Radar IPO | Yingfa Ruineng, respaldada por Longi, sufrió una pérdida de 864 millones de yuanes en un solo año debido a la competencia en la industria fotovoltaica

The Interface News reporter | Guo Jingjing

The official website of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) shows that Sichuan Yingfa Rui Neng Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yingfa Rui Neng”), an N-type TOPCon cell producer, has recently submitted its Hong Kong Main Board IPO application materials for the second time.

Interface News learned that in June 2023, the company tried to rush to the capital market. It first attempted an IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Main Board, but within less than a month it withdrew its listing application. The reason for withdrawal was “uncertainty regarding future development strategy, changes in the market environment, and the timeline for the company’s A-share listing.”

Two years later, the company’s disclosed Hong Kong IPO prospectus provides more information. It reveals that around 2024, the company faced a “survival-and-death” crisis, with a massive loss of 8.64 billion yuan that year; in 2025, it turned a profit of 8.57 billion yuan, but as of the end of December that year, cash and cash equivalents were only 6.55 billion yuan, while total liabilities were as high as 86.89 billion yuan in the same period.

Now, with severe funding pressure, Yingfa Rui Neng has chosen to switch to the Hong Kong market. In August 2025, it submitted its Main Board IPO application to HKEX for the first time. Six months later, the application became “invalid.” Then in March 2026, it submitted the application again.

Betting on N-type battery cell wafers

Currently, among the global photovoltaic battery cell market, more than 80% of products are N-type TOPCon battery cell wafers. In recent years, Yingfa Rui Neng has completed its transition from P-type to N-type battery cell wafers. It has set up three major production bases in Yibin, Mianyang, and Indonesia, and in 2025 it relocated its headquarters to Yibin, Sichuan.

Based on its R&D system of “mass-production generation (TOPCon), reserve generation (BC), R&D generation (perovskite tandem)”, Yingfa Rui Neng stated that it has laid out a technology route for N-type xBC battery cell wafers on the basis of N-type TOPCon battery cell wafers. In August 2025, it became the world’s first specialized photovoltaic battery cell manufacturer to commercialize N-type xBC battery cell wafers.

According to the latest ranking of 2025 photovoltaic battery cell shipments released in February 2026 by InfoLink Consulting, Yingfa Rui Neng ranked second globally in battery cell shipments, only behind Tongwei Co., Ltd.

The prospectus shows that from 2023 to 2025 (the reporting period), the revenue generated by the company’s P-type PERC battery cell wafers accounted for the share of total revenue declining from 91.9% to 13.8% and 3.6%, respectively. Meanwhile, the revenue generated by N-type TOPCon battery cell wafers increased its share from 7.1% to 81.2% and 88.1%. In 2025, the company’s N-type xBC battery cell wafers began to generate revenue, contributing 3.2% of revenue.

For many years, Yingfa Rui Neng has relied on financing to “replenish cash.” From June 2022 to before this IPO application resubmission, the company completed four rounds of financing, raising more than 3.4 billion yuan. It introduced external shareholders including Yibin Gaotou (under the Yibin state-owned assets supervision and administration commission) and national green funds, Jianxin Investment, among others. As of the end of July 2025, after the last round of pre-IPO financing, the company’s post-investment valuation was approximately 8.594 billion yuan.

After the massive loss in 2024, overseas revenue still carries hidden concerns

The prospectus shows that from 2023 to 2025, Yingfa Rui Neng achieved revenue of 10.494 billion yuan, 4.359 billion yuan, and 8.713 billion yuan, respectively. The profits for the year were 410 million yuan, -864 million yuan, and 857 million yuan, respectively.

Regarding the massive loss in 2024, Yingfa Rui Neng’s explanation was: “The rapid expansion of photovoltaic battery cell wafer capacity led to an imbalance between supply and demand in the market, intensifying market competition. In addition, with the decline in wafer costs and improvements in production processes reducing non-wafer costs, photovoltaic battery cell manufacturers chose to lower prices to compete for market share, ultimately causing photovoltaic battery cell selling prices to fall.”

Since 2022, the global photovoltaic industry has attracted large-scale investment due to its high profitability. The further transition from P-type to N-type battery cell wafers also created additional demand for new capacity, leading to large-scale expansion starting in the fourth quarter of 2023.

According to Frost & Sullivan, the global supply volume of photovoltaic battery cell wafers increased from 799.9GW in 2023 to 1,105.8GW in 2025, but demand growth lagged behind, resulting in excess supply. The supply-demand surplus expanded from 248.1GW to 491.5GW. In the Chinese market, the supply-demand surplus also increased from 253.9GW in 2023 to 470.2GW in 2025.

Facing the industry’s “price war,” Yingfa Rui Neng could not avoid it. The average selling price of its P-type PERC battery cell wafers plummeted from 0.67 yuan per watt in 2023 to 0.25 yuan per watt in 2024, down 62.69% year over year. The average selling price of its N-type TOPCon battery cell wafers decreased from 0.44 yuan per watt in 2023 by 36.4% to 0.28 yuan per watt in 2024.

During this period, silicon wafers—which make up nearly half of the total cost of photovoltaic battery cell wafers—also saw price reductions. The unit purchase price of silicon wafers fell from 0.44 yuan per watt in 2023 to 0.19 yuan per watt in 2024. The price gap between the average selling price of P-type PERC battery cell wafers and the unit purchase price of silicon wafers narrowed from 0.23 yuan per watt in 2023 to 0.06 yuan per watt in 2024.

