Tesla's 2 Billion Yuan "Bulk Purchase" of Chinese Photovoltaic Equipment? Enterprise: Confirmed

Rumors that Tesla is “buying up” Chinese photovoltaic equipment were further confirmed on March 20.

According to Beijing News Shell Finance, a photovoltaic company confirmed the news to reporters that morning and revealed that the contract scale reached gigawatt levels.

Meanwhile, Reuters cited multiple informed sources for more details. The report states that Tesla is seeking to purchase equipment worth approximately $2.9 billion (about 20 billion RMB) from Chinese suppliers, used for manufacturing solar panels and solar cells. This move is part of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s plan to achieve 100 gigawatts of solar manufacturing capacity in the United States by the end of 2028, to meet the growing electricity demand in the country, including data centers.

(Source: United Morning Post)

It is reported that Maiwei Co., Ltd. is one of the main equipment suppliers for the project and has applied for export licenses from China’s Ministry of Commerce. Other potential domestic suppliers in negotiations include Jiejia Weichuang and Laplace. Sources say that this batch of equipment includes screen printing production lines requiring export licenses. The company has been asked to complete delivery by this fall, and the equipment is expected to be shipped to Texas, USA.

According to reports from February, Elon Musk’s team secretly visited several Chinese photovoltaic companies to inspect projects involving equipment, silicon wafers, and battery modules, with a focus on companies using heterojunction and perovskite technology routes.