The five leading photovoltaic enterprises suffered a total huge loss of 14.8 billion yuan in the first half of the year, but the signal of bottom reversal has already been very clear...

China Energy Network learned that on August 31, Longi Green Energy (SH: 601012) officially released its 2026 semi-annual report. So far, the five leading photovoltaic module enterprises including Tongwei Co., Ltd. (SH: 600438), JA Solar Technology (SH: 002459), JinkoSolar (SH: 688223) and Trina Solar (SH: 688599) have all submitted their semi-annual results for the first half of the year.

None of the five enterprises achieved profitability, and the "winter" of the photovoltaic industry is still ongoing.

Among them, Tongwei Co., Ltd. posted the largest loss, with a net loss of more than 5 billion yuan; Trina Solar had the smallest attributable net profit loss belonging to shareholders, losing only 270 million yuan in the first half of the year; both JinkoSolar and Longi Green Energy recorded losses of over 3 billion yuan in the first half of the year; JA Solar Technology posted a loss of 2.663 billion yuan in the first half of the year, with a slight year-on-year widening.

However, some positive signals have emerged. Longi Green Energy and Trina Solar both reduced their losses quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, the operating cash flow of JinkoSolar, Tongwei Co., Ltd. and JA Solar Technology all turned positive collectively, the gross profit margin of JA Solar Technology also turned positive for the first time, and Trina Solar even achieved positive revenue growth......

The characteristics of the industry bottom are gradually taking shape, and the "spring" of the photovoltaic industry may really be not far away.

Five leading module enterprises all posted deep losses

None of the five leading enterprises achieved profitability in the first half of the year, with a total attributable net loss belonging to shareholders of about 14.812 billion yuan, and a total adjusted net loss after deducting non-recurring profit and loss of 18.588 billion yuan.

Among them, Tongwei Co., Ltd. recorded the largest loss, achieving operating revenue of 34.357 billion yuan in the first half of the year, down 15.19% year on year; its attributable net profit belonging to shareholders reached -5.119 billion yuan, compared with -4.955 billion yuan in the same period of last year, with the loss widening by 3.31% year on year. JinkoSolar achieved operating revenue of 24.727 billion yuan in the first half of the year, down 22.32% year on year; its attributable net profit belonging to shareholders was -3.076 billion yuan, compared with -2.909 billion yuan in the same period of last year, with the loss widening by 5.74% year on year. Longi Green Energy achieved operating revenue of 27.045 billion yuan in the first half of the year, down 17.58% year on year; its attributable net profit belonging to shareholders was -3.684 billion yuan, compared with -2.569 billion yuan in the same period of last year, with the loss widening by 43.40% year on year. The loss of JA Solar Technology also expanded slightly, achieving operating revenue of 17.498 billion yuan in the first half of the year, down 26.80% year on year; its attributable net profit belonging to shareholders was -2.663 billion yuan, with the loss widening by 3.21% compared with the same period of last year.

It is worth mentioning that the performance of Trina Solar is relatively outstanding. The company achieved operating revenue of 31.985 billion yuan in the first half of the year, up 2.99% year on year, becoming the only one of the five enterprises that realized positive revenue growth; its attributable net profit belonging to shareholders was -270 million yuan, with the loss narrowing sharply by 90.75% year on year.

China Energy Network believes that there are two main common reasons for the losses of the five enterprises in the first half of the year.

The first is the plunge of industrial chain prices. In the first half of the year, there was no obvious improvement in domestic demand, and the industry still faced overall oversupply. China's new photovoltaic installed capacity in the first half of the year was only 72GW, down 66% year on year. The severe overcapacity and insufficient orders led to generally low operating rates in all links, which kept the price of the whole industrial chain at a low level, and the product selling price was always lower than the manufacturing cost.

The second is the impact of exchange rate fluctuations. The appreciation of RMB brought large-scale exchange losses. The exchange losses of JinkoSolar and Longi Green Energy reached 821 million yuan and 697 million yuan respectively, and the financial expenses of JA Solar Technology and JinkoSolar surged by 529.94% and 589% respectively as a result. Under the condition of meager profit or loss, the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on the income statement is significantly amplified.

Signals of industry inflection point have emerged

Although the overall performance is in loss, the positive signals released by all enterprises in the semi-annual report are also worthy of attention.

The first is the substantial improvement of the company's operating cash flow. The semi-annual report shows that the operating cash flow of Tongwei Co., Ltd. turned positive from -1.951 billion yuan in the same period of last year to 109 million yuan; the operating cash flow of JinkoSolar also turned sharply positive from -3.812 billion yuan in the same period of last year to 682 million yuan, of which the operating cash flow in the second quarter increased by 1.513 billion yuan, with a significant quarter-on-quarter improvement; the operating cash flow of Trina Solar reached 5.072 billion yuan, which also surged by 175% compared with 1.844 billion yuan in the same period of last year.

Secondly, the gross profit margin of enterprises is also improving. The overall gross profit margin of JA Solar Technology turned positive from -3.53% in the same period of last year to 1.29%; the gross profit margin of its cell business improved to 13.34%, up 36.55 percentage points year on year; although the gross profit margin of photovoltaic modules is still negative at -1.74%, it has increased by 4.24 percentage points compared with the same period of last year. The gross profit margin of Longi Green Energy in the second quarter turned positive from negative to 3.13%, up 4.31 percentage points quarter on quarter. The gross profit margin of Trina Solar in the second quarter was 8.5%, up 1.8 percentage points quarter on quarter.

In addition, the performance of both Trina Solar and Longi Green Energy showed quarter-on-quarter improvement. The operating revenue of Longi Green Energy in the second quarter increased by 41% quarter on quarter, and its attributable net profit loss belonging to shareholders narrowed by 8.1% quarter on quarter. Trina Solar also achieved a single-quarter profit of 130 million yuan after turning losses in the second quarter.

The simultaneous improvement in the three dimensions of cash flow, gross profit margin and quarterly trend is often the most critical signal to judge the bottom of the industry. From "blood loss" to "blood production", the profitability of enterprises has taken a big step forward.

At the same time, all enterprises have shown their respective differentiated advantages, which is expected to support them to get out of the industry winter faster.

For example, the BC transformation of Longi Green Energy has entered the stage of large-scale volume release. In the first half of 2026, the total module shipment of Longi Green Energy was 29.93GW, of which the shipment of BC modules was 19.55 GW, up 125% year on year, and the shipment proportion increased to more than 65%. Trina Solar is the only enterprise that achieved overall positive profitability in the energy storage business in the first half of the year. Its energy storage shipment exceeded 5GW in the first half of the year, up 188% year on year; the energy storage revenue reached 2.472 billion yuan, up 92.27% year on year; and the gross profit margin of the business reached 21%.

Although positive signals have emerged gradually, to achieve accelerated development in the second half of the year, it still depends on which enterprise can maintain cash flow, hold technical barriers and seize the next growth point in the industry winter. The photovoltaic winter will not last much longer, but it is far from the time to slack off.

This article is from the WeChat official account "China Energy Network", author: Gao Ming, editor: Han Chenggong, published by 36Kr with authorization.