AIKO vs Top Solar - solar panel manufacturer comparison
AIKO has the broader catalog (144 vs 1 models). AIKO leads on peak efficiency at 25.20%. AIKO leans bifacial (24% of lineup).
Both catalogues are read from the manufacturers' own datasheets. A brand is not scored against the market here, only against the other brand on this page.
The two companies
- Founded
- 2009
- Headquarters
- Shanghai, China
- Listed
- SZSE: 600732
- Tier 1 bankable
- Yes
Shenzhen Top Solar Energy Co., Ltd. is a Chinese solar panel manufacturer specializing in monocrystalline, flexible, folding, and portable solar panels, as well as off-grid and on-grid solar power systems. The company has its own R&D teams and production lines, serving customers across the US, Europe, Japan, the...
- Headquarters
- Shenzhen, China
- Annual capacity
- <1 GW/year
- Employees
- 200+
Catalogue against catalogue
An average over a catalogue describes the range a manufacturer publishes, not the module you would buy. A brand with two flagship panels and eighty older ones averages worse than one that has retired its back catalogue.
What each of them builds
AIKO skews to higher efficiency: 85% of lineup is 23%+
AIKO offers more 600W+ panels (60% of lineup)
Dominant cell tech: <strong>Back Contact</strong> (83%)
Dominant cell tech: <strong>Back Contact</strong> (100%)
The flagships
Written summary
AIKO is a Chinese manufacturer headquartered in Shanghai, founded in 2009, that has grown from a cell technology specialist into a vertically integrated module producer with a reported nameplate capacity of around 20 GW as of early 2025. The company holds BloombergNEF Tier 1 status, a benchmark for bankability in project-financed installations, and has topped the TaiyangNews global module efficiency rankings every month since March 2023. Top Solar, by contrast, returns no meaningful presence in credible industry sources - no Tier 1 listing, no coverage in PV Tech, PV Magazine, EnergySage, or SolarReviews, and no verifiable production scale. On institutional footprint, AIKO is substantially better documented and more traceable.
AIKO's flagship technology is its ABC (All Back Contact) cell architecture, which relocates all electrical contacts to the rear of the cell, eliminating front-side shading losses and enabling mass-produced module efficiencies that the company reported breaking 24.4-24.8% in 2025 - the highest figure publicly documented for commercially available modules at scale. AIKO panels are positioned primarily as premium residential and commercial rooftop products for buyers who prioritize energy yield per square metre. The ABC platform is N-type, which inherently reduces light-induced degradation relative to older PERC architectures. For Top Solar, no confirmed cell technology, product family, or target application segment could be found in any authoritative source.
For a typical buyer in 2025, AIKO is the verifiable choice: its Tier 1 bankability, independently documented efficiency leadership, and growing installer network make it a defensible specification for premium rooftop projects where space is limited. Top Solar cannot be recommended in good faith at this time - not because the brand is necessarily poor, but because no credible public record exists to assess it against. Buyers should request third-party test data and warranty documentation from any supplier before proceeding.
Generated by Claude Sonnet · 2026-06-08
Other brand comparisons
Shop prices: See 179 AIKO offers
Comparisons are computed from manufacturer datasheets held in the ComparePV database and may not reflect a brand's complete current lineup. Nothing on this page is paid placement.