The Paper reporter Yang Yang

It is not uncommon for "father and son soldiers" and "father and daughter soldiers" in the new energy business community to fight side by side, but the latest case is particularly eye-catching: Liu Shuqi, 34, daughter of Liu Hanyuan, Sichuan's richest man, officially took over the baton and became the new chairman and CEO of Tongwei (1700), which has a market value of more than 600438 billion yuan.

This handover seems sudden, but it has been brewing for a long time. Tongwei is a "double leader" enterprise in the global aquafeed and photovoltaic industry, with the world's largest production capacity of high-purity crystalline silicon and cells in the photovoltaic field. Under the sharp increase in the price of upstream polysilicon in the past two years, Tongwei Co., Ltd., as the boss of this link, has increased its performance vigorously, and it is the most profitable company in the photovoltaic industry chain in 2022. However, in addition to the high demand boom in the photovoltaic industry, the other side is that the market is changing, internal and external risks are increasing, and the inflection point of polysilicon prices is approaching, and the profits of the industrial chain will be redistributed. The "second generation of enterprises" is not facing a smooth road.

China's photovoltaic industry has grown all the way after several ups and downs, and has been far ahead in the global competition, giving birth to a number of outstanding enterprises and entrepreneurs. Today, the "second generation of light" has come to the fore and faced the challenge.

Giant inheritance: from professional manager to "second generation" succession

It was not his father Liu Hanyuan who directly handed over the listed company Shuaiyin with Liu Shuqi. As early as May 2019, in order to promote the rejuvenation of the senior management team of listed companies, Liu Hanyuan, who was 5 years old at the time, announced that he would step down as chairman of Tongwei Co., Ltd. and be replaced by Xie Yi, who was only 54 years old, chairman of Tongwei Solar, a subsidiary of the company. However, Liu Hanyuan did not retire from the background, and still serves as the chairman of the board of Tongwei Group and a director of a listed company, active in the front line, and is the most core figure of Tongwei.

Tongwei Co., Ltd. recently announced that it received a written resignation submitted by Chairman Xie Yi. Xie Yi applied for resignation as chairman and director of the eighth board of directors of the company due to personal reasons, and at the same time resigned as the company's CEO, convener of the strategic decision-making committee of the board of directors, member of the nomination committee of the board of directors, member of the remuneration and assessment committee of the board of directors, etc. After his resignation, Xie Yi will not hold any other position in the company. At the ninth meeting of the eighth board of directors held two days later, Liu Shuqi was elected as the chairman of the eighth board of directors of the company and concurrently served as the company's CEO.

According to his resume, Liu Shuqi was born in 1989, with a bachelor's degree from Queen Mary University of London, and is currently a supervisor of Tongwei Group, a director of the eighth board of directors of Tongwei Co., Ltd., an assistant to the president, and the general manager of the photovoltaic commercial department. According to the announcement, in view of Liu Shuqi's tenure in the above positions, "responsible for the centralized management of the company's silicon, battery and module business, with strong management capabilities, leading the company to continuously develop the photovoltaic market, building a supply and marketing system with outstanding advantages, forming a competitive upstream and downstream cooperative relationship in the industrial chain, achieving excellent business results, reflecting the potential of excellent managers." ”

Xie Yi's resignation and Liu Shuqi's appointment represent two completely different paths in the handover and inheritance of private enterprises.

Xie Yi, born in 1984, is a professional manager trained within the Tongwei Department. In 2011, Xie Yi joined Tongwei Group as the assistant to the president. Two years later, Xie Yi, the chairman of Tongwei Solar, was known as "the person who spent the most money in one day in Tongwei history" after 218 rounds of bidding and a purchase price of 8 million yuan because of the acquisition of Saiwei Hefei Factory. This sensational merger and acquisition case made Tongwei and Xie Yi himself. The once bankrupt Hefei plant was quickly revitalized, pushing Tongwei to the world's first position in photovoltaic cells. During Xie Yi's tenure as the head of Tongwei Shares, the company's performance and market value grew explosively.

