Renewable energy manufacturer Jinko Solar Co.’s recent decision to sell control of its Florida facility extends a multi-billion dollar retreat from the US by China’s clean technology firms, as they contend with an increasingly hostile policy environment and the potential loss of Biden-era incentives.

China-based companies in the sector scrapped about $2.8 billion in planned US manufacturing projects in 2025, according to research by Rhodium Group. As of the end of March, more than half of proposed Chinese clean-tech investments in the US announced since 2022 had been canceled, paused or delayed, according to the group's calculations.

That's part of a broader downturn that saw a 17% decline last year in all clean technology investment in the US, Rhodium said in a report published Wednesday.

Producers of solar equipment, batteries and electric vehicle technology have experienced a sharp reversal since Biden-era tax credits lured Chinese companies to announce $5.6 billion of investments in 2023 alone. Since then, President Donald Trump’s administration has rolled back incentives and, most crucially, last year’s tax bill introduced new hurdles for manufacturers with ties to so-called foreign entities of concern. 

“Jinko’s decision underscores the enormous challenges facing Chinese clean-tech firms operating in the US,” said Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute. The company’s move should be seen as “a chilling message to anyone that wishes to come and build factories in the US,” he said.

Shanghai-based Jinko on Friday agreed to sell about a 75% stake in its solar panel facility in Florida to FH Capital, a private equity fund. The main purpose of selling the stake is “to optimize its overseas asset allocation, ensure its long-term strategic layout in the US, enhance flexibility and compliance, and facilitate its long-term development," a Jinko spokesperson said in a written response to Bloomberg questions.

The decision was prompted by a need to comply with “US domestic manufacturing regulations” and to “minimize operational risks,” Jinko said in a corporate filing, without citing any specific regulations. 

Jinko’s sell-down follows similar moves by China-based competitors to scale back exposure to the US or to exit entirely. Trina Solar Co. sold a majority stake in its Texas assembly facility in 2024, and last year Corning Inc. acquired a JA Solar Technology Co. plant in Arizona.

Shanghai-listed Ningbo Boway Alloy Material Co. said Wednesday it will sell solar manufacturing assets in the US to India’s INOXGFL Group due to the tightening of foreign entity requirements under Trump’s tax bill.

Policy changes under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act mean it has become harder, if not completely impossible, for factories controlled by Chinese companies, or heavily reliant on China-dominated supply chains, to be eligible for lucrative manufacturing tax credits. 

Losing access to those credits puts Chinese-owned factories at a “huge disadvantage” compared to domestic rivals, said Rob Barnett, a senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. For example, Arizona-based First Solar Inc., the largest US solar producer, told investors in February that it expects to receive more than $2 billion in credits this year.

While Treasury Department guidance on specific ownership thresholds for tax credit eligibility isn’t expected to be issued until later this year, analysts expect those conditions to be difficult for China-linked firms to meet.

“The policy environment is getting more restrictive,” said Margaret Jackson, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and previously a senior counselor for policy at US Department of Commerce during Biden’s tenure. 

Those tougher rules mean Trump’s meeting this week with President Xi Jinping in Beijing is unlikely to prompt new investments from China’s manufacturers in green technology industries. That’s even though Trump himself has at times expressed openness to the idea. 

“I’m not sure that below him there’s a lot of appetite to create space for more Chinese investment,” Jackson said.

--With assistance from Ocean Hou and Mark Chediak.

(Adds details on company selling US assets in 9th paragraph)

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Published on May 14, 2026