China's two largest solar module shippers by volume — SSE-listed JinkoSolar (688223.SS) and LONGi Green Energy (601012.SS) — posted combined net losses exceeding 13 billion yuan (approximately $1.9 billion) in 2025, laying bare the deep pain of severe overcapacity and an entrenched price war. While the loss figures remain staggering, the financial signals from the two giants diverged markedly: JinkoSolar recorded its first annual loss since going public, while LONGi managed to narrow its losses from a historically high base. With losses persisting into the first quarter of 2026, both behemoths are placing turnaround bets on technology-driven premiums and energy storage ecosystems, racing to seize the initiative at the end of the industry's painful consolidation tunnel.
Divergent loss structures: Jinko hit by first-ever loss, LONGi stanches the bleeding
According to newly disclosed annual reports, JinkoSolar posted 2025 revenue of 65.49 billion yuan (approximately $9.6 billion), down 29.18% year-on-year. Net profit attributable to shareholders swung from profit to a massive loss of 6.88 billion yuan (approximately $1.0 billion), marking the company's first annual loss since 2013. Over the same period, LONGi Green Energy reported revenue of 70.35 billion yuan (approximately $10.3 billion), down 14.82%, with a net loss of 6.42 billion yuan (approximately $940.3 million) — a substantial improvement of 2.17 billion yuan (approximately $318.3 million) from the record 8.59 billion yuan loss in 2024.
The core drivers behind both giants' massive losses were virtually identical: a severe supply-demand imbalance in the solar industry, with module prices persistently falling below production costs. In 2025, JinkoSolar's gross margin on solar products plunged to -0.81%, a decline of 8.13 percentage points year-on-year. LONGi's full-year gross margin stood at just 0.81%, deteriorating further to -0.25% in the fourth quarter.
However, the loss structures of the two companies differed significantly. Beyond declining product prices, JinkoSolar booked over 2.45 billion yuan (approximately $358.8 million) in asset impairment charges for the full year, with 1.42 billion yuan (approximately $208.1 million) concentrated in Q4 alone, placing substantial pressure on current-period profits. Additionally, financial expenses surged 109.3% year-on-year to 1.37 billion yuan (approximately $200.7 million), driven by higher interest costs and reduced foreign exchange gains. In contrast, LONGi's asset impairment losses plummeted from 8.70 billion yuan in 2024 to 2.99 billion yuan (approximately $438.2 million), becoming the single largest contributor to its loss reduction. Simultaneously, LONGi's selling and administrative expenses fell 29.96% and 23.67% year-on-year respectively, while net operating cash flow swung dramatically from -4.72 billion yuan (approximately $692.0 million) in 2024 to a positive 4.36 billion yuan (approximately $638.4 million), demonstrating stronger cost control and cash recovery capability.
Q1 chill persists: price war continues, tax rebate cancellation piles on pressure
Entering 2026, the anticipated industry recovery failed to materialize. First-quarter figures show JinkoSolar revenue at 12.25 billion yuan (approximately $1.8 billion), down 11.52% year-on-year, with a net loss of 1.35 billion yuan (approximately $197.7 million). LONGi Green Energy recorded revenue of 11.19 billion yuan (approximately $1.6 billion) — its lowest quarterly figure since Q1 2020 — with net losses widening to 1.92 billion yuan (approximately $281.2 million), a 34.20% deterioration year-on-year.
Beyond persistently depressed module prices, LONGi was hit by a black swan event in Q1 as foreign exchange gains flipped to losses, with an approximately 700 million yuan (approximately $102.5 million) year-on-year increase in losses. To compound the pain, the long-standing export tax rebate policy for solar products was fully abolished effective April 1, 2026. According to estimates by Shanghai Metals Market, this alone will reduce profits per mainstream module exported by 46 to 51 yuan, further squeezing gross margins for solar companies heavily reliant on overseas markets.
Sustained losses have also driven up leverage levels. JinkoSolar's debt-to-asset ratio rebounded to 77.20% after three consecutive years of decline, while LONGi's ratio climbed to 66.08%, a record high. Although both companies maintain relatively ample cash on hand, the ongoing consumption of liquidity is an undeniable reality.