In May 2021, Liu Shuqi began to appear as the general manager of the photovoltaic business department of Tongwei Co., Ltd. In September of the same year, the photovoltaic business department of Tongwei Co., Ltd. was officially inaugurated, integrating core powers such as crystalline silicon procurement and marketing, cell procurement and marketing, and module procurement.

Liu Shuqi has been working within Tongwei for less than two years in the above capacity.

According to surging news, Xie Yi left Tongwei voluntarily or will participate in the establishment of a new cell company located in Yibin, Sichuan.

According to the newly released 2023 Hurun Global Rich List, Liu Hanyuan and Guan Yamei ranked 1050th on the global list with 108 billion yuan, rising 11 places. Last year, Liu Hanyuan surpassed Liu Yonghao and rose to become Sichuan's new richest man.

With the current size of Tongwei, its leading position is consolidated, but it does not mean that there are no challenges. With the release of new capacity, the profiteering feast of polysilicon will cease to exist and turn into a surplus cycle. Tongwei's response strategy is to "enter" the component link, rapidly expand downstream production capacity, and participate in the fierce competition in the industry with an integrated layout.

"Light II" walked to the foreground

As the saying goes, starting a business is hard, keeping a business is even harder. Operating a giant ship of photovoltaic companies is by no means an easy task, and many executives of photovoltaic companies have frankly told The Paper that the influencing factors of the industry not only come from technology, supply chain and other aspects, but also are highly susceptible to the impact of global trade policies, and "little black swan" events continue to occur. PV companies should control risks in the ups and downs, step on the rhythm of technology iteration under heavy assets, and test their scale management and time management capabilities extremely high. As the scale of the industry continues to grow, so does the uncertainty.

In practice, the actual combat capability has been enriched, and a number of "light second generation" have come to the foreground.

Zhu Gongshan, chairman of GCL Group, who is 6 years older than Liu Hanyuan, is still running non-stop on the front line of the industry. His son Zhu Yufeng was born in June 1981 and joined GCL Group in 6 after graduating from George Brown College in Canada, initially working in three shifts on the front line, and soon went to different positions such as industrial investment, human resources, and enterprise operations. Zhu Yufeng currently serves as the Party Secretary, Vice Chairman and President of GCL Group, and the Chairman of GCL Integration (2005) and GCL Energy Technology (002506), two listed companies. On the basis of the photovoltaic industry, GCL Group's business extension has extended to lithium materials, carbon materials, integrated circuit core materials and other fields.

Trina Solar (688599) and JA Technology (002459) have long been among the world's top four PV module leaders.

In June 2021, Gao Haichun, deputy general manager of Trina Solar's strategic investment department, was interviewed by industry media, and her other identity is the daughter of Trina Solar Chairman Gao Jifan. According to public information, Gao Haichun currently serves as the chairman of Jiangsu Trina Intelligent Distributed Energy Co., Ltd., as well as the executives of Trina enterprises such as Trina Xingyuan Investment and Development Co., Ltd. and Jiangsu Trina Energy Storage Co., Ltd.

Jin Junhui and Jin Junmiao, the daughters of Jin Baofang, the head of JA Technology, rarely appear in the public eye, but they all hold important positions in the JA Department.

Yingli Group, headquartered in Baoding, Hebei Province, was once one of the largest photovoltaic companies in China. In 2005, Miao Qing, the daughter of Miao Liansheng, the founder of Yingli Group, returned to Yingli in a low-key manner to promote the company's listing process on NASDAQ, and in 2007, Miao Liansheng led LinkedIn Li to ring the bell for listing on the New York Stock Exchange. At the beginning of 2022, Miao Qing became the chairman of Yingli Group in a low-key manner, becoming the new head of this old photovoltaic company.

In just a few years, the numerical control (603185) of photovoltaic equipment has become a dark horse for the rapid rise of photovoltaic silicon wafer track. The chairman of the company is 54-year-old Yang Jianliang, and Yang Hao, the general manager of the "post-90s", is a father-son relationship.