GCL Optoelectronics Secures Nearly 200 Million Yuan in New Financing, and the "Fifth Offspring" of GCL Group Accelerates Its Capital Layout

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Recently, GCL Photovoltaic, a subsidiary of GCL Group, announced once again the completion of a nearly 200 million yuan Series C+ round of financing. This round of financing was jointly led by Cinda Asset Management and SAIF Partners. It is understood that this fund will be specifically used for the mass production construction and technological breakthroughs of GCL Photovoltaic's world's first GW-level perovskite industrial base in Kunshan.

GCL Photovoltaic was established at the end of 2019. Since its establishment, it has been focusing on the research, development, and mass production of large-area perovskite photovoltaic modules, and is committed to the industrialization of perovskite photovoltaic technology.

As the third-generation photovoltaic technology, perovskite photovoltaic materials have the advantages of low cost, high efficiency, and stability, and are gradually becoming an important development direction in the global photovoltaic industry. Especially in terms of efficiency improvement, GCL Photovoltaic has made significant breakthroughs. The efficiency of its newly developed tandem perovskite modules has reached the world-leading level of 29.51% and has passed the aging test of TÜV Rheinland in Germany.

Currently, GCL Photovoltaic's perovskite photovoltaic products have completed multiple demonstration applications and have completed performance verification in high-altitude and high-ultraviolet environments such as Qinghai and the Greater Bay Area.

Following the 500 million yuan Series C1 round at the end of last year, the cumulative financing of GCL Photovoltaic in the entire Series C round is nearly 700 million yuan. Data from Qichacha shows that in May 2020, Kunshan High-tech Venture Capital Co., Ltd. made an angel round investment. As of now, GCL Photovoltaic has completed 7 rounds of financing, and the investors include investment institutions and industrial giants such as Sequoia Capital China, Tencent, Temasek, IDG Capital, and Golden Stone Investment.

It is worth mentioning that the 500 million yuan Series C1 round of financing at the end of 2024 was also mainly used for the construction of the GW-level perovskite tandem production line in Kunshan. Six months later, GCL Photovoltaic raised funds again for this project.

It is understood that although perovskite photovoltaic cells have outstanding advantages, they still face two major challenges. Firstly, the stability and efficiency of perovskite photovoltaic technology in large-scale production still need to be further improved, especially the stability problem during long-term use. Although GCL Photovoltaic's modules have passed international authoritative certifications such as TÜV Rheinland, stability and durability are still important bottlenecks for technological breakthroughs before wide application.

Secondly, the production cost of perovskite photovoltaics is still higher than that of traditional crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules, although GCL Photovoltaic has achieved initial results in cost reduction. With the expansion of mass production scale and the maturity of technology, the cost is expected to be further reduced. However, how to solve the cost problem in large-scale production while ensuring efficiency and stability remains a challenge for GCL Photovoltaic in the future.

It is worth noting that on March 29, Zhu Gongshan of GCL Technology announced at the 2024 annual performance briefing that GCL Photovoltaic plans to complete its IPO within this year. If the IPO is successful, it will become the world's first stock in the perovskite field, and GCL Group's capital layout will also add a fifth listed company.

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Data shows that GCL Group was founded by Zhu Gongshan in 1990. It is a green and low-carbon technology enterprise mainly engaged in new energy, clean energy, and renewable energy in various forms such as wind, solar, energy storage, hydrogen, ammonia, and alcohol. Currently, GCL Group has four listed companies, namely GCL Technology, GCL System Integration Technology Co., Ltd., GCL New Energy Holdings Limited, and GCL Integrated Energy Services Co., Ltd.

Among them, GCL Technology is a leading enterprise in photovoltaic silicon materials. Its main business is divided into two categories. One is the photovoltaic materials business, mainly producing and selling polysilicon and silicon wafers. The other is the photovoltaic power station business, mainly managing and operating photovoltaic power stations in the United States and China. In addition, different from other leading polysilicon material companies, GCL Technology has been increasing the production expansion of granular silicon in recent years to better meet the requirements of current N-type modules for silicon material purity.

Data shows that in 2024, GCL's total production capacity of granular silicon was 480,000 tons, and the shipment volume was 281,900 tons, a year-on-year increase of 45%. The sales-to-production ratio reached 105%. According to the latest data in the first quarter of 2025, GCL Technology's market share of granular silicon has reached 25.7%. The market shares of granular silicon in the four quarters of 2024 were 12.3%, 13.2%, 15.2%, and 19.1% respectively, showing an upward trend.

