With tight solar wafer supply persisting, solar wafer makers in China and Taiwan have continued to ramp up capacity. In addition, some primarily solar cell makers are also expanding their own wafer capacity to ensure sufficient supplies. Orders for ingot growing furnaces and ingot slicing equipment are extremely strong at the moment, particularly from the China market.

Despite already in the traditional off season of the solar market, solar wafer makers are still seeing orders in excess of capacity, which has also helped to buoy wafer prices. Currently, Taiwan-made 6-inch wafers is priced at US$3.50-3.60 per unit, only down 5% from the end of 2010. In China, spot quotes of first-tier makers range from US$3.30-3.80.

The solar wafer shortage will persist throughout the first half of 2011, according to industry sources, and Taiwan-based solar wafer makers such as Green Energy Technology (GET), Eversol and Danen Technology all have aggressive plans to ramp up capacity.

Solar cell makers in Taiwan in recent years have developed their own wafer manufacturing capability to secure supply and lower cost, and these companies are also looking to expand capacity in 2011. Motech Industries' solar wafer capacity is expected to more than double this year, and Gintech Energy will bring capacity up to 300MWp initially.

For China, both specialized solar wafer makers and vertically integrated companies are seeing opportunities during the current shortage. China's GCL-Poly has acquired 300MWp in wafer capacity and will further raise capacity via new equipment installation. LDK Solar bumped up capacity to 3GWp at the end of 2010 and further growth is projected for this year.

Due to these aggressive expansion plans, particularly by Chinese companies, production equipment such as ingot growing furnaces and ingot slicers are also in tight supply.