Top Ten Polysilicon Makers Nearly All Chinese
Wacker will stay in the ranking as only western producer, says Bernreuter Research.
Nine of the world’s top ten polysilicon manufacturers are based in China today. “The Chinese polysilicon industry reached a share of 93.5% in the global output of 2024. This dominance is also reflected in the ranking of the world’s largest manufacturers,” says Johannes Bernreuter, author of the Polysilicon Market Outlook 2029 and head of Bernreuter Research. The polysilicon market expert has published its latest ranking of the top ten producers on its website >>
Since 2022, the top four positions in the ranking have been occupied by the Chinese quartet of Tongwei, GCL Technology, Daqo New Energy and Xinte Energy, with no challenger in sight.
The top four not only achieved a combined market share of 65% in 2024. They are also responsible for the lion’s share of overcapacity in China: Two thirds of the new capacity between 2020 and 2024 was built by Tongwei, GCL, Daqo and Xinte. “Therefore, it is no wonder that the top four also accumulated two thirds of the huge inventories at Chinese polysilicon manufacturers by the end of 2024,” says analyst Bernreuter.
Wacker is the only remaining non-Chinese representative among the top ten. The Germany-based chemicals group, which was the world’s largest polysilicon manufacturer from 2016 through 2019, fell from the fifth place in 2022 back to eighth in 2024.
In view of the planned consolidation of the Chinese polysilicon industry through an acquisition fund, Bernreuter Research sees chances that Wacker will remain in the top ten ranking at least through 2027. However, this prediction comes with a caveat: “It assumes that the PV market in the USA, the main destination of solar modules made of non-Chinese polysilicon, recovers from the crackdown of the Trump administration on renewables,” says Bernreuter.
Of the formerly three non-Chinese manufacturers in the top ten, Hemlock Semiconductor and OCI have been surpassed by new Chinese entrants: Lihao already entered the ranking in the second year of its operation in 2023; due to a rapid expansion, it secured the fifth place in 2024. Hongyuan came in ninth in 2024. With its complete integration from polysilicon production through to solar module assembly, the company is a mini version of market leader Tongwei.
More details on the top ten manufacturers are contained in the Polysilicon Market Outlook 2029. The 102-page report also provides sophisticated scenarios of supply and demand, detailed forecasts of polysilicon prices, the latest cash cost data on the dominant Siemens process and fluidized-bed reactor technology, as well as many other market trends.
