First Solar Jumps As U.S. Bars Solar Products Made in China’s Xinjiang By Investing.com

By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) shares soared more than 7% in Thursday’s trading following the Biden administration’s decision barring some solar products made in China’s Xinjiang.

This was done to counter alleged human rights abuses against China’s ethnic Uyghur Muslim minority.

Xinjiang — where advocacy groups and a panel of U.N. experts say Uyghurs and other minorities have been subjected to mass arbitrary detention and forced to work against their will — produces roughly half of global supply of polysilicon, a material critical for solar panels and semiconductors, according to Bloomberg. 

China has denied the allegations, saying they’re an attempt to undermine successful businesses.

The move targeting Chinese manufacturers like Hoshine Silicon Industry (Shanshan) has implications for the solar supply chain and will force U.S. companies to find material elsewhere.