Since 2025, Yingfa Rui Neng has adjusted its product structure in parallel: it shut down the production lines for P-type PERC battery cell wafers at the Tianzhang base and focused on increasing effective production capacity for N-type TOPCon battery cell wafers.

As economies of scale reduced its manufacturing and labor costs, Yingfa Rui Neng’s N-type TOPCon battery cell wafers were maintained at 0.3 yuan per watt in 2025. Its average selling cost decreased from 0.3 yuan per watt in 2024 by 16.7% to 0.25 yuan per watt in 2025. The average gap between its average selling price and the average unit purchase price of silicon wafers widened from 0.12 yuan per watt in 2024 to 0.15 yuan per watt in 2025 (the unit purchase price of silicon wafers fell from 0.16 yuan per watt in 2024 to 0.15 yuan per watt in 2025).

Since 2026, the competitive pressure Yingfa Rui Neng faces has continued. Starting from April 1, 2026, the 9% VAT export tax rebate for photovoltaic products will be officially canceled. This means the end of the subsidy era in the photovoltaic industry, and the industry will shift toward competing based on real market competitiveness.

At present, demand in the photovoltaic battery industry continues to be weak. “Upstream and downstream companies are relatively pessimistic about the outlook, downstream companies have extremely low purchasing willingness, and they are exerting very strong price pressure.” On March 29, the Silicium Industry Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association disclosed that the price of silicon materials that week fell to around 40,000 yuan per ton. Silicon wafers and battery prices fell simultaneously, and among them, the mainstream price of battery cell wafers decreased by 2.44% month-over-month compared with the previous week.

Against this backdrop, since 2025 Yingfa Rui Neng has increased its efforts to expand overseas. According to the company’s disclosure, from 2023 to 2025 its overseas revenue increased from 342 million yuan to 468 million yuan and 3.526 billion yuan. The overseas revenue share rose from 3.3% to 10.7% and 40.5%. Among them, revenue related to the U.S. market increased its share from 2.4% in 2024 to 14.3% in 2025. India is its second-largest overseas market, with its revenue share rising from 2.5% in 2023 to 7.4% in 2024 and 11.9% in 2025.

However, any trade restrictions implemented by the countries in which Yingfa Rui Neng conducts business—such as antidumping duties, new tariffs, applications for countervailing duties, and quota fees, as well as any retaliatory tariffs resulting from them—may significantly affect its overseas market sales and product pricing.

“Relying on” Longi Green Energy?

Interface News noted that Yingfa Rui Neng has multiple significant related-party transactions, especially a deep binding with Longi Green Energy (601012.SH). “We believe there is no excessive reliance on Longi and that we have the ability to reduce our reliance on Longi,” Yingfa Rui Neng said.

From 2023 to 2025, Yingfa Rui Neng supplied photovoltaic battery cell wafers to Longi Green Energy. The sales amounts involved were 2.562 billion yuan, 893 million yuan, and 938 million yuan, respectively—accounting for 24.4%, 20.5%, and 10.8% of total revenue. In the same period, the company purchased raw materials from Longi Green Energy with purchase amounts of 2.872 billion yuan, 1.239 billion yuan, and 1.174 billion yuan, respectively—representing 24.8%, 13.1%, and 13.5% of total purchases.

Also according to the prospectus, from 2026 to 2028, the upper limit of transaction amounts for Yingfa Rui Neng to supply photovoltaic battery cell wafers to Longi Green Energy is 2.5 billion yuan per year. The upper limits of expenses for Yingfa Rui Neng to purchase raw materials from Longi Green Energy are both 1.5 billion yuan per year.

“We mainly rely on patents authorized by Longi to produce N-type HPBC battery cell wafers (a specific model of N-type xBC photovoltaic battery cell wafer products),” Yingfa Rui Neng said. If it fails to timely renew its cooperation agreement with Longi Green Energy, it could have a major adverse impact on its N-type xBC battery cell wafer R&D and product sales, as well as its overall operations.

Starting in 2027, Yingfa Rui Neng’s purchasing arrangements with Longi Green Energy will switch to a market-based framework. Yingfa Rui Neng stated that Longi Green Energy has agreed not to refuse external sales without reason, and once approved, the proportion of external sales will be subject to no restrictions.

It should be pointed out that during the reporting period, Yingfa Rui Neng’s inventory continued to rise, but the days of inventory turnover also increased. From 2023 to 2025, the company’s inventory increased from 277 million yuan to 1.153 billion yuan and 1.894 billion yuan, respectively. In the same period, the days of inventory turnover were 10 days, 47 days, and 69 days, respectively. In January 2026, as of December 31, 2025, the company’s unused inventory of 924 million yuan or 48.8% was subsequently sold or used.

“Increased raw material costs, business expansion, and the strategy-driven increase in inventory in the third quarter in response to the company’s expectation of higher photovoltaic battery cell wafer market prices in 2025, resulted in an increase in finished goods, which was partially offset by a decrease in work-in-progress,” Yingfa Rui Neng further stated. Compared with its capacity expansion, the intense competition across the industry among downstream manufacturers led to slower inventory turnover, thereby increasing finished goods inventory; “We expanded overseas sales business, and compared with domestic sales, the delivery cycle is longer, leading to an increase in inventory levels, including goods in transit and inventory before shipment.”