India's Raana Plans to Launch 12-Inch Single Crystal Furnace, Supporting About 10GW of PV Cell Capacity in 3 Years

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 14, Indian crystal growth equipment manufacturer Raana Semiconductors disclosed that it plans to launch commercial-grade 12-inch Czochralski (CZ) single crystal growth equipment within the next 10 to 12 months, mainly targeting India's photovoltaic silicon ingot and wafer manufacturing market. The company aims to supply enough CZ equipment to support about 10GW of solar cell capacity within the next 3 years, and is in talks with a major Indian PV manufacturer for an order of about 2GW of equipment capacity.

Raana is also building a new manufacturing facility of about 40,000 square feet in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, for the production of 12-inch CZ equipment and subsequent localization. The company's current CZ equipment localization rate is about 70%, and it plans to further increase the local supply ratio after the new base is put into operation. According to the company's plan, the equipment business has a revenue target of about 3 billion Indian rupees, or about US$34 million, by fiscal year 2028.

The 12-inch platform is an expansion based on Raana's existing 2-inch, 4-inch, and 6-inch crystal growth equipment. The company currently has more than 40 CZ equipment units operating in India, with customers covering defense, atomic energy, national laboratories, and specialty material production fields such as lithium niobate and germanium. The new-generation equipment will be redesigned in terms of thermal field, control, electrical, and mechanical systems for photovoltaic-grade large-size monocrystalline silicon production, so as to achieve continuous growth of 12-inch low-defect monocrystalline silicon rods.

Raana stated that the 12-inch equipment is currently entering the early customer validation stage. The company is focusing on optimizing high-yield and low-oxygen-content monocrystalline growth capabilities to meet the equipment needs of GW-level PV manufacturers extending into the ingot and wafer segments. At present, India's PV manufacturing expansion is still clearly concentrated in the module and cell segments, while upstream ingot and wafer manufacturing capacity is relatively insufficient.

India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has proposed including solar ingots and wafers in the ALMM certification system starting June 1, 2028. If the relevant policy is implemented as planned, it will further drive Indian PV companies to increase local ingot and wafer capacity and boost demand for upstream equipment such as CZ single crystal furnaces.

Raana also plans to continue extending into the semiconductor wafer equipment market after its PV equipment business reaches scale, with the goal of supplying related equipment and wafer products to semiconductor wafer fabs in the next 4 to 5 years. At this stage, the company still takes the commercialization of photovoltaic-grade 12-inch CZ equipment and the expansion of India's local manufacturing capacity as its main directions of advancement.