Organization And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies - Narrative (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions		6 Months Ended
May 08, 2017	Jun. 30, 2019
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Credit Agricole loan borrowing capacity	$ 95.0
Maximum
Concentration Risk [Line Items]
Sale leaseback, lease term (in years)		P25Y
Leased Solar Power Systems
Concentration Risk [Line Items]
Term of contracts (in years)		20 years

Credit Agricole loan borrowing capacity

No definition available.

Name:	spwr_CreditAgricoleloanborrowingcapacity
Namespace Prefix:	spwr_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Term of lessor's operating lease, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(3)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77888428&loc=SL77919359-209981

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LessorOperatingLeaseTermOfContract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OrganizationConsolidationAndPresentationOfFinancialStatementsAbstract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

A description of the terms of the lease(s) related to the assets being leased-back in connection with the transaction involving the sale of property to another party and the lease of the property back to the seller.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 840
-SubTopic 40
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77913982&loc=d3e50796-112755

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 40
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77888430&loc=SL77919786-209982

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SaleLeasebackTransactionLeaseTerms
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MaximumMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentByTypeAxis=spwr_LeasedSolarPowerSystemsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: