Taiwanese Solar Cell Giants a Good Bet in the next Couple of Years
Can the Japanese Grab the Solar Leadership position from China
August 14, 2013Chinese Solar Raw Material Production to get Consolidated under a few Major Players
August 16, 2013Taiwan Solar Cells
The Taiwanese cell companies are a good bet in the next couple of years, as they have been strengthened by a number of 
tailwinds in the form of trade wars and the Japanese solar boom. Major solar cell suppliers such as Neo Solar Power, Motech and Gintech are running at 100% utilization as they fulfill orders from the developed market of solar panel makers. The solar panel industry in the west has almost been destroyed by the current downturn and now the solar panel duties on Chinese solar panel imports are not reviving the industry there. The Taiwanese have slightly higher costs than the Chinese, and do not have any duties which make them ideal for the US and European solar panel makers.
Read more about Taiwanese Solar Cell Manufacturers here.
The Japanese solar giants such as Sharp, Kyocera, Mitsubishi, Sanyo etc have very good long term relationships with the Taiwanese companies. The Japanese are seeing a huge demand growth from their home market and are sourcing solar cells from the island. These cells are much cheaper to buy from Taiwan, than making them in Japan. The European solar panel makers are also ordering panels and cells as buying from China is no longer attractive with the 56 eurocents/watt minimum price. The US duties of 20-40% has also led to windfall gains for the Taiwanese companies who have raised cell prices, as they are mostly sold out till 2014. I think that these companies are good solar buys given that they have a good balance sheet and better technology than the Chinese companies. Their main disadvantage of cost has been removed due to solar trade wars.