In the photovoltaic industry chain, one material remains behind the scenes yet determines whether each solar cell can convert sunlight into electricity: silver powder. It is the core raw material for photovoltaic silver paste, which in turn is vital for the cell's conductivity. It could be said that without silver powder, even the most efficient photovoltaic technology would be merely theoretical. Jinan Jianbang Metal Materials Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Jianbang Metal") is a major Chinese supplier producing photovoltaic silver powder. On July 14th, the company submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, marking its third attempt at an IPO in Hong Kong. Jianbang Metal once held the top industry position in 2023 but has since been overtaken by two later entrants. In 2025, the company's revenue surpassed the 5 billion yuan mark, yet its gross profit margin for the same period was under 5%, dropping to as low as 2% in the first five months of 2026. On one side, there is rapid scale expansion; on the other, razor-thin profits. The repeated attempts at an IPO by Jianbang Metal reflect the urgency for companies to break through amidst the intense competition cycle in the photovoltaic silver powder sector.
Top Chinese PV Silver Powder Supplier Overtaken by Two Rivals
The predecessor of Jianbang Metal was Jianbang Colloidal Materials, founded by Chen Jian in 2010. In its early stages, the company focused on high-tech new energy and advanced materials sectors. In 2012, after industry research revealed a high dependence on imports for domestic photovoltaic silver powder, the company decided to enter this field and initiated dedicated R&D, gradually building an integrated system for research, production, and sales. In July 2022, Chen Jian stepped down through a succession arrangement, and his then 30-year-old son, Chen Zichun, took over as Chairman of the Board, Executive Director, and controlling shareholder, taking full charge of the company's strategy and operations. Under Chen Zichun's leadership, Jianbang Metal rose to the forefront of the industry. According to data from Frost & Sullivan, based on sales revenue from photovoltaic silver powder in China, Jianbang Metal ranked first among all domestic producers by the end of 2023, with a market share of 10.0%.
Unfortunately, Jianbang Metal did not maintain its top position for long. In 2024, its market share fell to 9.8%, dropping to third place. In 2025, although it remained in third place, its market share further declined to 9.3%. Within just two years, Jianbang Metal was overtaken by two peer companies, both of which are relative newcomers. Among them, the "Company A" that ranked first in the industry in 2025 was founded in 2021, becoming the industry leader in just five years, demonstrating significant strength. Following closely, "Company B" was founded in 2012, also two years later than Jianbang Colloidal Materials.
In reality, Jianbang Metal did not slow down. From 2023 to 2025, its revenue grew from 2.782 billion yuan to 5.067 billion yuan, an increase of over 82%. However, the entire industry and its competitors grew even faster. Data from the China Photovoltaic Industry Association shows that from 2023 to 2025, the sales revenue of the photovoltaic silver powder market in China increased from 28.1 billion yuan to 52.5 billion yuan, a growth of 86.8%. During the period of rapid industry expansion, Jianbang Metal did not outpace the growth rate of the industry or its competitors.
More critically, Jianbang Metal's leading position is built on a relatively fragile supply chain—facing the dual challenge of high customer and supplier concentration. From 2023 to the first five months of 2026, revenue from the top five customers consistently accounted for over 71% of total revenue, with the largest customer maintaining a share above 20% for an extended period. During the same period, procurement from the top five suppliers exceeded 97%, with the share from the largest supplier rising from 51.1% to 75.1%. This indicates that Jianbang Metal is not a dominant player in the industry chain with strong bargaining power but rather an intermediary potentially squeezed from both upstream and downstream. Fluctuations in orders from major customers or supply from key suppliers could pose significant risks to the company's performance.
Soaring Revenue Masks Thin Profitability
Looking solely at revenue, Jianbang Metal's growth curve is steep. From 2023 to 2025, company revenue jumped from 2.782 billion yuan to 3.950 billion yuan, then to 5.067 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 30%. In the first five months of 2026, revenue surged by 187.4% year-on-year to 4.050 billion yuan.
While revenue has been climbing steadily, the profit margin remains narrow. From 2023 to 2025, the company's gross profit margins were only 3.9%, 3.3%, and 4.7% respectively, with net profit margins of 2.2%, 2.0%, and 3.3%. In the first five months of 2026, the gross profit margin further declined to 2.0%, with a net profit margin of just 1.4%. It can be said that Jianbang Metal is operating almost on the edge of breakeven. This means that sharp fluctuations in raw material prices or adjustments in product pricing could easily push the company from profit into loss.
The root cause of the low gross margin lies in Jianbang Metal's pricing model: cost-plus. It is understood that the pricing of its silver powder products is based on the price of the main raw material, silver nitrate, plus a markup. The price of silver nitrate is directly linked to the market price of silver. In the first five months of 2026, raw material costs accounted for a high 99.7% of the cost of sales, with silver nitrate procurement costs making up 99.6% of raw material procurement costs. The nature of this business model is closer to precious metals trading than high-end materials manufacturing. As the company stated in its prospectus: "Operating with a thin profit margin, coupled with intense market competition and other factors, may make us more susceptible to adverse macroeconomic or specific industry developments."
