Recently, JinkoSolar announced that it will jointly build a 10GW high-efficiency battery module project with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund PIF and others. At a media exchange meeting held on July 24th, Qian Jing, the company's global vice president, stated that JinkoSolar's next step will be to "accelerate the transformation from global marketing to global manufacturing, from going global to manufacturing, and become a truly global brand of 'made in world', ushering in the era of global manufacturing 2.0
It is reported that JinkoSolar's joint venture in Saudi Arabia will invest $985 million, and the battery production efficiency is expected to reach over 27%. It is expected to start production around early 2026, with simultaneous production of 10GW batteries and 10GW components.
The first solar cell produced in a desert in human history will be manufactured by Jingke, a Chinese company, "Qian Jing said excitedly.
She believes that the current situation in the industry may be cyclical or normal, and the industry is looking for ways to break through the low profit era. Jingke Saudi Arabia factory may give the industry new room for imagination.
According to her introduction, the 2.0 version of global manufacturing has undergone three major changes. Firstly, JinkoSolar's manufacturing will shift from passive to active, from the strategy of passively avoiding trade barriers in the past to actively laying out production. Secondly, Jinko will transition from wholly-owned to joint ventures in terms of model, and may even adopt methods such as technology investment, experience investment, marketing investment, and brand investment to make the future full of imagination. At the same time, in terms of organizational and management structure, the core management team will be selected from a professional orientation to form the Dream Team. This will enable Jingke and its partners to maximize their complementary advantages, achieve the best allocation of their respective resources, and ultimately reflect a win-win situation for market performance and investment returns. Thirdly, the 2.0 version of global manufacturing, locally made and locally used, will mainly supply products to the local market in the production area.
This is also a subversion of JinkoSolar's ability output. In the previous Malaysia, Vietnam, and US factories, which were JinkoSolar's global manufacturing 1.0 era, we output production capacity. In the 2.0 era, starting with the Saudi factory, we output technology, systems, experience, talent, supply chain, and even corporate culture, "said Qian Jing.
She believes that the model of local production and global sales requires products manufactured in the host country to have efficiency levels, cost advantages, and quality assurance that are almost synchronized with those in China, in order to meet the needs of global customers rather than specific markets. Jingke possesses industry-leading fully automated unmanned factory mode and digital management capabilities, making it possible to achieve this goal.
Although labor costs are a weakness in overseas manufacturing, combined with the current investment in fully automated production lines and Saudi Arabia's advantage in green electricity prices, I believe the future is promising and its cost can reach the target, "she said.
In terms of raw materials for production, Qian Jing stated that domestic procurement will definitely be used in the initial stage. But in the long run, localization of material procurement will also be a trend. Jingke will gradually improve the localization rate of its supply chain by bringing domestic suppliers overseas, co building and cultivating local suppliers, and utilizing its global procurement platform and shared centers.
When faced with concerns from the outside world about whether multiple companies in the industry will face competitive pressure when expanding into the Middle East, Qian Jing stated that based on PIF's selection of partners this time, it will only choose the top enterprise in each field and will not cause excessive competition. Secondly, JinkoSolar has a market share of over 50% in the Middle East and as high as 70% in Saudi Arabia, with demand orders as a backup. This advantage is difficult to surpass in the short term. Thirdly, Jinko's rich experience in overseas manufacturing is also industry-leading.
As for concerns from the outside world about whether technology exports will create international competition and threaten China's photovoltaic industry, Qian Jing said that this "giving people fish is not as good as giving them fish" approach will actually promote the innovation power of Jingke. Teaching apprentices to starve their masters only means that they are no longer making progress. If you learn fast, I must be faster than you, which will force my R&D team to accelerate innovation
In her opinion, this layout in Saudi Arabia shows the blueprint for JinkoSolar's global layout 2.0. Previously, the outside world had been speculating about the location of JinkoSolar's fourth overseas factory. Now that the dust has settled, where will the fifth overseas factory be located? According to the logic of 'where there is a market, large capacity, and high local market share, go and produce', there may be an answer
She finally stated that Jinko will not give up any market and will win the market through technology output and local cooperation.