China silicon supplier Lihao gets $305m Series B
Lihao Semiconductor, a China-based supplier of silicon materials used in solar panels, has raised CNY 2.2bn (USD 305m) in Series B funding from an investor group featuring Oceanpine Capital, V Fund, and Harvest Capital.
Other participants include Changjiang Innovation Investment, China-Belgium Direct Equity Investment Fund, China-US Green Fund, and Zhejiang SilkRoad Fund. Existing backers IDG Capital, Jolmo Investment and energy player Chint re-upped.
Those three investors took part in a Series A in December 2021 alongside Shenzhen-listed semiconductor materials specialist JSG, also known as Zhejiang Jingsheng Mechanical & Electrical.
Founded as recently as April 2021, Lihao focuses on a widely-acknowledged bottleneck in China's solar power industry. Silicon materials are the most demanding part of the value chain in terms of technical capability and investment, and they have the longest product expansion cycle.
China wants to have 1,200 gigawatts of installed solar capacity by 2030, but growth in high-purity crystalline silicon output doesn't match that in downstream panel manufacturing and installation.
Lihao is targeting 200,000 tons in annual production capacity within three years. The first phase of plant construction was completed in July, two months ahead of schedule, and the first batch of silicon material was shipped in August. This is a new record for length of time from construction to beginning shipments of silicon material.
The new capital will support phase-two construction and ongoing R&D efforts.
“Amid the backdrop of China’s energy transition, solar has gradually grown into a long-term, globally competitive industry. However, since 2021, the supply-demand mismatch for upstream silicon materials has driven up the price of downstream solar panel manufacturing, which restricts the expansion of installed solar capacity,” said Chuan Lu, chairman of Chint, in a statement.
Lighthouse Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor for the Series B round.
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