Technology roadmap divergence: BC premium versus TOPCon scale
With the entire industry facing homogenized competition, technology roadmap choices have become the decisive variable shaping the future pecking order. TOPCon technology currently dominates the mainstream thanks to cost advantages and mass production maturity, while LONGi Green Energy remains firmly committed to the differentiated path of BC (back contact) technology.
LONGi Chairman Zhong Baoshen declared unequivocally in his annual report letter that "the company's most difficult phase has passed," unveiling a "comprehensive BC-ification" strategy. Data shows that BC modules, with no front-side grid lines to obstruct light, possess inherent advantages in conversion efficiency and power output. LONGi's HPBC 2.0 modules have achieved mass production power ratings of 650W to 660W, significantly higher than the roughly 620W mainstream level of current TOPCon products.
Zhong disclosed during the earnings call that as of March 2026, BC module costs have essentially reached parity with mainstream TOPCon products, with prospects for a roughly 10% gross margin premium over TOPCon. In 2025, LONGi's BC module sales volume reached 22.87 GW, accounting for 26% of total shipments. The company plans to increase BC module shipment share to over 65% in 2026, implying an additional roughly 30 GW in BC product sales year-on-year.
By contrast, JinkoSolar remains entrenched in the TOPCon camp, planning to achieve 100 GW of integrated capacity by end-2026, with high-power modules above 640W accounting for over 60% of shipments. The strategy aims to consolidate market share through scale effects and high-power products.
Second growth curve: solar-plus-storage synergy becomes consensus for breakthrough
With solar manufacturing margins wafer-thin or in negative territory, both giants view energy storage as a critical engine for elevating customer value and improving profit structures.
JinkoSolar's management explicitly stated during the earnings call that energy storage shipments are projected to reach 10 GWh in 2026, doubling year-on-year at approximately 15% gross margin, becoming a key profit driver. The company is accelerating the synergistic deployment of "solar + storage," focusing on high-margin market segments.
LONGi Green Energy is equally active. Zhong Baoshen emphasized in an internal letter: "Energy storage is not an addition to LONGi's business portfolio — it is a multiplier for elevating customer value." In January 2026, LONGi completed a controlling acquisition of Suzhou Jingkong Energy, instantly gaining over 12 GWh of cumulative storage shipment experience, and targets 6 GWh of energy storage system shipments in 2026. The company has already delivered integrated solar-storage projects in Italy, Australia, and elsewhere, aiming to transform from a pure module supplier into a comprehensive energy solutions provider.
Overseas breakthrough: bypassing tariff walls and absorbing tax rebate costs
Facing extreme hyper-competition in China's domestic market, high-margin overseas markets have become the essential battleground for solar leaders. In 2025, JinkoSolar's overseas sales accounted for a striking 65.52% of total revenue, with gross margins of 15.96% in the Americas and 6.34% in Europe, compared to -11.42% in China. LONGi's overseas revenue share stood at approximately 45%, with Europe, Latin America, and Australia all delivering double-digit growth.
However, the path overseas is strewn with obstacles. Anti-dumping and countervailing duty barriers erected by the United States against Southeast Asian solar products remain high, prompting both Jinko and LONGi to adjust overseas production footprints — LONGi, for instance, is building a new 1.6 GW module factory in Indonesia. Under the new export tax rebate abolition regime, LONGi plans to lift overseas shipment share above 50% in 2026, banking on BC products' technology premium to cover the rebate costs and sustain overseas profitability.
Light at the end of the tunnel: markets await H2 2026
Despite remaining mired in losses through Q1, the industry broadly expects a turning point to emerge in the second half of 2026. A research note from China International Capital Corporation (CICC) indicates that driven by "anti-cutthroat competition" policies and supply-side consolidation, solar industry chain pricing is poised to return to a reasonable range, with module prices needing to reach roughly 0.8 yuan per watt to achieve breakeven. According to InfoLink data, module prices fluctuated between 0.71 and 0.85 yuan per watt in late April 2026, already approaching the breakeven threshold.
JinkoSolar management expects the company's cost structure to improve and product gross margins to recover in H2 2026. Zhong Baoshen similarly judged that positive changes have emerged in industry capacity rationalization — while demand remains soft, prices have ceased their precipitous decline. In this solar elimination race that tests endurance and technological depth, whoever can first crack the code on technology premiums and second-curve growth will be the one to greet the genuine dawn at the tunnel's end.
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