Business Divestiture - Proceeds Received (Details) - Operations and maintenance - Disposal Group, Disposed of by Sale, Not Discontinued Operations $ in Thousands	Jun. 28, 2020 USD ($)
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Purchase price	$ 36,300
Holdback receivables, including contracts not novated	(15,000)
Estimated working capital adjustment, upon close	(5,324)
Consideration from sale of assets	$ 15,976

Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Holdback Receivables

No definition available.

Name:	spwr_DisposalGroupIncludingDiscontinuedOperationHoldbackReceivables
Namespace Prefix:	spwr_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Net Working Capital Adjustment

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	spwr_DisposalGroupIncludingDiscontinuedOperationNetWorkingCapitalAdjustment
Namespace Prefix:	spwr_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Purchase Price

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	spwr_DisposalGroupIncludingDiscontinuedOperationPurchasePrice
Namespace Prefix:	spwr_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of consideration received or receivable for the disposal of assets and liabilities, including discontinued operation.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DisposalGroupIncludingDiscontinuedOperationConsideration
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

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

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeStatementBalanceSheetAndAdditionalDisclosuresByDisposalGroupsIncludingDiscontinuedOperationsAxis=spwr_OperationsAndMaintenanceMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DisposalGroupClassificationAxis=us-gaap_DisposalGroupDisposedOfBySaleNotDiscontinuedOperationsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: