$Tesla (TSLA.US)$A planned investment of 20 billion yuan in purchasing Chinese photovoltaic equipment aims to break through U.S. tariff barriers and address power shortages, paving the way for its local 'terrestrial energy empire.' Elon Musk is casting a vote with real capital, providing strong endorsement for China's photovoltaic industry as an unshakable leader in the new global energy order.
On March 20, it was reported by foreign media that Tesla is planning to purchase solar panels and battery manufacturing equipment worth 2.9 billion U.S. dollars (approximately 20 billion yuan) from Chinese suppliers, including Miasun Technology, potentially involving several listed companies, such as$Suzhou Maxwell Technologies (300751.SZ)$、$LAPLACE Renewable Energy Technology (688726.SH)$、$Shenzhen S.C New Energy Technology Corporation (300724.SZ)$Etc.
Affected by the rumors, the photovoltaic equipment sector surged across the board. As of the market close on March 20, the overall photovoltaic sector strengthened significantly, with standout performance from the equipment end, as shares of Miasun Technology and Jiejia Wei Chuang both surged over 9%.
01 Musk’s 'Ground Strategy'
In February 2026, news of Musk’s team secretly visiting multiple Chinese photovoltaic companies sparked heated market discussions, covering equipment, silicon wafers, battery modules, and advanced technology directions, with particular attention paid to next-generation high-efficiency technologies such as heterojunction (HJT) and perovskite. This aligns closely with Musk’s long-term strategic layout in space-based photovoltaics, which we have explained in detail in this article: 'What Did Musk’s Team Focus on During Their Secret Visit to Chinese Photovoltaic Companies?'
However, it is necessary to clarify one easily confused point: Tesla’s procurement this time is mainly for terrestrial production lines, which differs from the direction involved in the secret visit in February.
Based on the potential partner companies revealed thus far — Miasun Technology, Jiejia Wei Chuang, and Laplace — all three are photovoltaic manufacturing equipment enterprises. Their product lines primarily focus on battery cell production processes for large-scale mass production scenarios, such as screen printing, diffusion, coating, and full-line delivery. These solutions are designed to meet industrial-grade manufacturing needs for ground-based photovoltaic power stations or residential rooftop applications.
Additionally, according to informed sources, the purpose of the equipment is that after the production line is built, the resulting solar panels will mainly be used internally by Tesla, including some allocated to SpaceX for satellite power supply.
It is important to clarify here that equipping satellites with solar panels for self-powering is not the same as 'space photovoltaics.' Space photovoltaics refers to large-scale electricity generation in space and transmitting that energy back to Earth, constituting a complex energy system. In contrast, solar panels on satellites are standard power supplies for the satellites themselves.
Therefore, the core application of this batch of procured equipment is mainly for terrestrial energy systems, rather than 'space orders.'
02 Musk's 'Energy Empire'
The photovoltaic orders under Musk's team are mainly divided into SpaceX (S-Chain) and Tesla (T-Chain), with planned application scenarios being space and ground, respectively.
SpaceX’s photovoltaic demand primarily serves space applications such as spacecraft, satellites, and space stations. The space environment imposes extremely stringent requirements on photovoltaic technology, necessitating stable output under extreme temperature differences and intense radiation. Therefore, the demands for cell conversion efficiency, weight reduction, and durability far exceed those of terrestrial standards. Currently, SpaceX is focusing on next-generation high-efficiency technologies such as heterojunction (HJT) and perovskite in the field of space photovoltaics, with overall efforts still in the stages of technology accumulation and early planning.
Tesla’s photovoltaic business focuses on terrestrial applications, with key product lines including Solar Roof, Solar Panels, Powerwall (home energy storage batteries), and Megapack (grid-scale large energy storage systems), providing integrated distributed photovoltaic and energy storage solutions covering all scenarios from households and commercial use to power grids.
Unlike the S-Chain, the core requirement of the T-Chain is mass production capability and cost control, supported by mature and stable industrial-grade manufacturing equipment. It has now entered the substantive phase of capacity expansion.
According to recruitment information posted on Tesla’s official website, its goal is to achieve a solar manufacturing capacity of 100 gigawatts starting from raw materials within the United States by the end of 2028. Behind this goal lies Musk’s attempt to establish a fully autonomous and controllable solar manufacturing system in the U.S., encompassing everything from equipment to finished products. The procurement of manufacturing equipment from China represents a critical step toward achieving this objective.
In the public eye, Tesla is an automobile manufacturer. However, Musk’s vision for the company has long surpassed the boundaries of “car manufacturing.” As early as 2016, Elon Musk outlined “solar + energy storage” as one of the company’s core strategies in his document 'Tesla Master Plan Part Deux,' proposing the creation of an “efficient, aesthetically pleasing, and energy-storage-integrated energy system.”
