context: The PRC's strategic emerging industries grapple with 'involution'—a phenomenon of intense, low-quality competition characterised by rapid capacity expansion and destructive price wars that erode sector-wide profitability. In the PV sector aggressive undercutting forced prices across the supply chain to plummet below cost. Beijing prioritises 'anti-involution' as a top economic mandate, explicitly directing industries to pivot from zero-sum market grabbing to coordinated, high-quality development. This policy shift was reinforced by the recent Central Economic Work Conference, which called for strengthening industry self-discipline and preventing 'involution-style' vicious competition, positioning the PV sector's current governance efforts as a critical test case for the nation's broader industrial restructuring.
The 2025 PV Industry Annual Conference was held on 18 December 2025, where industry leaders highlighted that while 'anti-involution' measures have effectively stabilised the upstream sector, the recovery remains uneven across the supply chain.
- upstream (polysilicon) governance success
- prices up 38.9 percent YTD (January–November)
- output cut by 29.6 percent (January–October) via self-discipline
- consolidation platform formally launched to manage capacity
- downstream lag and supply-demand mismatch
- wafer output down 6.7 percent; cell/module output rose ~10–13 percent
- minimal price recovery (0.4–2.3 percent) for downstream links
- module sector remains under pressure due to weak Q3 demand
- financial trend
- sector-wide losses narrowing
- Q3 deficit reduced by 46.7 percent QoQ
- industry signaling a market bottom
- regulatory focus
- government commitment to enforcing ‘demand-based production,’ eliminating ultra-low bidding
- accelerating market exit for outdated capacit
Gao Jifan 高纪凡 Trina Solar chair's call to action
- governance must extend beyond silicon to wafers, cells, modules and auxiliaries
- urgent need to replace price wars with vertical synergy to achieve industry-wide profitability