The solar panel maker will drop the "solar" from its English name, as it builds up a second business pillar investing in frontier industries

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Key Takeaways:

  • JinkoSolar is adding a second business pillar by investing in emerging high-tech industries like AI, complementing its struggling legacy solar business
  • The company’s pivot includes early investments of typically 100 million yuan or less in AI startups Moonshot, StepFun and SiliconFlow

The old adage "what’s in a name" is taking on new significance in what at first glance appears to be a somewhat cosmetic name change by leading solar panel maker JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE:JKS). But a closer look at the announcement, which says the company will drop the words "solar" and "energy" from its English and Chinese names, respectively, turns out to be quite a game changer for one of China’s oldest solar manufacturers.

The company revealed that its main solar business will become one of its two main pillars, alongside a new second pillar that invests in emerging high-tech industries like AI, advanced materials and other "frontier technologies," according to its announcement last Wednesday. Reflecting that shift, its board has voted to change the company’s English name to Jinko Holdings Ltd., losing the word "solar." Similarly, its new Chinese name will lose the word "nengyuan," or "energy."

The big backstory is that China’s solar sector is suffering from massive overcapacity due to a huge state-led buildup over the last decade. That’s caused prices for solar panels and materials used to make them to plunge, sending companies throughout the supply chain deeply into the red.

China is taking steps to try fix the situation by closing or consolidating many of the smaller players, and forcing everyone to shut down capacity used to make older, less efficient panels and solar components. But the process has been quite slow, and investors lost their patience with this group of companies long ago. What’s more, it’s not at all clear that the government will continue to support all the current manufacturers through this difficult transition, meaning one or more major players may ultimately be forced to leave the sector.

All that has weighed on solar stocks, many of which have lost half or more of their value over the last year. JinkoSolar is typical of the group, with its stock down 57% this year alone, now trading at an eight-year low. The company also passed a dubious milestone in mid-June, when its market value dropped below the $1 billion mark that defines "unicorn" companies in emerging sectors. That said, some might argue solar is already quite mature, and companies from the sector lost their eligibility to be called "unicorns" long ago, regardless of their market value.

Investors were unimpressed with JinkoSolar’s latest pivot, as the stock sagged by a further 8% in the three trading days after last week’s announcement. Even analysts, normally a pretty positive group, are quite bearish on the company and its peers. Of the seven polled by Yahoo Finance, just one rates the company a "buy," while four rate it a "hold" and one rates it an outright "sell."

The company’s core solar business, which will continue to be held under its Shanghai-listed Jinko Solar Co. Ltd. (688223.SH) subsidiary, saw its revenue decline 45% between a peak in 2023 and last year. The figure fell another 31.3% year-on-year to 12.4 billion yuan ($1.85 billion) in the second quarter of this year. Jinko also fell into the red last year, and reported a net loss of another 697 million yuan in the second quarter of 2026.

Venture investor

Despite its woes, Jinko remains relatively cash rich, which is apparently what it will use for its new second pillar as a venture capital investor. The company had about 17 billion yuan in cash at the end of June, though that was down from 22.8 billion yuan just three months earlier. Part of the decline inevitably owes to the challenges the company is facing for its solar business, but part probably also owes to its new role as a venture investor.

"The proposed new name reflects what the company has become, a holding company anchored in a world-class solar and energy storage business and building a second engine of value creation through strategic investment," said CEO Du Dimi Du. 

Jinko quietly alluded to the change in its second-quarter earnings announcement in late August, which contained a section on "strategic investment highlights" with information on investments in two companies, LaPlace Renewable Energy and Hangzhou Gold Electronic Equipment. The latest announcement reveals that Jinko has been actively making minority investments in startups since the beginning of this year, with about 400 million yuan placed in eight companies so far, including LaPlace and Hangzhou Gold.

Among its other six investments, the three largest were about 100 million yuan invested in StepFun, 70 million yuan in SiliconFlow and 69 million yuan in Moonshot. Not surprisingly, all three of those are startups from the red-hot AI sector where company valuations are soaring as they consume huge amounts of cash to develop their products. Jinko’s other investments so far include 15 million yuan in Noetix Robotics, and 8.6 million yuan in Jabon Metallic Materials.

Jinko points out that it has already exited the LaPlace investment, netting 250 million yuan in realized gains, and that it recorded a 400 million yuan fair value gain for its investment in Hangzhou Gold, which recently completed its listing on Shenzhen’s ChiNext board.

The big issue with this type of investment is its huge level of risk, which can be difficult for less experienced investors like Jinko to manage. It’s quite easy to make money on such investments in the current market when valuations are soaring. But once the situation reverses, which many believe is inevitable, valuations are likely to come crashing back to earth. That could leave Jinko with huge losses if its investments fall below their valuations at the time it purchased its stakes.

Jinko isn’t the only solar company looking for relief from the struggling sector. In June, solar materials maker Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) (688303.SH) announced a similar pivot to AI data center electrical equipment, drawing on part of its past before it moved into polysilicon manufacturing for solar panels.  Investors haven’t been too impressed with that pivot either, with Daqo’s U.S.-listed shares losing about 30% of their value in the three months since that announcement.

At the end of the day, we can’t get too excited about these new pivots, even though we understand why the solar companies are taking these steps. In effect, both Jinko’s and Daqo’s moves look aimed at jumping from one burst bubble into another inflating bubble that’s almost certain to burst as well. Any bursting of the second AI bubble will only add to the growing losses from their solar business.

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Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.