On June 25, the 2025 China (Leshan) Silicon Industry Chain Development Conference opened in Leshan, Sichuan, under the theme “Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement through Technological Innovation, Advancing Industry Collaboration.” Key attendees included:

• Ge Honglin, Party Secretary and President of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNMIA)

• Lin Shucheng, Vice Chairman of the Sichuan CPPCC

• Zhao Bo, Secretary of the Leshan Municipal Party Committee

• Zhang Xiaohui, Chief Economist of the SME Development Promotion Center, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

• Xia Shuguang, Senior Investigator, Import Investigation Division, Ministry of Commerce

The conference was chaired by Duan Debing, Vice President and Secretary General of CNMIA and Chair of the Silicon Branch. Also attending were Lin Ruhai, Deputy Secretary-General of CNMIA, Yu Hui, Deputy Director of Sichuan Provincial Economic Cooperation Bureau, and Zhao Yingchun, Vice Secretary and Mayor of Leshan.

Zhu Gongshan, Chairman of GCL Group, President of the Asia Photovoltaic Industry Association, and Chairman of the Global Green Energy Council, was invited to deliver a keynote speech. He analyzed the current challenges and opportunities in the silicon industry chain, advocating large-scale supply-side structural reforms in industrial silicon and polysilicon to promote healthy and sustainable industry development.

In his speech, Zhu noted that homogeneous competition and other factors have created consensus on the need for comprehensive restructuring of the silicon industry. Historically, every improvement in polysilicon pricing has stimulated prosperity throughout the value chain, a principle widely recognized by upstream and downstream enterprises. Over the past decade, notable rebounds and technological upgrades in the silicon industry have often been closely tied to policy interventions, such as the 2017 environmental inspection system and the 2021 dual energy consumption control policy, which drove supply-side reform and supported price recovery. Today, the industry eagerly anticipates another major consolidation at the silicon material level to restore reasonable pricing and stimulate a healthy cycle across the sector.

Zhu emphasized that the PV industry must quickly move past severe homogenization and internal competition, requiring coordinated action by government, associations, industry, and enterprises. Guided by the national “Dual Carbon” strategy and leveraging both the government’s “visible hand” and the market’s “invisible hand”, he called for supply-side structural reform:

• Industrial Silicon: Zhu suggested revising energy consumption, carbon emission, and environmental protection standards based on successful practices in other industries, making them mandatory indicators. Non-compliant capacity should be eliminated, accelerating the concentration of green and efficient production.

• Polysilicon: Guided by ESG principles, capacity should be classified into three categories based on comprehensive energy consumption and technical indicators:

  • Effective Capacity: Advanced technology, high market acceptance, and sufficient orders.

  • Ineffective Capacity: Technologically obsolete, lacking competitiveness, no real orders, yet refusing to exit—so-called “zombie capacity”.

  • Lagging Capacity: Between the two extremes, with outdated technology and only minimal orders to survive.

Professional institutions and industry platforms should evaluate these capacities based on actual orders, sales flow, contracts, customer composition, and technical/energy/environmental metrics that reflect new quality productivity, to identify advanced effective capacity and eliminate ineffective and lagging capacity.

Zhu also emphasized joint platforms to promote mergers, acquisitions, and debt resolution, noting that the silicon industry chain is a core engine for the energy revolution and underpins information technology development. Supply-side reform should restore polysilicon prices to reasonable levels, boosting output, profits, tax contributions, and export earnings across the industry.

During the conference, GCL Group Executive Director and GCL Technology Co-CEO Lan Tianshi participated in key guest meetings with Leshan city officials, association leaders, and industry partners for in-depth exchanges.

GCL Technology Assistant VP Xu Zhenyu engaged in high-level discussions with industry peers on phasing out outdated capacity, driving technological innovation, and promoting industry self-discipline, sharing GCL’s innovative paths and development experience.

On June 26, GCL Technology Strategic Research Director Qian Kun presented on “The N-type Application Path of FBR Polysilicon and Its ESG Contribution”, showcasing the company’s leading practices in green and low-carbon technologies.

The conference, hosted by CNMIA, attracted over 500 participants, including representatives from national ministries, industry associations, and enterprises, providing a high-level platform for dialogue, collaboration, and consensus-building in the silicon industry.