(Yicai Global) April 6 -- Shangji Automation’s shares climbed after the major Chinese supplier of photovoltaic silicon wafers said it plans to spend CNY5 billion (USD726 million) to build its first solar panel plant, expanding its business downstream in the PV industry.

Shangji [SHA: 603185] finished 4.2 percent up at CNY106.43 (USD15.48) a share today.

The factory, to be located in Jiangyin, near the Yangtze River delta, will have an annual production capacity of 16 gigawatts, the Wuxi-based company announced late on April 4. Stock markets in the Chinese mainland were closed yesterday for the Qingming Festival.

The project’s first phase, with an investment of CNY1.5 billion, will have a output capacity of 5 GW solar panels a year and be completed in the third quarter, Shangji Automation noted, adding that the second phase, whose schedule has yet to be determined, will cost CNY3.5 billion and have an annual capacity of 11 GW.

Shangji Automation began to make solar monocrystalline silicon wafers in 2019. Since then, its annual capacity has increased to about 35 GW, becoming one of China’s major solar silicon wafer producers. The firm also invested in polycrystalline silicon projects in the upstream segment of the solar energy industry chain and solar cell projects in the midstream segment.

Editor: Futura Costaglione