Daqo inks polysilicon sales contract with mono wafer newcomer

Daqo New Energy, one of the Big Five in China’s polysilicon industry, has signed a supply contract with Wuxi Shangji Automation, an ambitious newcomer in the production of monocrystalline solar wafers.

Daqo will deliver a flexible volume of 21,600 to 32,000 metric tons (MT) from September 2020 through the end of 2022. An initial amount of 2,400 to 3,200 MT will be supplied in 2020 and an additional 9,600 to 14,400 MT each in 2021 and 2022.

Daqo’s new agreement and the existing contracts with its two main customers, Longi and JinkoSolar, will add up to a supply volume of 63,600 MT to 74,400 MT in 2021 (see table above). This equals 80% to 93% of the company’s production capacity of 80,000 MT in Shihezi in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in northwestern China.

Wuxi Shangji Automation was founded in 2002 and is a manufacturer of grinding machines, band and diamond wire saws for the solar, semiconductor and sapphire industries. In December 2018 the company was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (stock code: 603185).

To extend its business into the production of monocrystalline ingots and wafers for the solar industry, Wuxi Shangji established the subsidiary Hongyuan New Materials and built a factory with a capacity of 5 GW in Baotou, Inner Mongolia in 2019. According to Daqo, Hongyuan “has quickly been recognized as a high-quality mono-wafer provider.”