(Recasts with details from filing, adds JinkoSolar deal in paragraphs 5-6, background in paragraph 7)
BEIJING, July 16 (Reuters) - Two of China's top solar firms have signed joint ventures with Saudi Arabia's sovereign investment fund to set up factories in the kingdom worth billions of dollars, they said on Tuesday.
China's TCL Zhonghuan Renewable Energy Technology
said its Singapore unit planned to set up a joint venture with partners including a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) to manufacture silicon crystal and silicon wafers in Saudi Arabia.
TCL's LumeTech, PIF's Renewable Energy Localization Co and Vision Industries Co will invest around a combined $2.08 billion in the 20 gigawatt (GW) per year project, the company said in a Shenzhen Stock Exchange filing.
Their respective stakes in the joint venture will be 40%, 40%, and 20%, it said.
Separately, JinkoSolar said in a Tuesday filing that it had signed an agreement with the same Saudi partners for a project producing 10 GW per year of solar cells and modules in the kingdom.
The companies' combined investment in the project is estimated at 3.693 billion riyals ($985 million), the filing said, with Jinko holding a 40% stake.
PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is also chairman of Saudi Aramco, met last week with China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.
Wang said in the meeting that China would deepen its cooperation with the kingdom in areas including energy, trade, and investment.
TCL said in a WeChat post that the project, TCL's first manufacturing silicon crystal and silicon wafers overseas, would be of great significance to China's Belt and Road infrastructure strategy.
(Reporting by Ella Cao and Colleen Howe; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
((Ella.Cao@thomsonreuters.com;))
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