Business Story: Double Central

A few days before the 15th (2021) international solar photovoltaic and smart energy (Shanghai) conference and Exhibition (hereinafter referred to as SNEC) officially opened, China Central started the warm-up of new product release on its wechat official account.

The first wechat tweet of "2021snec Shanghai Photovoltaic Exhibition - happy full play" announced in advance two products to be displayed in this exhibition: G12 silicon chip and high-efficiency laminated tile module. Another "new blockbuster" was dubbed "mystery" until the opening ceremony of SNEC on June 3.

No matter where the new mysterious product is. The 21st century economic reporter noticed that during this year's SNEC exhibition, Zhonghuan shares showed people with a new look. The name of "Zhonghuan shares" in previous years has disappeared, and "Zhonghuan semiconductor" has been replaced.

Some people in the industry commented on the reporter of the 21st century economic report that this title undoubtedly strengthened the semiconductor label of Zhonghuan shares. But at the same time, this is also the feature left by TCL after the mixed reform of central group.

In July 2020, the mixed reform work of Tianjin Zhonghuan group has been settled. TCL technology delisted at a price of more than 10 billion yuan, becoming the new owner of central group.

At the TCL new momentum strategy conference a month later, as the founder of TCL, Li Dongsheng first talked about mixed reform in central.

"TCL Technology Group's business and Zhonghuan semiconductor business are highly compatible and complementary, and the industry has greater synergy." During his previous inspection, Li Dongsheng found that the suppliers of TCL Huaxing optoelectronic semiconductor display and the suppliers of Zhonghuan semiconductor materials, supply chain and manufacturing process are overlapping and related, and there is space for industrial collaboration between them.

The outside world is more concerned about the future of China Central after TCL technology enters the host country?

A rumor spread at that time: in the next three years, TCL plans to split Zhonghuan into three listed companies. Some investors worry that TCL technology will make subtraction in the enterprise operation and management empowerment in central.

Li Dongsheng's commitment is that after choosing central, he will increase investment in resources.

2021 is the first year of the mixed reform of China Central. The new board of directors proposed to complete the "business performance doubling plan" this year to reflect the synergistic effect brought about by the mixed reform.

In the first quarter of this year, the net profit of Zhonghuan shares doubled, which is a good start for the realization of the above plan. But will annual targets be so easy to achieve?

The 15th (2021) international solar photovoltaic and smart energy (Shanghai) conference and exhibition, Zhonghuan exhibition stand- Materials and pictures

Wall breaker

Ten days before SNEC, China Central Co., Ltd. hosted a photovoltaic intelligent conference. In this meeting, the company has begun to pass the new name of "Zhonghuan semiconductor" to the outside world.

It is undeniable that Zhonghuan shares have always had semiconductor genes. From the formal establishment of the company in 1985, to the restructuring of state-owned enterprises in 1999 and the mixed reform, the label of "semiconductor" is very significant, both in terms of company name and product.

Therefore, the term "Zhonghuan semiconductor" is actually a kind of regression.

It is worth mentioning that an important innovation of China Central in recent years for the development of domestic photovoltaic industry is to introduce semiconductor products into photovoltaic manufacturing.

In 2019, China Central released G12 "Kuafu" series of 12 inch silicon wafers.

"The launch of" Kuafu "products is a little bit of a reshape of the photovoltaic industry pattern." A new energy industry analyst who did not want to be named told the 21st century economic report that this series of products broke through the default size limit of 166mm in the industry before, and increased the size of silicon rod from 8 inches to 12 inches. When the market component power was generally 300W and 400W, it leapt to 600W.

In fact, the introduction of large-scale silicon wafers has pushed the photovoltaic industry into an era of "more than big", which has been further developed into a size dispute: 210 camp led by Zhonghuan and 182 camp led by Longji.

Since the second half of last year, the size of the debate began to enter the white hot stage. From the main leading enterprises choose to stand in the line, to 182, 210 silicon wafer standard size initiatives have emerged. Of course, there are also "wall mounted" schools, with both sizes bordering on each other.

Up to now, there is no dispute over the size of large silicon wafers. Some people in the industry said, "we will see the end of 2021."; Some people in the industry also said that we should not over enlarge the size of the competition, and the best fit is the best.

In fact, until the official opening of this year's SNEC exhibition, leading enterprises still have the intention of private confrontation.

On May 26, China Photovoltaic Industry Association held an online seminar on module size standardization. The results of the meeting were: 210 battery module manufacturers reached an agreement on the spacing of battery cells and the method of splitting; The size of 182 battery module was discussed in detail, but no agreement was reached.

As a result of this seminar, it seems that the balance of the size debate has shifted to the 210 camp. Therefore, at this SNEC exhibition, 210 manufacturers including Zhonghuan Co., Ltd. competed to show their products based on 210 size, which made them more confident.

As for Longji, whose size is 182, Zhong Baoshen, chairman of the board of directors, made only a slight remark at the SNEC global green energy leaders' dialogue on the afternoon of June 2, "our wind tunnel experiment clearly shows that when the component is too large, the component will not work well. We must pay attention to the quality when creating new products."

However, the trend of large silicon chip set off by Zhonghuan shares seems to have become the development direction recognized by the industry. This has become the core weapon for the future market share of monocrystalline silicon wafers with Longji.

