(Yicai) June 14 -- Shares of Drinda New Energy Technology surged after the Chinese firm said it plans to invest USD700 million to build a high-efficiency solar battery factory with a yearly output of 10 gigawatts in Oman.

After surging by as much as 7.8 percent in the morning trading session, Drinda [SHE: 002865] jumped 4.2 percent to CNY48.46 (USD6.69) a share as of lunch break in Shenzhen today.

Drinda, which recently shifted into the solar energy sector from making car interiors, inked a project investment intention deal with the Oman Investment Authority yesterday, the Haikou-based firm announced late on the same day. It plans to build the plant in two phases, each with a scheduled annual capacity of 5 GW of N-type TOPCon cells, it added.

The project will help Drinda speed up its overseas production layout to meet international customers' demand and enhance its products' global market influence, the company noted, without disclosing further details such as financial outlook.

Drinda transformed into a major Chinese solar cell supplier through asset restructuring in 2022. It ranked fourth worldwide by solar cell shipments with 29.96 GW last year and first in N-type high-efficiency cell shipments with 20.58 GW, according to its annual earnings report. As a latecomer, it has a competitive advantage with a higher share of advanced high-efficiency cell capacity.

Editor: Martin Kadiev