BEIJING (AP) — Suntech, one of the world’s biggest solar panel manufacturers, said Monday it had defaulted on a $541 million bond payment in the latest sign of the financial squeeze on the struggling global solar industry.

Suntech Power Holdings Ltd.’s announcement was a severe setback for a company lauded by China’s communist government as a leader of efforts to make this country a center of the renewable energy industry. Its founder, Shi Zhengrong, became one of the industry’s most prominent entrepreneurs and a billionaire, only to see most of his fortune evaporate as the company’s share price plummeted.