HONOLULU, HI--(Marketwire - Feb 6, 2012) - Hoku Corporation (NASDAQ: [ HOKU ]), a solar energy products and services company, today announced the extension of the maturity date of $50 million in loans from Tianwei New Energy Holdings Co., Ltd., a leading provider of silicon wafers, photovoltaic (PV) cells, modules and systems, and Hoku's majority shareholder.

As part of Tianwei's 2009 investment in Hoku, Tianwei provided Hoku with two loans during the first calendar quarter of 2010 totaling $50 million through China Construction Bank, acting as loan agent. The term of each loan is two years. With approval from China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), the maturity date of the $20 million and $30 million loans, scheduled to mature this quarter, have been extended one year until the first quarter of calendar year 2013. According to the SAFE approval, Tianwei and China Construction Bank are preauthorized to subsequently extend the maturity date for another year, until the first quarter of 2014.

"The extension of the loans reaffirms Tianwei's continuing commitment to Hoku's long-term success," said Scott Paul, CEO of Hoku Corporation. "Although the extension does not provide Hoku with any additional cash, it does allow us to better manage our liquidity, as we would otherwise be obligated to pay $50 million to Tianwei this quarter. As we source additional funds, our first priority is to pay our polysilicon plant vendors, and to continue with plant commissioning activities."

About Hoku Corporation

Hoku Corporation (NASDAQ: [ HOKU ]) is a solar energy products and services company with three business units: Hoku Materials, Hoku Solar, and Tianwei Solar USA, Inc. Hoku Materials markets and sells polysilicon for the solar market from its plant under construction in Pocatello, Idaho. Hoku Solar markets and installs turnkey photovoltaic systems and provides related services. Tianwei Solar USA markets and sells photovoltaic modules manufactured by Tianwei New Energy. Hoku Corporation is a majority owned subsidiary of Tianwei New Energy Holdings Co., Ltd. For more information, visit [ www.hokucorp.com ].

Hoku, Hoku Solar, and the Hoku Corporation logo are trademarks of Hoku Corporation, and Hoku Materials is the trademark of Hoku Materials, Inc., all rights reserved. All other trademarks, trade names and service marks appearing in this press release are the property of their respective holders.

©Copyright 2012, Hoku Corporation, all rights reserved.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve many risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "can," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would" and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the Company's ability to receive additional extensions on its loans, and its ability to source additional funds to pay its polysilicon plant vendors. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance, time frames or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, time frames or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to the risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed in the Company's most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Given these risks, uncertainties and other factors, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. In evaluating these statements, you should specifically consider the risks described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as applicable. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements publicly, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.