Industry analysts say a new Beijing-based coordination platform created by China’s top polysilicon producers signals a turn toward managed capacity as the sector tries to stem a steep price decline and mounting consolidation pressures.
China’s top polysilicon producers have set up a CNY3 billion ($415 million) coordination platform in Beijing, in the strongest indication yet that the country’s solar supply chain is moving toward structured capacity management after a prolonged price slump.
Beijing Guanghe Qiancheng Technology Co., Ltd. was registered as a limited liability company with mixed domestic and foreign investment in the Chinese capital’s Chaoyang district on December 9. Industry executives describe it as a “polysilicon storage and integration platform,” although its formal business operations focus on technology and management services rather than commodity trading. Investors and officials see it as the institutional backbone of a long-discussed plan to stockpile material and calibrate supply.
The shareholder base reflects the core of China’s upstream solar segment. A subsidiary of Tongwei holds 30.35%, followed by GCL Technology with 16.79%. Oriental Hope, Daqo New Energy and Xinte Energy each own about 10% to 11%. Other investors include Asia Silicon, Qinghai Lihao, Qinghai NBG New Energy, Xinjiang Goens and Beijing Zhongguang Tonghe, which is wholly owned by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA). Liu Yiyang, Executive Secretary General of CPIA, sits on the board, indicating an industry-wide mandate.
Polysilicon prices have fallen from around CNY300,000 per tonne at their peak in 2023 to almost CNY50,000 this year, briefly reaching CNY33,000 in mid-2024. China accounts for about 95% of global capacity, while the five largest producers control almost 80% of global supply. The rapid build-up has pushed the sector into a severe downturn, squeezing margins across the solar value chain.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) twice convened leading manufacturers and CPIA in mid-2024 to express support for measures aimed at curbing excess expansion and guiding inefficient capacity toward exit. Guanghe Qiancheng is the first institutional outcome of these discussions.
People familiar with the plans say shareholders are expected to use the platform to discuss “reasonable” price ranges, inventory targets and total reserve volumes. Industry commentary suggests that future sales prices could be increased above CNY60,000 per tonne, with around CNY10,000 of that reflecting stockpiling costs. The company is expected to buy material when prices fall below agreed thresholds and release inventories when supply tightens, acting as a stabilizer rather than permanent supplies.
Executives involved in the project have compared the approach to OPEC’s role in oil markets, stressing that the platform is not intended as a classic price-fixing cartel. It operates under the supervision of the CPIA, with regulators aware of its creation, and is formally focused on “capacity optimization, cost efficiency and strategic cooperation” among its member companies.
Important challenges remain. Coordination between competitors with different financial pressures and expansion plans will test governance. The platform’s balance sheet is modest relative to China’s massive polysilicon production, and it should avoid concerns about market manipulation while influencing sentiment.
A successful rollout could temper the industry’s race to the bottom, giving more expensive or older facilities time to exit the sector in a more orderly manner and maintain China’s cost and technology advantage in solar energy production. A failure would risk a new round of destabilizing price wars in an even more concentrated industry.
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