More concerning is Jianbang Metal's cash flow situation. In 2023 and 2024, operating cash flow recorded significant net outflows of -211 million yuan and -369 million yuan, respectively, primarily dragged down by continuously rising notes receivable. By the end of 2024, notes receivable reached 175 million yuan, tying up a large amount of working capital due to delayed payments from downstream customers. In 2025, the scale of notes receivable decreased to 45 million yuan, and operating cash flow briefly recovered to a net inflow of 291 million yuan. However, in the first five months of 2026, its operating cash flow turned negative again, with a net outflow of 19.62 million yuan. During the same period, notes receivable rebounded to 80 million yuan. The recurring issue of capital being tied up has led to unstable operating cash flow and weak internal "cash generation" capability.
This also raises concerns about the safety cushion of its cash position. At the end of 2023 and 2024, Jianbang Metal's cash and cash equivalents were only 10.8 million yuan and 29.45 million yuan, respectively. In 2024, with revenue approaching 4 billion yuan, the company carried short-term bank loans of 206 million yuan at the period-end, indicating a tight cash flow situation. In 2025, the company's cash and cash equivalents jumped to 190 million yuan but fell back to 178 million yuan by the end of May 2026.
What puzzles outsiders is that in 2024, while the company's operating cash flow was "bleeding" and its cash on hand was less than 30 million yuan, it still distributed a dividend of 30 million yuan. Now, the company plans to use IPO proceeds to repay bank debt. This financial arrangement—distributing large dividends while seeking market funding to repay debts—inevitably raises questions about the prudence of the company's internal governance and financial planning.
Caught Between Single-Product Dependence and Technological Disruption
If declining market share and low margins are short-term operational challenges, then reliance on a single product combined with the industry trend towards "de-silvering" constitutes a fundamental risk determining Jianbang Metal's medium to long-term viability. After all, Jianbang Metal's business structure is extremely concentrated. From 2023 to the first five months of 2026, revenue from silver powder sales accounted for as much as 99.1%, 97.4%, 97.3%, and 98.8%, respectively. It is evident that nearly all of Jianbang Metal's revenue hinges on this single product. Any disturbance in the demand for silver powder would cause significant volatility in the company's core business, with no other operations to hedge against operational risks.
Within the cost structure of photovoltaic cells, silver paste constitutes the highest portion of non-silicon costs. Over the past three years, silver prices have been continuously rising. According to data from Frost & Sullivan, the average price of silver increased by 30.6% from 4,900 yuan per kilogram in 2023 to 6,400 yuan per kilogram in 2024, and further rose by 34.4% to 8,600 yuan per kilogram in 2025. Domestically, the average price of silver increased by 152.1% from 7,100 yuan per kilogram in the first five months of 2025 to 17,900 yuan per kilogram in the same period of 2026.
The rise in silver prices has not only driven the annual revenue growth of Jianbang Metal but also increased the proportion of photovoltaic silver powder in the cost structure of photovoltaic cells. For photovoltaic module manufacturers already operating on thin gross margins, reducing silver usage or even eliminating it naturally becomes an inevitable choice for cost control. Currently, alternative solutions for photovoltaic silver powder mainly focus on silver-coated copper and copper plating technologies. Jianbang Metal admitted in its prospectus that technological advancements and the development of substitute materials for photovoltaic silver powder in solar cells could negatively impact the demand for its silver powder products. Furthermore, any such event could have a material adverse effect on the company's business, financial condition, and operating results. In the future, once a "de-silvering" trend gains momentum in the market, the valuation logic for Jianbang Metal would face fundamental restructuring.
Currently, its top-ranked competitor, "Company A," clearly has a more diversified business layout, with products not limited to silver powder but also including copper powder, nickel powder, and other metal powders, evidently possessing stronger risk resilience than Jianbang Metal.
Facing this critical technological shift, Jianbang Metal is not entirely unprepared. The company revealed in its prospectus that it is developing a related patent portfolio for copper powder and silver-coated copper powder. Based on related projects, the company has developed two technical routes for preparing silver-coated copper powder, three synthesis routes for copper powder, and two routes for antioxidant surface modification of copper powder—totaling seven technical routes. These are currently in the pilot-scale amplification and mass production preparation stage, with plans to apply for patents for the related technological achievements. In other words, although the company is pursuing diversification, the related products have not yet been mass-produced or launched to the market, making it difficult for them to become a "second growth curve" in the short term.
For this IPO, one of Jianbang Metal's fundraising plans is to strengthen R&D efforts and promote technological innovation, focusing on three directions: "silver-free substitution, silver-reduction transition, and non-silver expansion." These correspond to developing complete substitution solutions like copper powder, transition technologies that reduce silver usage like silver-coated copper, and exploring new application scenarios in non-photovoltaic fields.
In summary, Jianbang Metal is confronting the dual risks of structural dependence on a single business and industry-wide technological disruption. The resonance of these two risks amplifies the uncertainty and vulnerability of the company's long-term operations. Jianbang Metal is accelerating its transformation, but the length of the time window available to it, and whether this IPO can buy the company more time, remains to be seen.
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