In addition, Wang Bohua, the honorary chairman of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, previously pointed out at a relevant photovoltaic industry conference that the downstream recognition of granular silicon has increased, and most of the downstream silicon rod and silicon wafer enterprises have expressed their willingness to trial granular silicon.

However, judging from GCL Technology's performance, it may not be as good as the previous figures. In 2024, GCL Technology achieved an operating income of 1.51 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 55.20%; the net profit was -475 million yuan, compared with a net profit of 251 million yuan in the same period last year, a year-on-year sharp decline of 289.25%. Performance losses or declines were predictable in the photovoltaic industry in 2024, but a nearly three-fold decline was unexpected.

GCL System Integration Technology Co., Ltd. was established in 2003, formerly known as Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy Science & Technology Co., Ltd. Its core business is divided into three major sectors: photovoltaic modules and cells, energy storage systems, and system integration and carbon chain technology. Among them, the photovoltaic module business is the most important business. In 2024, GCL System Integration's operating income was 16.24 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.70%; the net profit was 68.29 million yuan, a year-on-year decline of 56.70%. Although the performance declined, it was still very good to maintain profitability among many photovoltaic module enterprises in 2024. However, according to the latest performance forecast for the first half of 2025, GCL System Integration expects to incur a loss of 250 million - 350 million yuan in the first half of the year, turning from profit to loss year-on-year.

In this regard, GCL System Integration explained that due to the policy-driven rush to install in the first half of the year (the so-called "430" and "531" policy effects), the installed capacity of the photovoltaic industry increased significantly year-on-year. However, affected by the imbalance between supply and demand in the industrial chain, the terminal price of modules was at a low level, the gross profit margin of modules declined year-on-year, and most links in the main chain of the industry suffered losses.

GCL New Energy Holdings Limited is a new energy enterprise under GCL Group that focuses on solar power generation, integrating development, construction, and operation. It was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2014. Its main business includes photovoltaic power station operation and hydrogen energy business, and its business is at the downstream application end of the photovoltaic industry.

It is worth mentioning that since 2020, GCL New Energy has been in a state of loss. From 2020 to 2024, its net profits were -1.368 billion yuan, -790.3 million yuan, -1.493 billion yuan, -1.166 billion yuan, and -424 million yuan respectively, with a cumulative loss of 5.2413 billion yuan.

GCL Integrated Energy Services Co., Ltd. is mainly responsible for power generation business and is a comprehensive energy service provider. Its main business includes three core sectors: clean energy power generation (photovoltaic, wind power, energy storage), battery swapping network construction, and virtual power plant operation. On the evening of July 14, GCL Integrated Energy Services Co., Ltd. released its performance forecast for the first half of 2025, expecting the net profit in the first half of the year to be 493 million - 555 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.01% - 35.11%.

It should be noted that last year, GCL Integrated Energy Services Co., Ltd. only achieved a net profit of 489 million yuan, a year-on-year decline of 46.92%. Regarding the pre-increase in the semi-annual report performance, GCL Integrated Energy Services Co., Ltd. said in the announcement that it was mainly due to the significant year-on-year increase in the revenue and profit of the energy service business. At the same time, the performance of the company's existing power plants such as wind power and gas-fired cogeneration plants also increased year-on-year this period.

It can be seen from the several listed companies under GCL Group that GCL Group's business runs through the entire photovoltaic industry chain and extends to fields such as energy storage, wind power, and virtual power plants.

Therefore, with this new round of financing for GCL Photovoltaic and combined with Zhu Gongshan's previous "bold statements", GCL Photovoltaic is expected to become the fifth listed company under GCL Group.

However, on the other hand, judging from the recent performance of the current four listed companies, only GCL Integrated Energy Services Co., Ltd. shows an upward performance trend, and some even have huge losses. Currently, photovoltaic enterprises are also in an adjustment period, and cash flow is crucial for an enterprise. GCL Group has many subsidiaries. If the companies are always in a state of loss, even GCL Group with a strong financial foundation may not be able to bear it.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Foreseeing Energy", author: Ke Yangming, editor: Yang Rui, published by 36Kr with authorization.