Top 10 Countries Leading Solar Panel Production 2025
Top solar panel (PV module) producers — 2025 snapshot
“Solar panel production” is often quoted as if it were a single, perfectly tracked statistic. In reality, the most consistent, comparable global series is published with a lag. For a 2025 snapshot, this page uses the latest fully consolidated year of PV module production (2024) and treats it as the best proxy for the 2025 manufacturing landscape.
In the latest consolidated data, global PV module production reached 726 GW and manufacturing capacity reached 1,405 GW/year, with 83% of capacity located in China. Capacity exceeded demand and module spot prices fell below $0.10/W from late May 2024 — a sign of intense oversupply and margin pressure.
The ranking below reflects that concentration: China dominates, while the next tier is mainly India, the United States, and Southeast Asian export hubs.
Note: IEA PVPS reports smaller producers grouped as Europe (aggregate) and Other countries (aggregate) in its country-share chart. Those aggregates are included here to keep the official breakdown intact.
| Rank | Producer | Production (GW) | Global share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 627 | 86.5% |
| 2 | India | 24 | 3.3% |
| 3 | United States | 23 | 3.2% |
| 4 | Vietnam | 18 | 2.5% |
| 5 | Thailand | 11 | 1.5% |
| 6 | Malaysia | 7 | 1.0% |
| 7 | Cambodia | 5 | 0.7% |
| 8 | South Korea | 4 | 0.5% |
| 9 | Europe (aggregate) | 1.5 | 0.2% |
| 10 | Other countries (aggregate) | 4.4 | 0.6% |
If the chart above doesn’t load, the fallback bars still show the same ranking using the same values.
Reading tip: production volume is shaped by factory capacity and utilisation. In oversupply periods, capacity can rise while production (and profits) do not follow proportionally.
What’s shaping solar panel production in 2025
The biggest driver in 2025 is not a lack of factories — it’s the opposite. Oversupply across the PV value chain keeps prices low and forces manufacturers to compete on cost, scale, and access to end markets. That’s why “where panels are made” is increasingly linked to trade policy (duties, local-content rules, and incentives), not only to engineering.
Global PV module production (latest consolidated)
726 GW
A high-output year that still sits below global nameplate capacity, reflecting utilisation constraints.
Global PV module manufacturing capacity
1,405 GW/year
Capacity exceeded demand; this gap is a key reason module pricing stayed under heavy pressure.
China share of global module capacity
83%
China remains the center of gravity for scale manufacturing and upstream supply availability.
Price signal: spot modules below $0.10/W
Since late May 2024
A practical “stress test” for manufacturers: low prices can accelerate consolidation and reshoring incentives.
How concentrated is production?
The chart below translates the official country-share breakdown into a simple comparison: China versus the rest, and the “next tier” producers that matter most for diversification (India, the United States, and Southeast Asia).
China dominates (~86.5%). The next tier is India (~3.3%), the United States (~3.2%), Vietnam (~2.5%), Thailand (~1.5%), Malaysia (~1.0%), Cambodia (~0.7%), and South Korea (~0.5%), with small producers grouped as Europe (~0.2%) and Other (~0.6%).
Practical implications for 2025–2026:
- Low prices help developers and consumers, but squeeze manufacturers and can trigger consolidation.
- Trade rules can quickly shift assembly footprints (especially where exports target the U.S. market).
- Capacity growth outside China matters most when it is paired with upstream access (cells/wafers) and bankable QA.
Outside of China, the U.S. and India expanded module production capacity rapidly, reaching roughly 42.1 GW/year and 61 GW/year respectively by end-2024. Southeast Asia also developed substantial module capacity and has been a key export platform — but policy decisions can reshape those flows.
Demand is still expanding — but forecasts differ
Even with oversupply, global solar deployment continues to grow. BloombergNEF projected up to ~698 GW of new solar additions in 2025, highlighting how low equipment prices can accelerate build-out. The key uncertainty is not technical feasibility, but the mix of grid constraints, financing, and policy stability across major markets.
Methodology
This ranking measures PV module production (solar panels manufactured), reported in gigawatts (GW). Because comprehensive global production statistics are consolidated with a delay, the page is presented as a 2025 snapshot using the latest consolidated year (2024) as the best available proxy for the current manufacturing landscape.
How we compiled the ranking:
- Primary dataset: IEA PVPS “Trends in Photovoltaic Applications 2025” (upstream PV sector section).
- Global total: 726 GW of PV modules produced (2024).
- Country values: where explicit production values are provided (China, India, USA, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia), those are used.
- Smaller producers: IEA PVPS reports “Europe” and “Other countries” as aggregates in its country-share chart; those aggregates are kept to match the official breakdown.
- Rounding: values are lightly rounded for readability; shares are taken from the official chart where published.
Limits: production statistics differ from manufacturing capacity (what factories could produce at full utilisation). In oversupply periods, capacity can rise while production grows slower — and profitability can fall sharply.
Insights
The solar manufacturing story in 2025 is best described as scale plus policy. China’s leadership is not only a “module story” — it is rooted in upstream scale, supplier density, and the ability to expand and iterate rapidly. When module prices drop under heavy oversupply, low-cost ecosystems gain an even stronger advantage.
The second insight is that diversification happens in layers. A country can become a major module assembly hub quickly, but meaningful independence usually requires stronger positions in cells, wafers, and materials — plus bankable quality assurance and access to capital.
Finally, low module prices are a double-edged sword: they accelerate deployment (good for climate and consumers) but can trigger consolidation, factory closures in higher-cost regions, and renewed emphasis on industrial policy.
What this means for readers
- Developers and EPCs: low prices can reduce project CAPEX, but check supplier bankability and warranty strength during consolidation cycles.
- Policy watchers: trade rules and local-content incentives can reshape supply chains faster than technology shifts.
- Consumers: “made in X” often reflects final assembly; quality depends more on process control, testing, and component sourcing than on the label alone.
- Researchers: efficiency improvements matter, but the fastest near-term impact usually comes from manufacturing learning curves and scale.
FAQ
No. Production is what was actually manufactured in a year. Capacity is what factories could produce at full utilisation. In oversupply cycles, capacity can grow while production (and profits) lag.
Scale, tight supplier networks, large domestic demand, and deep manufacturing experience across the full supply chain (materials → wafers → cells → modules) create a cost and speed advantage — especially when prices are under pressure.
Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia (and Cambodia) became key export platforms, particularly to the U.S. market. When trade rules change, assembly footprints can shift quickly — affecting where “final” panels are made.
Not at the global level. Crystalline silicon dominates module production. Thin-film remains a smaller share, but can be strategically important in specific markets and applications.
Perovskites are improving quickly in labs, but scaling to bankable mass manufacturing is hard. In the near term, the biggest production shifts are more likely to come from policy and industrial strategy than from a sudden technology replacement.
Yes, mainly because aging fleets are growing and material recovery is becoming more valuable. Multiple analyses project the recoverable value from end-of-life PV materials to rise sharply through 2030 and beyond.
Sources
Global PV module production, country shares, capacity, and module price dynamics (2024 consolidated data). Open source
U.S. manufacturing capacity build-out and market context. Open source
Deployment outlook used for demand-side context. Open source
Regional manufacturing footprint and export-hub context. Open source
High-level market context on PV cost declines and deployment dynamics. Open source
Recycling / circularity context and projected market value for recoverable materials. Open source
