Two Solar Giants Report Another Difficult Year
Longi Green Energy and Trina Solar have reported sharp financial pressure in their 2025 results, with both Chinese photovoltaic manufacturers posting lower revenue and large net losses. The figures, published in a Chinese PV industry brief, add to evidence that the sector remains under intense margin strain even as shipment volumes stay enormous.
For Longi, 2025 revenue came in at CNY 70.347 billion, down 14.82% year over year. The company reported a net loss attributable to shareholders of CNY 6.420 billion, although the source says that loss narrowed from the previous year. Gross margin was 0.81% and net margin was negative 9.13%, numbers that suggest operations were running close to break-even at the gross level but still deeply challenged once broader costs were accounted for.
Trina Solar reported a similarly difficult picture. Revenue fell 16.61% year over year to CNY 66.975 billion, while net loss widened to CNY 7.031 billion. Gross margin was 1.02% and net margin was negative 10.50%. Most strikingly, the company’s module segment gross margin fell to negative 1.42%, which the source identified as a sign of continued pressure on core profitability.
Scale Is Not the Same as Profitability
The results are notable because both companies remain exceptionally large shippers. Longi said it shipped 111.56 GW of monocrystalline wafers and 86.58 GW of modules during 2025, while also recording 4.31 GW in external cell sales. Those are not the numbers of a shrinking industrial presence. They show that the company maintained massive throughput even as financial returns stayed weak.
That contrast is central to understanding the current state of the photovoltaic manufacturing business reflected in the source material. High shipment volumes do not automatically translate into healthy earnings. When margins are compressed toward zero, companies can remain operationally active and industrially significant while still reporting substantial losses.
Trina’s disclosed figures point in the same direction. The source text does not provide all of its shipment details in the portion supplied, but it does clearly state that the module business itself remained under pressure. Negative gross margin in a core segment is a particularly stark indicator because it suggests that even before counting wider operating costs, the economics were strained.
Longi’s Cost and Cash-Flow Signals
Longi’s report contained some countervailing indicators. Operating cash flow turned positive to CNY 4.359 billion, and the company reduced total operating costs by 8.72%. Sales expenses fell 29.96% while administrative expenses dropped 23.67%. Those improvements matter because they suggest management was able to pull several internal levers even in a weak pricing environment.
The positive cash-flow result does not erase the net loss, but it does show a degree of operational resilience. A company can be losing money on an accounting basis while still improving cash generation and tightening expense control. In Longi’s case, the source text supports a picture of a manufacturer that is still under pressure, yet not standing still.
What the Results Say About the Sector
Read together, the two earnings reports point to a Chinese PV market still wrestling with profitability despite industrial scale. Both companies posted double-digit revenue declines. Both reported multi-billion-yuan net losses. Both showed gross margins near zero or worse in critical areas. That combination indicates that the problem is not isolated to a single company’s execution. It appears tied to broader pressure on pricing and margins across the sector.
The source does not attempt to provide a full macro explanation in the supplied text, so it would go too far to assign specific causes beyond what is stated. But the financial outcomes alone are enough to establish the headline: two flagship manufacturers remain in a difficult earnings environment, and core module economics are still weak.
Why Investors and Policymakers Will Watch Closely
Results from Longi and Trina matter beyond company shareholders. These firms are major reference points in the global solar supply chain. Their revenues, margins, shipment levels, and cash-flow trends are closely watched by competitors, project developers, equipment vendors, and policymakers trying to interpret the condition of the manufacturing base.
When companies this large report losses of this size, it raises broader questions about sustainability, competitive dynamics, and how long current conditions can persist. The supplied source text does not answer those questions directly, but it makes clear they are becoming harder to ignore. Longi improved some operating indicators while remaining loss-making. Trina showed even deeper pressure in its module business. Neither profile resembles a sector that has returned to comfortable profitability.
The Current Takeaway
The immediate conclusion is straightforward. China’s photovoltaic industry is still producing at immense scale, but leading manufacturers are struggling to convert that scale into earnings. Longi and Trina’s 2025 results show revenue decline, narrow or negative margins, and billion-yuan losses across two of the sector’s biggest names. Until those profitability metrics improve, shipment leadership alone will not be enough to reassure the market.
This article is based on reporting by PV Magazine. Read the original article.
Originally published on pv-magazine.com
