My career of research combining mathematical physics and chemical engineering to develop innovative photovoltaic device technologies guided my years of industrial experience in machine tool innovations required to bring them to market. The gap between commercially available PV products and promising alternative technologies swiftly pushing beyond the capabilities of those presently dominating the market provides a historic opportunity to accelerate cost-effective decarbonization by joining device and processing tool innovation. Tandem PV multi-junction device and tool technology commercial success requires collaborative industrial and academic development of precursor and semiconductor materials, metrologies, and energy-efficient manufacturing tools to successfully address climate change.