Top photovoltaic company with 39 billion in revenue lost 9.2 billion last year, a veteran figure has completely "left the stage"

Ask AI · TCL Zhonghuan veteran Shen Haoping steps down—does it signal a shift in strategic focus?

21st Century Business Herald reporter Cao Enhui Shanghai report

At the same time it turned in a loss-making set of earnings, TCL Zhonghuan (002129.SZ), a photovoltaic leader with a market value of under 40 billion yuan, also saw significant changes in some of its key core executive positions.

On the evening of March 24, TCL Zhonghuan released its 2025 annual report. The annual report shows that during the reporting period, the company generated operating revenue of 29.050 billion yuan, up 2.22%; it recorded net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of -9.264 billion yuan, narrowing its losses by about 0.554 billion yuan compared with 2024.

TCL Zhonghuan’s business is divided into the new-energy photovoltaic segment, the semiconductor materials segment, and other segments. In 2025, the revenues of these three major segments were 22.725 billion yuan, 5.707 billion yuan, and 0.618 billion yuan, respectively, with revenue mix of 78.23%, 19.64%, and 2.13%. Specifically, photovoltaic wafers and photovoltaic modules are TCL Zhonghuan’s largest revenue sources; in 2025, they achieved revenue of 12.238 billion yuan and 9.324 billion yuan, respectively, together accounting for more than 74%. But compared with 2024, due to a significant drop in prices, the revenue decline in TCL Zhonghuan’s wafer business reached 26.49%. Meanwhile, the module business filled the revenue gap left by the wafer business, with revenue growth of 60.45% in 2025.

In fact, changes in the composition of principal revenue reflect TCL Zhonghuan’s adjustment of its operating strategy in 2025. In its annual report, TCL Zhonghuan said that in 2025 it shipped 15.1GW of photovoltaic modules, and that its product structure, business development and customer expansion, and brand capabilities were all improved compared with 2024. Strengthening the module business may be one of the company’s key priorities right now.

In January 2026, TCL Zhonghuan issued an announcement stating that it plans to invest in Dào Yì New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. to leverage relative advantages in technology, scale, and efficiency, thereby accelerating the advancement of the company’s appropriately integrated strategy. The announcement further shows that as the investor, TCL Zhonghuan will invest in Dào Yì New Energy through methods such as acquiring shares, accepting voting-right delegation, and capital increases.

In its 2025 annual report, TCL Zhonghuan also indirectly responded to the aforementioned acquisition and merger: “Based on insights into industry trends and due-diligence assessments of industry companies, the Company will integrate its existing high-quality battery-module capacity, leverage the company’s BC technology advantages in synergy, expand the scale of its leading capacity, and help drive industry technology upgrades and improve the competitive landscape.”

When the photovoltaic industry is still in a downturn, improving operating performance is a common goal for photovoltaic companies. In this context, personnel changes are relatively common. However, TCL Zhonghuan’s latest personnel changes have drawn significant attention within the industry, largely because a veteran figure has made a decisive “exit.”

According to an announcement released by TCL Zhonghuan, the company’s board of directors has recently received resignation applications from multiple non-independent directors, requesting to step down from their positions as directors and as members of the corresponding special committees under the board. This includes Shen Haoping, who serves as vice chairman.

The reason Shen Haoping is a key figure at TCL Zhonghuan is that his professional background is deeply intertwined with this company. As a well-known expert-type entrepreneur in the photovoltaic industry, Shen Haoping, who graduated from a well-regarded program, began serving as vice general manager of Huanhuan Co., Ltd. (later renamed TCL Zhonghuan) in 2006. After that, he held roles as general manager and chairman, spanning the transition of Zhonghuan Co., Ltd. from the “SOE era” to the “TCL era.”

In 2020, as TCL Technology Group completed its acquisition of Tianjin Zhonghuan Group, Shen Haoping’s position at Zhonghuan Co., Ltd. was also expected to undergo the corresponding change. In 2024, Shen Haoping stepped down as TCL Zhonghuan CEO (chief executive officer), while retaining the vice chairman position. Outside observers interpreted this as him moving to a secondary role.

After that, the CEO position of TCL Zhonghuan was temporarily held concurrently by Li Dongsheng, founder of TCL Technology, until September 2024, when Wang Junjun—Shen Haoping’s “protégé”—succeeded him as CEO, and TCL Zhonghuan ushered in an “80s-born” executive leader.

However, after serving as CEO for only about half a year, Wang Junjun also submitted a resignation letter. According to the announcement, the board of directors of TCL Zhonghuan recently received Wang Junjun’s written resignation application. He is stepping down from his roles as CEO and the company’s legal representative in order to focus on the management of the company’s semiconductor materials business. It is worth noting that Wang Junjun was also elected to the vice chairman position. This change path almost replicates Shen Haoping’s. Please note that Wang Junjun’s subsequent work will also focus on TCL Zhonghuan’s semiconductor materials business.

After these personnel changes, Shen Haoping has completely withdrawn from TCL Zhonghuan’s executive team. Meanwhile, Ouyang Hongping, who took over Wang Junjun’s CEO role, previously performed the duties of TCL Zhonghuan COO (chief operating officer), and he had also served as a senior vice president at TCL Huaxing.

Thus, under the pressure of turnaround and heavy loss, TCL Zhonghuan’s executive team is the first to undergo a “new generation” of leadership.