Panasonic vs AIKO - solar panel manufacturer comparison
AIKO has the broader catalog (144 vs 25 models). AIKO leads on peak efficiency at 25.20%.
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
Panasonic is a global leader in the development of innovative technologies and solutions for wide-ranging applications in the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, industry, communications, and energy sectors. The company was founded in 1918 by Konosuke Matsushita and has been committed to enhancing the quality...
- Founded
- 1918
- Headquarters
- Kadoma, near Ōsaka, Japan
- Annual capacity
- 1+ GW/year
- Employees
- 9,500+
- Founded
- 2009
- Headquarters
- Shanghai, China
- Listed
- SZSE: 600732
- Tier 1 bankable
- Yes
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>HJT</strong> (88%)
Dominant cell tech: <strong>Back Contact</strong> (83%)
The flagships
Written summary
Panasonic is a Japanese electronics conglomerate whose involvement in solar stretches back to its 2009 acquisition of Sanyo, the company that commercialized heterojunction (HJT) cell technology as early as 1997. For many years Panasonic held BloombergNEF Tier 1 status and commanded a significant share of the North American residential market - roughly 35% in 2020. However, the company stopped manufacturing solar panels in-house in 2021, outsourcing production of its EverVolt line to REC Group, and ultimately exited the solar and battery storage business entirely on April 28, 2025, citing uncompetitive pricing from Chinese rivals. No new Panasonic or EverVolt panels are being produced; the brand's institutional footprint in solar is now largely historical. AIKO, by contrast, is a Chinese manufacturer that earned BloombergNEF Tier 1 bankability recognition in Q3 2024 and has been scaling aggressively, with reported annual production capacity around 20 GW in early 2025 and projections above 35 GW by mid-2026, placing it among the top ten Tier 1 suppliers by volume.
Panasonic's EverVolt panels were built on N-type HJT cells and were marketed squarely at the premium residential rooftop segment, offering efficiencies up to around 22.2% and a strong 25-year product and performance warranty. AIKO differentiates itself with All Back Contact (ABC) N-type cell architecture, which moves all electrical contacts to the rear of the cell to maximize light-capturing surface area. AIKO announced a world record 24.4% module efficiency for mass-produced commercial panels in June 2025, and its Gen 3 ABC range carries a 30-year performance warranty with a low annual degradation rate of 0.35% after the first year.
For any buyer evaluating the two brands in 2025 or beyond, the choice is effectively settled: Panasonic no longer manufactures solar panels and cannot be specified for new installations. AIKO is an active, Tier 1-rated, high-performance alternative that now occupies much of the premium residential and commercial space that Panasonic once served.
Generated by Claude Sonnet · 2026-06-11
Other brand comparisons
Shop prices: See 3 Panasonic offers · See 174 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.