Recently, intensive restructuring signals in the photovoltaic sector have attracted widespread attention from the industry. A few days ago, Bangjie Co., Ltd. issued an announcement stating that due to operational difficulties in its photovoltaic business, the company has received a "Notice Letter" from its creditors, who have applied for the company's pre-reorganization, and its subsidiary has also taken the lead in initiating the reorganization process. Prior to this, several photovoltaic enterprises such as ST Lingda, Jingang Photovoltaic, and East China Solar Energy successively disclosed news of bankruptcy reorganization or pre-reorganization, and some projects have also carried out mergers and acquisitions under the promotion of industrial capital.
From the perspective of development trends, the accelerated consolidation of the photovoltaic industry has become an inevitable trend. In the view of industry insiders, the photovoltaic industry is in a critical stage transitioning from high-speed growth to high-quality development. It should gradually move from "decentralized development" to "collaborative integration", increase industrial concentration through market-oriented mergers and reorganizations, and promote the industry to form a more stable development pattern. It is expected that in the coming period, the clearing and integration of the photovoltaic industry will continue to evolve, and while reshaping the competitive landscape, it will lay the foundation for the industry to shift towards high-quality development.
Industry consolidation is happening at the right time
The photovoltaic industry has experienced an unprecedented expansion cycle in recent years. In particular, sectors such as silicon materials and solar cells have seen a concentration of new projects launched driven by expectations of technological upgrading and a booming market, resulting in a significant phased "accumulation" of production capacity. Since 2024, prices of products across the photovoltaic industry chain, from silicon materials to modules, have dropped sharply, with prices in multiple sectors hitting record lows repeatedly. The mismatch between excessive capacity expansion and slowing demand growth is becoming a key factor driving industry restructuring.
Against this backdrop, there have been successive cases of bankruptcy liquidation, pre-reorganization and reorganization applications recently, and the market has begun to voluntarily carry out capacity reduction and risk release. For example, listed companies such as ST Lingda and Jinkang Photovoltaic, as well as non-listed companies such as East China Solar Energy, have successively entered the reorganization or pre-reorganization process, indicating that some enterprises can no longer get out of difficulties relying on their own strength.
Song Zhiping, President of the China Association for Public Companies, stated that looking at the international industrial development process, many industries have gone through a process from fragmentation to concentration. He gave examples for analysis: in the early 20th century, the U.S. steel industry significantly enhanced its competitiveness through integration, and the Japanese cement industry achieved capacity optimization and price stability through restructuring during the economic transition period. "At present, although China's photovoltaic industry has achieved a leading position in the world, it also faces structural challenges, and promoting integration and restructuring is timely." He believes that against the backdrop of the continuous expansion of industrial scale and a large number of enterprises, the photovoltaic industry should pay more attention to the transformation from "dispersed development" to "collaborative integration.
Multiple positive factors emerge
In fact, the current industry restructuring is not a simple "elimination game" but presents a complex picture with diverse paths and different goals. Generally speaking, the main forms include judicial reorganization of distressed enterprises and strategic merger and acquisition integration of advantageous enterprises, both of which jointly promote the reallocation of industrial resources.
For enterprises trapped in debt difficulties, the pre-reorganization and reorganization systems provide a legal framework for their rebirth. During the reorganization process, Jinko Solar introduced industrial and financial investors such as Ouhao Group through public recruitment, obtaining a total of approximately 1.804 billion yuan in reorganization funds. This fund is not only used to repay debts and resolve historical burdens, but also planned to support Jinko Solar in developing new businesses such as computing power big data services on the basis of retaining its original advantages in heterojunction (HJT) technology, exploring a new path of coordinated development of "energy + computing power".
Leading enterprises in the industry are also actively taking advantage of this window period to consolidate and expand their competitive advantages and improve the layout of the industrial chain through mergers, acquisitions and integration. For example, Tongwei Co., Ltd. plans to acquire Runyang Co., Ltd. through a major asset restructuring, aiming to connect the key links from high-purity crystalline silicon to high-efficiency batteries. It will reduce costs, improve efficiency through internal synergy, and accelerate the global capacity layout to cope with market competition with scale effects and integrated advantages.
In Song Zhiping's view, market-oriented mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations are of positive significance. He emphasized that the "Six Measures for Mergers and Acquisitions" previously introduced by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the supporting measures from various regions aim to further leverage the role of the capital market in resource allocation and create a favorable environment for enterprise integration. He believes that market-oriented reorganizations bring multiple benefits to the photovoltaic industry: first, they help cultivate industry leaders, enhancing economies of scale and innovation leadership capabilities; second, they assist enterprises in optimizing their asset structure, promoting technological upgrading and value chain improvement; third, they inject high-quality assets into the capital market, facilitating a virtuous cycle of investment; fourth, they alleviate homogeneous competition, guiding the industry to shift from scale expansion to quality and efficiency improvement; fifth, they enhance the discourse power and integration capabilities of Chinese photovoltaic enterprises in the global industrial layout.
The contradiction between supply and demand is expected to be gradually alleviated
Looking ahead, merger and reorganization activities in the photovoltaic industry are expected to remain active and may reach a peak in the next one or two years.
Many analysis institutions believe that restructuring will accelerate the elimination of backward production capacity. Currently, battery technology is rapidly iterating from P-type PERC to advanced technologies such as N-type TOPCon and HJT. In this process, a large amount of P-type production capacity that has been locked in or is about to become backward, as well as some inefficient N-type production capacity, will face enormous pressure for technological transformation or the fate of being directly eliminated. Mergers and reorganizations provide a channel for the withdrawal or upgrading of these production capacities. Through acquisition and transformation or direct shutdown, the overall production capacity structure of the industry will be optimized, and the contradiction between supply and demand is expected to be gradually alleviated.
At the same time, the industry concentration will see a significant increase. Resources, capital, and orders will further gather towards leading enterprises with advanced technologies, efficient management, and strong financial strength. Song Zhiping pointed out that in the process of capacity adjustment, large enterprises can achieve orderly production reduction and capacity coordination through restructuring, avoiding drastic fluctuations in the industry. He believes that the photovoltaic industry can learn from international experience and gradually build several industry-leading enterprises with global competitiveness. The formation of such a "aircraft carrier-level" enterprise cluster will greatly enhance the bargaining power, technical standard-setting capability, and risk resistance capability of China's photovoltaic industry in the international market.
Song Zhiping emphasized that the photovoltaic industry is in an important stage of transitioning from high-speed growth to high-quality development. Appropriately increasing industrial concentration and promoting the aggregation of resources to advantageous enterprises will not only be conducive to the long-term stable development of the industry but also further enhance the international competitiveness and sustainable development capacity of China's photovoltaic industry.
