80% of global solar cell value creation takes place in China.

Omissions

• The IEA report 'Solar PV Global Supply Chains' was published in July 2022, making the primary supporting data approximately four years old relative to the June 2026 session date. However, the IEA's 'Renewables 2024' report confirms that China is expected to maintain more than 80% of global manufacturing capacity for all PV segments through 2030, suggesting the pattern has persisted.
• The claim uses 'value creation' (Wertschöpfung), which is an economic value-added metric, while the IEA data refers to manufacturing capacity and production volume share. These are related but not identical: a country could have a high manufacturing volume share but a lower value-added share if it specializes in lower-margin assembly stages.
• The IEA figure covers the entire solar PV supply chain (polysilicon through modules), not only solar cells. For wafers specifically, China's share is even higher (around 95%), while for modules it is somewhat lower, making the 80% figure a reasonable average across all segments.

Sources

• PrimaryIEA – Solar PV Global Supply Chains (Executive Summary)Today, China's share in all the manufacturing stages of solar panels (such as polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells and modules) exceeds 80%. This is more than double China's share of global PV demand.
• PrimaryIEA – Renewables 2024 (Executive Summary)By 2030, China is expected to maintain more than 80% of global manufacturing capacity for all PV manufacturing segments.
• SecondaryEmber Energy – China solar cell exports grow 73% in 2025The IEA has stated that China's solar photovoltaic exports account for 80% of the global market.