The Chinese manufacturer’s sales to its top 5 customers in 2024 represented 71.2% of the total sales volume of granular silicon.
Last year, GCL’s wafer production was a combined 32,243 MW (includes 11,700 MW of OEM wafers), which declined by 36.9% YoY compared to 51,077 MW it manufactured during the previous year. Its sale of 33,525 MW represented a decrease of 35.4% during the same period of 2023.
Overall, GCL’s solar materials business locked in RMB 14.95 billion ($2.06 billion) in revenues for the group from external customers. This was 55.3% less than its contribution to group revenues in 2023. The remaining contribution to group revenues came from its solar farm business, which it operates in the US and China.
Previously, GCL Technology had issued a profit warning for 9M 2024 with low ASPs of polysilicon and silicon wafers (see Chinese Silicon Producer Issues Profit Waning For 9M 2024).
Technology and capacity
At the end of 2024, GCL’s polysilicon production capacity amounted to 480,000 MT, an annual mono-silicon crystal pulling capacity of 10 GW, and an annual wafer production capacity of 35 GW.
GCL says, “The overall proportion of the Company’s granular silicon products with a total metal impurity content of 5 elements less than 1ppbw has been basically realized in full, and the overall proportion of the Company’s products with a total metal impurities content of 5 elements ≤0.5ppbw is projected to reach 100%.”
As the same suggests, granular silicon exists in small particle form, compared to silicon ingots (rods) produced via the modified Siemens method. To minimize the risk of contamination during application, GCL says it has been able to increase the particle size to now exceed 2mm. This large particle size has shown improved performance in crystal pulling applications while reducing the wire breakage rates of larger particle granular silicon. The finished product output increased by close to 4 kg/day.
The manufacturer claims its self-developed fluidized bed reactor (FBR) granular silicon saves about 19.5 billion kWh of electricity and reduces 10.48 million tons of carbon emissions annually, compared to the improved Siemens method. It has now completely exited the Siemens method of production.
Since carbon footprint is now a key indicator to measure the competitiveness in the PV industry, GCL says all its manufacturing bases have now achieved 100% coverage of sustainable supply chains with carbon footprint certifications across all key segments, including industrial silicon, granular polysilicon, crystal pulling and wafer slicing.
GCL is also working on a polysilicon production plant in the UAE in collaboration with Mubadala Investment Company. It originally announced the project in mid-2024, but does not refer to it in its 2024 financial results (see ‘Largest’ Polysilicon Production Plant Outside China).
