As the trend of "anti-involution" accelerates, "black technology" serves as a decisive advantage. GCL-TECH (03800.HK) shines amidst significant capacity involution in the traditional industry, marking a splendid period for the company. On October 16, GCL-TECH released a voluntary announcement revealing a remarkable turnaround in its photovoltaic materials business for Q3 2025, leading the industry by returning to profitability and creating a vivid example for the country's "anti-involution" strategic actions.
According to the announcement, during this period, the photovoltaic materials segment recorded a profit of approximately 960 million yuan, a stark contrast to the loss of 1.81 billion yuan during the same period last year, showcasing strong resilience and sustainability amid intensified industry competition.
Notably, the profit includes after-tax earnings of about 640 million yuan from the sale of an associate company. Excluding this non-recurring income, the photovoltaic materials business still generated steady operational profit. Furthermore, the segment's EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) reached approximately 1.41 billion yuan, a significant recovery from the adjusted LBITDA (Loss Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) of 571 million yuan recorded in the previous year, reflecting continuous improvement in its fundamentals and profitability driven by technological enhancements.
As a leading player in the polysilicon industry, GCL-TECH leverages its cutting-edge silane fluidized bed technology (FBR) to continually optimize costs and improve efficiency while reducing carbon emissions for its granular silicon products. In Q3 2025, the average external tax-inclusive selling price of granular silicon stood at 42.12 yuan per kilogram, significantly up from 32.93 yuan per kilogram in Q2, indicating a rebound in demand and price restoration for high-quality granular silicon.
At the same time, the average production cash cost (including R&D expenses) of granular silicon further declined to 24.16 yuan per kilogram, down from 27.07 yuan per kilogram in Q1, highlighting the company's ongoing breakthroughs in energy consumption control, process improvements, and economies of scale. This cost advantage positions GCL-TECH among the few enterprises capable of meeting the new standards stipulated by the national "Silicon and Gallium Product Energy Consumption Limits," aligning with the country's dual-carbon strategy and the solar industry's goal of creating high-quality, sustainable development.
In the context of "involutionary" intense competition in the solar industry, GCL-TECH has actively adjusted its operational strategy, adhering to the principle of producing based on sales and maintaining low inventory, while enhancing collaboration with upstream and downstream partners to aid the rational return of prices across the entire industry chain and promote sustainable development. The company stated that it will continue to drive the high-quality release of granular silicon capacity and optimize its carbon footprint, working alongside industry peers to navigate out of the low-price competition predicament and achieve a virtuous cycle and ecological reconstruction in the industry.
An industry analyst remarked, "The essence of 'involution' is to compel technological advancements in the industry and accelerate the construction of intellectual property moats, effectively protecting and promoting the country's new type of productive forces." It is evident that GCL-TECH's leading return to profitability within the entire industry results from its comprehensive breakthroughs in technology, cost, talent, low-carbon practices, and market strategies. Undoubtedly, the profitability, operational efficiency, market share, and production cost breakthroughs exhibited by the company in Q3 are set to inject strong confidence into the market and investors.