In recent years, although Longji shares and known as "single crystal Shuangxiong", Zhonghuan shares in the single crystal product share has been left behind.

According to the data, by the end of 2020, the monocrystalline silicon wafer capacity of Longji and Zhonghuan were 85gw and 55gw respectively, accounting for 41% and 28% of the market share.

According to the data of the first quarter of 2021, Longji Co., Ltd. shipped about 20GW of monocrystalline silicon chips and about 13.2gw of Zhonghuan. In this regard, Zhonghuan said that its global market share of silicon wafers exported in the first quarter reached 41%, ranking first in the world.

Whether it really ranks first in the world remains to be verified. However, it is undeniable that G12 silicon wafers based on 210 size are becoming the key factor for China central to continuously narrow the gap between its silicon wafer delivery volume and Longji's.

21st century economic reporter learned that in the first quarter of this year, the production and sales of G12 silicon wafers of Zhonghuan Co., Ltd. increased rapidly, accounting for 45%. The company also plans to increase the share to 60% by the end of the year.

Introvert

In recent days, many visitors gathered in front of the exhibition stand of central shares.

In an exchange with 21st century economic reporter, an exhibitor was a little disappointed with the new product of Zhonghuan this year.

"Before the official micro said that a new product was exhibited, and I came to see it specially." According to the exhibitor, both G12 and high-efficiency laminated tile components are no longer new. According to their understanding, there are also manufacturers in China.

21st century economic reporter noted that China Central had always claimed that the mysterious product was maxeon air frameless components.

According to maxeon, this frameless module can be used for roofs that cannot be constructed due to the weight of conventional components or installation methods. It belongs to BIPV application and is expected to be mass produced in the second quarter of next year.

In fact, this product is not mysterious. The 21st century business reporter inquired about the public information and found that, as early as May 20 this year, it has been reported that Maxon solar technologies will release a new series of glass free, flexible silicon-based solar panels, called Maxon air, this summer. These panels will be first used in the European market and will be released globally in the first quarter of 2022.

The above-mentioned visitors' queries are reasonable. 21st century economic reporter found that in this exhibition, the company founded by Shi Zhengrong, the godfather of photovoltaic, launched a photovoltaic module that can do "push ups" during the exhibition. According to reports, the module is a crystalline silicon photovoltaic module made of special polymer composite materials and technology without glass. It is characterized by "soft and thin beauty", and can be installed on the roof that is not enough to support the glass module. This is similar to the Maxon air products of China Central.

According to the booth layout, the main purpose of China Central this year is actually to promote Huansheng photovoltaic and Maxon solar technologies, its two major subsidiaries.

As a holding subsidiary, Huansheng photovoltaic takes on the role of developing module business of Zhonghuan shares. China Central holds about 27% of the shares of maxeon solar technologies, which has become an important part of the company's downward expansion of the photovoltaic manufacturing industry chain.

Zhonghuan shares, activated by mixed reform, is building its own "210 universe". The 210 silicon chip ecology, which is participated and led by the company, has attracted many allies. Zhonghuan once commented to the outside world that its purpose of launching 210 is to provide value and living space for the whole photovoltaic industry chain, rather than to achieve exclusive purposes.

But obviously, in business war, competition is often accompanied by the shadow of exclusivity.

In March this year, the 50gw (G12) solar energy single-stage silicon material smart factory in central Ningxia was started, with a total investment of 12 billion yuan, which is one of the largest silicon project investment in the world. Behind the implementation of this project, there is a "TCL effect" -- from research to cooperation, it takes only three months.

The volume of 50gw is undoubtedly equivalent to "rebuilding" a central stock. By the end of 2020, the capacity of monocrystalline silicon wafer of China Central is 55gw, which is equivalent to the scale of this investment project.

The completion and operation of the new project will greatly narrow the gap between the capacity of China Central and Longji. By the end of 2021, Longji's monocrystalline silicon chip production capacity is planned to increase to 105gw.

According to the construction schedule of the above projects, China Central will reach this capacity by the end of 2022. At that time, the two leading single-crystal silicon chip production capacity of more than 200 GW may set off a fierce battle in the silicon link.

In fact, the interoperability of the industrial chain has been releasing the "Involution" influence.

On June 2, the information released by silicon branch of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association on June 2 showed that the price range of domestic single crystal compound feeding this week was 206000-221000 yuan / ton, the average transaction price was 211900 yuan / ton, with a week on week increase of 4.54%, and the increase since this year has exceeded 140%.

"We may face the hidden danger brought by the rapid expansion of the new energy industry. This year's growth is very fast, five times more than before. " Zhao Zhenyuan, chairman of Taiji industry and 11th science and Technology Co., Ltd., believes that the better the new energy situation is, the faster the production capacity will be put into operation, but if it is increased too fast, there will be some imbalance.

"At present, there is a game between supply and demand in the photovoltaic industry chain, and there are abnormal phenomena." Sun power chairman Cao Renxian also said that the photovoltaic industry needs to "cool down".

Due to the "separation" of various links in the industrial chain, the imbalance of supply and demand between upstream and downstream, especially the overcapacity of silicon wafer and battery, leads to the shortage of silicon material supply. "In fact, this year's silicon production capacity is roughly matched with the demand for downstream components, and the problem is still in the middle link," according to the previous industry estimates

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