According to findings in the new NPD SolarbuzzModule Tracker Quarterly, Chinese tier-one manufacturers, including Yingli Green Energy, Trina Solar, Jinko Solar, Renesola, and Hanwha SolarOne broke their quarterly module shipment records in Q2 2013. In particular, Yingli Green Energy’s quarterly shipments are expected to have reached 0.8 GW, which would represent a new world record for any single PV supplier.

“Yingli Green Energy has been strongly focused on market share gains over the past four quarters,” said Ray Lian, senior analyst at NPD Solarbuzz. “The company is rapidly approaching 10% global market share, and has now become the clear leader in megawatt shipments. The leading solar PV suppliers are now starting to pull away from the pack, which provides strong evidence that the anticipated industry consolidation is finally in progress.”

In Japan, the highest growth PV end-market today, Chinese tier-one manufacturers Canadian Solar and JA Solar have now become the leading overseas module suppliers. However, buyers in Japan remains strongly loyal to Sharp Solar, Kyocera, Solar Frontier, Panasonic, and other domestic brands. Over the past four quarters, these four suppliers have accounted for 54% of modules shipped by the 20 leading module suppliers to Japan.