Transfer of Entities Under Common Control (Details) (USD $) Share data in Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended			12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Apr. 01, 2012		Apr. 03, 2011	Jan. 01, 2012		Jan. 02, 2011	Jan. 01, 2012 Scenario, Previously Reported [Member]	Apr. 01, 2012 Total [Member] Tenesol [Member]	Jan. 31, 2012 Total [Member] Tenesol [Member]
Business Acquisition, Cost of Acquired Entity, Purchase Price									$ 165,400,000
Business Acquisition, Percentage of Voting Interests Acquired									100.00%
Cash distributions to Parent in connection with the transfer of entities under common control	178,290,000		0					12,900,000
Statement of Financial Position [Abstract]
Cash and cash equivalents	302,137,000		367,860,000	725,618,000	[1]	605,420,000	657,934,000
Restricted cash and cash equivalents, current portion	15,534,000			52,279,000	[1]		52,279,000
Accounts receivable, net	348,068,000			438,633,000	[1]		390,262,000
Costs and estimated earnings in excess of billings	52,070,000			54,854,000	[1]		54,854,000
Inventories	515,906,000			445,501,000	[1]		397,262,000
Advances to suppliers, current portion	58,185,000			43,143,000	[1]		43,143,000
Project assets - plants and land, current portion	57,130,000			24,243,000	[1]		24,243,000
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	561,426,000	[2]		502,879,000	[1],[2]		482,691,000
Total current assets	1,910,456,000			2,287,150,000	[1]		2,102,668,000
Restricted cash and cash equivalents, net of current portion	20,077,000			27,276,000	[1]		27,276,000
Restricted long-term marketable securities	9,087,000			9,145,000	[1]		9,145,000
Property, plant and equipment, net	651,880,000	[3]		628,769,000	[1],[3]		607,456,000
Project assets - plants and land, net of current portion	40,986,000			34,614,000	[1]		34,614,000
Goodwill	47,422,000			47,077,000	[1],[4]		35,990,000
Other intangible assets, net	21,906,000			23,900,000	[1]		4,848,000
Advances to suppliers, net of current portion	285,061,000			284,378,000	[1]		278,996,000
Other long-term assets	227,212,000	[2]		176,821,000	[1],[2]		174,204,000
Total assets	3,214,087,000			3,519,130,000	[1]		3,275,197,000
Accounts payable	482,497,000	[2]		441,655,000	[1],[2]		416,615,000
Accrued liabilities	189,328,000			249,404,000	[1]		234,688,000
Billings in excess of costs and estimated earnings	170,163,000			170,828,000	[1]		170,828,000
Short-term debt	2,188,000			2,122,000	[1]		0
Convertible debt, current portion	0			196,710,000	[1]		196,710,000
Customer advances, current portion	42,167,000	[2]		48,073,000	[1],[2]		46,139,000
Liabilities, Current	886,343,000			1,108,792,000	[1]		1,064,980,000
Long-term debt	264,419,000			364,273,000	[1]		355,000,000
Convertible debt, net of current portion	426,851,000			423,268,000	[1]		423,268,000
Customer advances, net of current portion	188,862,000	[2]		181,946,000	[1],[2]		181,947,000
Other long-term liabilities	200,347,000			166,126,000	[1]		152,492,000
Total liabilities	1,966,822,000			2,244,405,000	[1]		2,177,687,000
Preferred stock, $0.001 par value; 10,000,000 shares authorized; none issued and outstanding as of both April 1, 2012 and January 1, 2012	0			0	[1]		0
Common stock, $0.001 par value, 367,500,000 shares authorized; 122,010,612 shares issued, and 118,313,577 outstanding as of April 1, 2012; 101,851,290 shares issued, and 100,475,533 shares outstanding as of January 1, 2012	118,000			100,000	[1]		100,000
Additional paid-in capital	1,895,572,000			1,845,964,000	[1]		1,657,474,000
Accumulated deficit	(624,594,000)			(550,064,000)	[1]		(540,187,000)
Accumulated other comprehensive income	8,470,000			7,142,000	[1]		8,540,000
Treasury stock, at cost; 3,697,035 shares of common stock as of April 1, 2012; 1,375,757 shares of common stock as of January 1, 2012	(32,301,000)			(28,417,000)	[1]		(28,417,000)
Total stockholders' equity	1,247,265,000			1,274,725,000	[1]		1,097,510,000
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity	3,214,087,000			3,519,130,000	[1]		3,275,197,000
Income Statement [Abstract]
Revenue	494,131,000		451,418,000	2,374,376,000			2,312,494,000
Cost of revenue	448,883,000		362,896,000	2,148,157,000			2,084,290,000
Gross margin	45,248,000		88,522,000	226,219,000			228,204,000
Research and development	16,726,000		13,646,000	57,775,000			57,775,000
Sales, general and administrative	76,194,000		76,179,000	331,380,000			319,719,000
Goodwill impairment				309,457,000			309,457,000
Other intangible asset impairment				40,301,000			40,301,000
Restructuring charges	3,046,000		0	21,403,000			21,403,000
Total operating expenses	95,966,000		89,825,000	760,316,000			748,655,000
Operating loss	(50,718,000)		(1,303,000)	(534,098,000)			(520,451,000)
Other expense, net:
Interest income	342,000		743,000	2,337,000			2,054,000
Interest expense	(18,701,000)		(15,259,000)	(67,253,000)			(67,022,000)
Gain on change in equity interest in unconsolidated investee				322,000			322,000
Gain (loss) on change in equity interest in unconsolidated investee				5,937,000			5,937,000
Gain (loss) on mark-to-market derivatives	13,000		(44,000)	343,000			343,000
Other, net	(685,000)		(9,207,000)	(10,120,000)			(8,946,000)
Other expense, net	(19,031,000)		(23,767,000)	(68,434,000)			(67,312,000)
Loss before income taxes and equity in earnings (loss) of unconsolidated investees	(69,749,000)		(25,070,000)	(602,532,000)			(587,763,000)
Benefit from (provision for) income taxes	(1,356,000)		15,816,000	(17,208,000)			(22,099,000)
Equity in earnings (loss) of unconsolidated investees	(3,425,000)		7,133,000	6,003,000			6,003,000
Net loss	$ (74,530,000)		$ (2,121,000)	$ (613,737,000)			$ (603,859,000)
Basic and diluted net loss per share	$ (0.67)		$ (0.02)	$ (6.28)			$ (6.18)
Weighted-average shares:
Basic and diluted weighted-average common shares	111,785		96,453	97,724			97,724

[1] As adjusted to reflect the balances of Tenesol S.A. ("Tenesol") beginning October 10, 2011, as required under the accounting guidelines for a transfer of an entity under common control (see Note 3).

[2] Company has related party balances in connection with transactions made with its joint ventures which are recorded within the "Prepaid expenses and other current assets," "Other long-term assets," "Accounts payable," "Customer advance, current portion," and "Customer advances, net of current portion" financial statement line items in the Consolidated Balance Sheets (see Note 5, Note 8, and Note 9).

[3] Property, plant and equipment, net are based on the physical location of the assets.

[4] As adjusted to reflect the balances of Tenesol beginning October 10, 2011, as required under the accounting guidelines for a transfer of an entity under common control (see Note 3).