LG vs AKCOME - solar panel manufacturer comparison

AKCOME is a Chinese solar manufacturer founded in 2006 and headquartered in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, with additional production facilities in Ganzhou. The company employs over 6,000 people and ships to more than 30 countries. AKCOME held BloombergNEF Tier 1 status as recently as late 2023, but industry tracking sources indicate the Jiangsu AKCOME entity was removed from that list in 2024, which has raised questions about its near-term bankability. Its cited module production capacity stands in the low single-digit GW range annually. LG Electronics is a South Korean conglomerate that built a strong reputation in premium residential solar through its NeON product line, but the company permanently ceased solar panel manufacturing in June 2022. No new LG panels are being produced, and remaining inventory has been progressively exhausted since then. On institutional footprint, LG carried greater historical name recognition globally, but its exit from manufacturing means that footprint is now a legacy asset rather than an active one.

AKCOME's current catalog centers on high-wattage modules in the 655 W-700 W class. The company has produced both PERC and HJT cell formats, though a TaiyangNews tracking service noted that AKCOME's HJT module was delisted from its TOP SOLAR MODULES listing in January 2025 due to an inaccessible company website, a signal worth watching. LG's NeON R and NeON 2 families used N-type monocrystalline cells and were positioned exclusively at premium residential rooftops, where they competed on efficiency and aesthetics rather than price. Those panels are now only available as aging new-old-stock or secondhand units.

For a buyer in 2025, neither manufacturer represents a straightforward recommendation. LG panels are effectively unavailable new, and warranty fulfilment has become unreliable since the exit - reports of denied replacements and cash settlements below replacement cost have surfaced in multiple consumer and legal sources. AKCOME remains active but carries its own uncertainty given its fluctuating Tier 1 status and reported website accessibility issues. Buyers seeking a bankable, actively manufactured alternative should look to currently Tier 1-listed producers with stable supply chains rather than either of these two options.

Generated by Claude Sonnet · 2026-06-09