Local Chinese news outlets have reported that Dongjun PV Technology Co. Ltd., Xinchao Photovoltaic Energy Development Co. Ltd., and other investors have agreed to form a joint venture for wafer manufacturing (wafer slicing) in the Yangzhou Economic and Technology Development Zone. The ceremony for the signing of the joint venture agreement was held on November 3 in the development zone, which is situated in China’s Jiangsu Province. The event was attended by government officials including Zhu Boxing and Xie Baichuan, who are respectively the director and the deputy director of the management committee of the development zone.                                     

The total investment in the wafer manufacturing operation comes to around RMB 800 million, of which RMB 200 million is the registered capital of the joint venture. The development of the manufacturing site will proceed in two phases. Once up and running, the joint venture will have an annual production capacity of 10GW for mono-Si wafers. Its annual invoiced sales are projected to reach RMB 5 billion. The addition of this wafer manufacturing operation is expected to strengthen the existing new energy supply chain that is located within the development zone.

Solar PV, automotive components, and advanced light industries are the three sectors that the Yangzhou Economic and Technology Development Zone has been mainly focusing on with respect to attracting investments. In the past few years, the management committee has greenlighted investment projects that have extended the local new energy supply chain. According to the reporting by Chinese news outlets, the development zone now accommodates 54 companies that are involved in the PV industry. Their total invoiced sales for the first three quarters of 2021 came to RMB 17 billion, showing a year-on-year increase of 51%.