South Korea’s OCI Holdings plans to construct a 2GW annual capacity solar cell manufacturing plant in the United States through its subsidiary, Mission Solar Energy (MSE), further expanding its photovoltaic vertical integration. The project will be implemented in two phases, with the first phase aiming to achieve 1GW of solar cell production capacity in the first half of 2026, and the second phase expanding by over 1GW in the second half of 2026, ultimately reaching a total capacity of 2GW.
OCI plans to invest $265 million (approximately RMB 1.917 billion) in the construction of the cell factory. The company stated that this move will help reduce production costs as the project will leverage existing factory infrastructure and equipment, and accelerate construction progress through pre-approved production licenses. OCI expects the project to be completed more than a year ahead of competitors, making it one of the most cost-effective and fastest-built photovoltaic cell manufacturing projects in the industry.
Currently, OCI operates a solar module factory in Texas, USA, and the establishment of the new cell factory means that OCI will achieve a more complete industrial chain layout from upstream cells to module production. OCI also said that the polycrystalline silicon used in the solar cells for this project will fully comply with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) requirements and will come from its Malaysian subsidiary, OCI TerraSus (formerly OCIM), thus eliminating the need to rely on Chinese polycrystalline silicon.
Furthermore, OCI TerraSus operates on hydropower, aligning with the RE100 renewable energy goal. Based on this “clean solar supply chain,” the solar cells produced by MSE will qualify for the Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit (AMPC) under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), receiving a subsidy of $0.04 per watt.
OCI revealed that the original plan was to establish a joint venture with global partners to jointly promote a vertical integration strategy in the US market. However, due to Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election and the accelerated imposition of tariffs on solar products from China, the company decided to adjust its strategy and establish an independent subsidiary to advance the project, in order to avoid market uncertainties and seize the market demand for locally produced solar cells in the US.
Currently, the annual production capacity of photovoltaic modules in the US market has exceeded 50GW, but other segments have not yet formed large-scale production, and there is a significant gap in the supply chain.
