Transfer of Entities Under Common Control (Details) (USD $) Share data in Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended			6 Months Ended			12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Jul. 01, 2012		Jul. 03, 2011	Jul. 01, 2012		Jul. 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	366,250,000		245,790,000	366,250,000		245,790,000	725,618,000	[1]	605,420,000	657,934,000
Restricted cash and cash equivalents, current portion	9,596,000			9,596,000			52,279,000	[1]		52,279,000
Accounts receivable, net	272,972,000			272,972,000			438,633,000	[1]		390,262,000
Costs and estimated earnings in excess of billings	68,590,000			68,590,000			54,854,000	[1]		54,854,000
Inventories	449,950,000			449,950,000			445,501,000	[1]		397,262,000
Advances to suppliers, current portion	73,756,000			73,756,000			43,143,000	[1]		43,143,000
Project assets - plants and land, current portion	82,929,000			82,929,000			24,243,000	[1]		24,243,000
Prepaid expenses and other current assets	596,258,000	[2]		596,258,000	[2]		502,879,000	[1],[2]		482,691,000
Total current assets	1,920,301,000			1,920,301,000			2,287,150,000	[1]		2,102,668,000
Restricted cash and cash equivalents, net of current portion	18,338,000			18,338,000			27,276,000	[1]		27,276,000
Restricted long-term marketable securities	9,383,000			9,383,000			9,145,000			9,145,000
Property, plant and equipment, net	650,280,000	[3]		650,280,000	[3]		628,769,000	[1],[3]		607,456,000
Project assets - plants and land, net of current portion	15,623,000			15,623,000			34,614,000	[1]		34,614,000
Goodwill	46,879,000			46,879,000			47,077,000	[1],[4]		35,990,000
Other intangible assets, net	17,423,000			17,423,000			23,900,000	[1]		4,848,000
Advances to suppliers, net of current portion	272,086,000			272,086,000			284,378,000	[1]		278,996,000
Other long-term assets	235,169,000	[2]		235,169,000	[2]		176,821,000	[1],[2]		174,204,000
Total assets	3,185,482,000			3,185,482,000			3,519,130,000	[1]		3,275,197,000
Accounts payable	416,187,000	[2]		416,187,000	[2]		441,655,000	[1],[2]		416,615,000
Accrued liabilities	166,842,000			166,842,000			249,404,000	[1]		234,688,000
Billings in excess of costs and estimated earnings	145,661,000			145,661,000			170,828,000	[1]		170,828,000
Short-term debt	20,767,000			20,767,000			2,122,000	[1]		0
Convertible debt, current portion	0			0			196,710,000	[1]		196,710,000
Customer advances, current portion	29,427,000	[2]		29,427,000	[2]		48,073,000	[1],[2]		46,139,000
Total current liabilities	778,884,000			778,884,000			1,108,792,000	[1]		1,064,980,000
Long-term debt	383,585,000			383,585,000			364,273,000	[1]		355,000,000
Convertible debt, net of current portion	430,633,000			430,633,000			423,268,000	[1]		423,268,000
Customer advances, net of current portion	204,687,000	[2]		204,687,000	[2]		181,946,000	[1],[2]		181,947,000
Other long-term liabilities	225,636,000			225,636,000			166,126,000	[1]		152,492,000
Total liabilities	2,023,425,000			2,023,425,000			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 January 1, 2012	0			0			0	[1]		0
Common stock, $0.001 par value, 367,500,000 shares authorized; 101,851,290 shares issued, and 100,475,533 shares outstanding as of January 1, 2012	119,000			119,000			100,000	[1]		100,000
Additional paid-in capital	1,905,742,000			1,905,742,000			1,845,964,000	[1]		1,657,474,000
Accumulated deficit	(708,775,000)			(708,775,000)			(550,064,000)	[1]		(540,187,000)
Accumulated other comprehensive income	(1,409,000)			(1,409,000)			7,142,000	[1]		8,540,000
Treasury stock, at cost; 1,375,757 shares of common stock as of January 1, 2012	(33,620,000)			(33,620,000)			(28,417,000)	[1]		(28,417,000)
Total stockholders' equity	1,162,057,000			1,162,057,000			1,274,725,000	[1]		1,097,510,000
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity	3,185,482,000			3,185,482,000			3,519,130,000	[1]		3,275,197,000
Income Statement [Abstract]
Revenue	595,897,000		592,255,000	1,090,028,000		1,043,673,000	2,374,376,000			2,312,494,000
Cost of revenue	522,397,000		572,961,000	971,280,000		935,857,000	2,148,157,000			2,084,290,000
Gross margin	73,500,000		19,294,000	118,748,000		107,816,000	226,219,000			228,204,000
Research and development	14,104,000		15,255,000	30,830,000		28,901,000	57,775,000			57,775,000
Sales, general and administrative	62,480,000		90,856,000	138,674,000		167,035,000	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	47,599,000		13,308,000	50,645,000		13,308,000	21,403,000			21,403,000
Total operating expenses	124,183,000		119,419,000	220,149,000		209,244,000	760,316,000			748,655,000
Operating loss	(50,683,000)		(100,125,000)	(101,401,000)		(101,428,000)	(534,098,000)			(520,451,000)
Other expense, net:
Interest income	326,000		488,000	668,000		1,231,000	2,337,000			2,054,000
Interest expense	(19,400,000)		(16,059,000)	(38,101,000)		(31,318,000)	(67,253,000)			(67,022,000)
Gain on change in equity interest in unconsolidated investee	0		322,000	0		322,000	322,000			322,000
Gain on sale of equity interest in unconsolidated investee							5,937,000			5,937,000
Gain on mark-to-market derivatives	(9,000)		(97,000)	4,000		(141,000)	343,000			343,000
Other, net	(4,897,000)		(9,527,000)	(5,582,000)		(18,734,000)	(10,120,000)			(8,946,000)
Other expense, net	(23,980,000)		(24,873,000)	(43,011,000)		(48,640,000)	(68,434,000)			(67,312,000)
Loss before income taxes and equity in earnings (loss) of unconsolidated investees	(74,663,000)		(124,998,000)	(144,412,000)		(150,068,000)	(602,532,000)			(587,763,000)
Benefit from (provision for) income taxes	(10,593,000)		(22,702,000)	(11,949,000)		(6,886,000)	(17,208,000)			(22,099,000)
Equity in earnings (loss) of unconsolidated investees	1,075,000		(172,000)	(2,350,000)		6,961,000	6,003,000			6,003,000
Net loss	$ (84,181,000)		$ (147,872,000)	$ (158,711,000)		$ (149,993,000)	$ (613,737,000)			$ (603,859,000)
Basic and diluted net loss per share	$ (0.71)		$ (1.51)	$ (1.38)		$ (1.55)	$ (6.28)			$ (6.18)
Weighted-average shares:
Basic and diluted weighted-average common shares	118,486		97,656	115,136		97,054	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 Condensed 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).