the $150 million Citibank/UBS revolving credit facility would become immediately due and payable upon election of the lenders in the event any guarantor does not renew its guaranty, terminates its guaranty or defaults under its guaranty.

The $150 million Citibank/UBS revolving credit facility is guaranteed by certain of the TPG entities. The terms of the guaranties are shorter than the term of the revolving credit facility, and each guarantor may terminate its guaranty. In the event a guarantor does not renew its guaranty through the term of the revolving credit facility and the lenders have not received cash collateral or a replacement guaranty executed by a replacement guarantor satisfactory to the lenders, a guarantor terminates its guaranty, or a guarantor defaults under its guaranty, then, upon election of the lenders, the loan commitments under the revolving credit facility would terminate and the loans and accrued interest under the facility would be due and payable immediately. In any of these events, the guarantors have severally agreed to make new revolving credit loans available to us on terms and conditions substantially similar to the $150 million Citibank/UBS revolving credit facility except with 2% higher interest rates. The guarantors may not have sufficient funds and assets to provide this replacement financing, and we may not be able to obtain the replacement financing on a timely basis or at all. If this happened, the lenders could foreclose on the assets pledged as collateral under this loan.

Our loan instruments restrict our borrowings and use of proceeds, thereby limiting our ability to raise capital and obtain alternate funding sources.

Under the terms of the $150 million Citibank/UBS revolving credit facility and the $35 million TPG revolving credit facility, we generally cannot borrow from third parties or pledge assets without the consent of the lenders. Under these instruments, we are also generally required to use 75% of the net proceeds from the issuance of debt or equity as follows:

These restrictions limit not only our ability to raise capital but our ability to obtain alternate funding sources.

We have had significant operating and net losses, and we may have future losses.

Prior to 2002, we had not reported an annual operating profit since 1996. Until 2003, we had not reported annual net earnings since 1996. Our cumulative losses allocable to common stockholders from 1997 to 2001 totaled approximately $1 billion. In 2002, we had operating income of $65 million and a net loss allocable to common stockholders of $22 million. We cannot predict whether we will experience operating losses and net losses in the future.

Future sales of shares of our common stock may depress the price of our common stock.

If we or our stockholders sell a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, or investors become concerned that substantial sales might occur, the market price of our common stock could

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decrease. We have granted TPG registration rights with respect to a substantial number of shares of our common stock and warrants to purchase common stock. Future sales of our common stock or warrants to purchase our common stock by TPG in the public market, or the perception that such sales might occur, could cause such a decrease in the price of our common stock.

The market price of our common stock has fluctuated significantly and may continue to do so.

The market price of our common stock may be affected by various factors, including:

Technology company stocks in general have experienced extreme price and trading volume fluctuations that often have been unrelated to the operating performance of these companies. This market volatility may adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

TPG has significant voting power to influence our direction and policies, which could prevent a favorable acquisition of us and create other conflicts of interest between us and TPG.

TPG, through its approximate 34% beneficial ownership interest of our common stock, has significant voting power to influence our direction and policies, including any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. For example, under our restructuring agreement with TPG, we must either obtain the consent of TPG or give TPG a right of first refusal over any issuances of our equity securities to any person or group to the extent that the equity securities would have 10% or more of the voting power of all of our then outstanding voting securities. As a practical matter, TPG has significant influence over the election and composition of our Board of Directors as a result of its share ownership. Two of the six members of our current Board of Directors are partners of certain TPG entities. In addition, certain TPG entities have provided us with a $35 million revolving credit facility and guarantees of the $150 million Citibank/UBS revolving credit facility. We pay fees to TPG and its affiliates in connection with the $35 million revolving credit facility and a management advisory agreement. These arrangements may also create conflicts of interest between us and TPG.

Certain provisions of our Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Restated By-Laws could delay or make more difficult a change of control or change in management that would benefit our stockholders.

Certain provisions of our Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, and Restated By-Laws may delay, defer or make more difficult:

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For example, our Restated Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, divides the Board of Directors into three classes, with members of each class to be elected for staggered three-year terms. This provision may make it more difficult for stockholders to change the majority of directors and may frustrate accumulations of large blocks of common stock by limiting the voting power of such blocks. This may further discourage a change of control or change in current management.

These provisions may limit participation by our stockholders in any merger or other change of control transaction, whether or not the transaction is favored by current management or would be favorable to our stockholders. These provisions may also make removal of current management by our stockholders more difficult, even if such removal would be beneficial to the stockholders generally.

In addition, our Board of Directors is authorized to issue up to 50,000,000 shares of preferred stock without the vote of our holders of common stock, subject to certain restrictions on the issuance of preferred stock contained in the $150 million Citibank/UBS revolving credit facility, the $35 million TPG revolving credit facility and our restructuring agreement with TPG. The issuance of preferred stock could adversely affect the voting power or other rights of the holders of our common stock and could have the effect of delaying, deferring or impeding a change in control of us.

Limited trading volume of our common stock may contribute to its price volatility.

Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. During the twelve months ended December 31, 2004, the average daily trading volume for our common stock as reported by the NYSE was 687,071 shares. We are uncertain as to whether a more active trading market in our common stock will develop. As a result, relatively small trades may have a significant impact on the price of our common stock.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The following statements are or may constitute forward-looking statements:

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