Local media reported that employees of a Chinese solar panel manufacturer were involved in Elon Musk Recent visits to several photovoltaic suppliers in China have fueled speculation that a high-profile customer could spur demand for advanced products.

The reports spurred talk of potential business partnerships, days after Musk said he planned to build large-scale solar cell production capabilities in the United States

China stocks JinkoSolarSamsung Electronics, one of the world’s largest panel makers, rose 20% in early trading, hitting its daily limit, according to London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) data.

The share price of Jolywood Suzhou New Watt, which produces photovoltaic auxiliary materials, also rose 20%.

Other solar panel makers, including Trina Solar and Shenzhen Tuori Solar, rose 8.9% and 10% respectively. The CSI All-Share Solar Power Equipment Sub-Industry Index rose 6.8%.

According to local media reports, a team sent by Musk recently visited a number of photovoltaic companies in China, including companies in the fields of equipment manufacturing, silicon wafers, battery components and perovskite technology.

Visitors seemed most interested in suppliers developing heterojunction and perovskite technologies, next-generation approaches aimed at improving battery efficiency. If manufacturing challenges are solved, perovskites could eventually reduce costs.

state-backed media According to reports, visitors came from SpaceX and Tesla. Separately, another official media outlet, 21st Century Business Herald, reported that JinkoSolar confirmed the visit of a team sent by Musk, but did not elaborate on potential business plans.

CNBC could not independently verify the reports. SpaceX, Tesla and JinkoSolar did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Zong Ke, a portfolio manager at a Shanghai quant fund, said Wednesday’s gains were driven by claims that energy remains a key bottleneck for artificial intelligence rather than any changes in the company’s fundamentals.

“Musk’s apparent interest in solar energy has been interpreted as a signal that tech giants are moving upstream into the power sector,” Zong said. “But there was no immediate change in fundamentals such as the order book – the change was mostly momentum trading and short covering.”

Musk said on Tesla’s earnings call last week that he plans to build 100 gigawatts of solar cell capacity in the U.S. “The solar opportunity is undervalued,” he said.

China dominates global solar manufacturing, but massive state investment has led to a supply glut that has plunged module prices and accelerated consolidation across the industry.

The solar industry has been grappling with a prolonged period of falling prices and oversupply, which has squeezed profits even as leading producers continue to add capacity.

Against this backdrop, some manufacturers have expanded production overseas, including in the United States, where tariffs protect domestic producers from low-cost imports from China and Southeast Asia.

JinkoSolar plans to build and operate more than 12 GW of solar wafer, cell and module production capacity in Southeast Asia by the end of 2030 a factory in florida The annual output of solar panels is approximately 1.2 million units.

Morningstar equity analyst Cheng Wang said many solar stocks are now “fully or overvalued” after the latest rally, while maintaining a positive long-term outlook for the industry.

Even if Chinese suppliers do secure SpaceX-related contracts, they are unlikely to generate meaningful revenue growth, Wang said, noting that space-based solar remains economically marginalized.

“While the concept is interesting, until the cost of deploying solar panels into space becomes economically feasible, the scale of space-based solar PV will likely remain negligible compared to ground-based facilities.”