In January 2026, Musk further elaborated on his vision for solving humanity’s energy challenges, presenting a 'three-step plan': Step one, utilize Tesla Megapack batteries to store idle nighttime electricity from power plants, enhancing grid efficiency; step two, launch solar-powered AI satellites into space to maximize the utilization of solar energy leveraging 24-hour sunlight in space, with deployment expected to require 8,000 launches within a year; step three, establish a satellite factory on the Moon to manufacture satellites using local resources and launch them into orbit, enabling larger-scale solar energy capture — a step he considers a true upgrade to humanity’s energy infrastructure.
From car manufacturing to energy storage, from terrestrial photovoltaics to space satellites, Musk has a complete energy logic that forms a self-reinforcing closed loop.
03 In the New Energy Order, the 'China Coordinate' Cannot Be Ignored
This $2.9 billion procurement order, when viewed from a broader perspective, is merely a footnote to a much larger narrative.
Over the past decade, China has undergone a complete cycle in the photovoltaic manufacturing and power battery sectors, transitioning from subsidy-driven growth to fierce market consolidation, and ultimately achieving global dominance.
Around 2010, both industries relied on state subsidies to take off, with massive capital inflows leading to rapid capacity expansion. This was followed by brutal price wars, with photovoltaic module prices dropping 90% over a decade, and the cost per kilowatt-hour of power batteries falling from thousands of yuan to less than a hundred yuan. A large number of small and medium-sized enterprises were eliminated during this shakeout, while those that survived honed their ability to control costs to an extreme degree and accelerated their pace of technological iteration. Companies such as Tongwei, LONGi, $CATL (03750.HK)$and other leading enterprises emerged victorious from this ruthless competition, ultimately establishing their global dominance.
Hu Dan, Chief Analyst for Photovoltaics at S&P Global Clean Energy Technology, has pointed out that China’s newly installed photovoltaic capacity will continue to lead globally in 2025, accounting for 57% of the world's total new photovoltaic installations. Notably, 2025 will mark the first time that global new photovoltaic installations surpass coal-fired power, with photovoltaics becoming the dominant force in new global electricity capacity additions. This historic leap is inseparable from the rapid development and scale contributions of China’s photovoltaic industry.
By the end of 2025, China's production capacities for polysilicon, silicon wafers, solar cells, and modules will account for 96%, 96.2%, 91.3%, and 80.1% of global totals, respectively. These figures are not simply the result of subsidies but represent outcomes repeatedly validated by the market after enduring a prolonged period of elimination. The formation of this advantage is attributed to companies’ relentless efforts in refining cost control capabilities and accelerating technological iteration—key reasons why Tesla CEO Elon Musk, after comparing options globally, still opts for Chinese suppliers.
From this perspective, rather than being just a procurement decision, this move is more akin to a public endorsement—he used a $2.9 billion order to confirm an indisputable fact: the irreplaceability of China’s photovoltaic industry in the global renewable energy landscape.
Musk’s choice stems not only from the irreplaceable advantages of China’s photovoltaic industry but also partly from structural challenges within the U.S. domestic energy sector.
On one hand, the U.S. has implemented a multi-layered tariff system on photovoltaic products, often stacking tariffs, which has raised the cost of deploying solar energy in the United States. Musk has publicly criticized these tariffs, stating they make solar energy economics 'artificially high,' slowing the adoption of clean energy.
What Musk highlighted reflects a practical path for the current U.S. photovoltaic industry: under a high-tariff environment, directly importing solar cells and modules remains prohibitively expensive. Instead of continuously bearing tariff costs, companies prefer to introduce Chinese equipment to build factories locally, shifting costs upfront into capital expenditures while leveraging local subsidies to achieve a more optimized overall cost structure.
On the other hand, the United States faces insufficient domestic solar manufacturing capacity. According to data from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, the U.S. is expected to see a significant increase in new solar installations in 2024, bringing cumulative installed capacity close to and exceeding 235.7 GW. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that solar power will account for approximately 5% of total U.S. electricity generation, making it a leading contributor to new power capacity, though it has yet to become a primary baseload energy source.
Meanwhile, pressure on the demand side continues to mount. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that U.S. electricity consumption reached a record high for the second consecutive year in 2025 and is projected to rise further in 2026 and 2027. The surge in demand driven by artificial intelligence data centers and manufacturing needs is making electricity shortages one of the most pressing issues for the U.S. to address.
Under the triple pressures of insufficient supply, surging demand, and tariff barriers, circumventing component tariffs and directly procuring Chinese-made equipment to build local production capacity has emerged as the fastest and most cost-effective solution to break the deadlock.
When the world's most ambitious energy strategists choose to bet on Chinese manufacturing, this itself is the answer — what China’s photovoltaic industry has achieved through over a decade of fierce competition is not merely a ticket to participate but a central role in the new global energy order that no external pressure can shake.
Editor/Rocky