JA Solar defends PERC R&D efforts after Section 301 report

JA Solar Holdings Co Ltd (NASDAQ:JASO) of China on Tuesday said its PERC technology is the product of hard work and R&D efforts starting as early as 2009, and not “economic espionage and theft” as SolarWorld America has asserted.

The Chinese photovoltaics (PV) maker’s statement comes in response to claims made by SolarWorld America’s CEO Juergen Stein in hearings in 2017 that have now been reported in United States Trade Representative (USTR) findings.

As is visible from the USTR Section 301 report from March 22, focused on China’s trade practices, Stein has said that Chinese solar manufacturers like JA Solar and Trina Solar would have needed much more time to “make the leap into PERC technology” without the economic espionage and theft from SolarWorld Americas. Stein testified that Chinese military hackers obtained proprietary information related to its PERC process back in 2012 which allowed Chinese competitors to quickly adopt the technology.

“These allegations on JA Solar are baseless, purely speculation or imagination, erroneous and mistaken if not knowingly false,” said JA Solar CTO Wei Shan.

US President Donald Trump last week signed a presidential memorandum describing actions that need to be taken in response to China’s unfair trade practices covered in the Section 301 investigation. It mentions increased tariffs on goods from China. Solar modules from the Asian country are already subject to safeguard duties.

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