On December 5, the New Economy Development Forum of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area and the 21st Century Technology Annual Conference, jointly hosted by 21st Century Business Herald and Standard Chartered Bank, and guided by Nanfang Media Group, was held at the Nanfang Finance Building in Guangzhou, with support from the Guangdong Robotics Association.

As a key thematic event of the Nanfang Finance Forum 2025 Annual Conference, the Technology Annual Conference was held under the theme “Innovation Without Boundaries, Insights for the Future,” bringing together leading voices from industry, academia, investment and policy circles to explore truly sustainable industrial pathways in the AI era.

Hu Zeyi, Executive President of GCL Technology, participated in a panel discussion titled “New Cycle, New Stage: Opportunities and Challenges for Chinese Enterprises Going Global.” During the discussion, Hu noted that China’s new energy industry has entered a new phase—evolving from product exports to the global expansion of industrial chains and ecosystems.

Addressing the topic of photovoltaic (PV) globalization, Hu began by reviewing the nearly 20-year development history of China’s PV industry. He noted that as one of the industry’s leading enterprises, GCL Group initially focused on upstream raw material innovation and downstream market development, while actively promoting overseas market expansion. After gaining a deep understanding of global demand across the new energy value chain, GCL moved into a second phase of globalization—technology export and technology localization.

“At that time, almost all PV equipment manufacturing, raw material production and application scenarios were concentrated overseas,” Hu explained. “We therefore took the lead in bringing advanced technologies back into China. In 2017, we introduced granular silicon technology and made substantial R&D investments, successfully achieving deep integration with existing domestic technologies.”
Prior to this, GCL had also expanded into third-generation photovoltaic technology through acquisitions in perovskite technology, providing strong technological momentum and competitive advantages for its participation in global PV competition.

According to Hu, the globalization of new energy has now entered a third stage—coordinated overseas expansion of industrial chains and ecosystems. This will be GCL’s strategic focus over the next five years. “During the ‘15th Five-Year Plan’ period, we plan to build another ‘GCL’ overseas,” he said.
Hu emphasized that “stabilizing the domestic market while expanding internationally” remains GCL’s core strategy, aimed at forming a mutually reinforcing dual-circulation development pattern and driving deeper penetration into key global markets, while building a more resilient and competitive international operating system.

“On the foundation of our accumulated technologies and resources, GCL has gained the recognition of multiple overseas capital partners,” Hu added. “We are steadily enhancing our core international competitiveness and progressively shaping a new global footprint for GCL.”

Regarding global supply chain layout and risk management, Hu noted that GCL adheres to a “multi-region, multi-node, localized” supply chain strategy to reduce dependence on any single market. At the same time, the Company actively leverages bilateral agreements between China and countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, while working with multilateral financial institutions and policy-oriented insurance providers to effectively manage political and trade risks.
As an example, Hu cited GCL’s project in Ethiopia, where the Company strengthened local integration through livelihood-oriented initiatives such as the “Light for All” project, enhancing community engagement and creating a stable operating environment for long-term project development.

“Looking ahead, we will continue to advance in tandem on core competitiveness and brand influence,” Hu concluded. “By comprehensively enhancing new quality productive forces and accelerating internationalization, we aim to build a world-class global operating system capable of systematically addressing external risks.”