Solar Power World
By Finlay Colville | September 3, 2026
Having recently attended the opening ceremony of SEG Solar’s second module factory in Tomball, Texas, I decided to take a closer look at a company that has become one of the most visible in the U.S. solar industry, having moved quickly through the initial manufacturing investment cycle that was stimulated by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022.
SEG Solar now has about 6 GW of U.S. module assembly capacity across its Houston and Tomball sites in Texas, taking it from a relatively small domestic manufacturing base to one of the largest silicon-based module producers in the country in just two years.
While the capacity announcements have received considerable attention recently, SEG Solar’s efficient deployment of capital, while retaining high visibility with the industry, is perhaps more interesting to understand.
The post-IRA period produced a long list of U.S. module factory announcements. However, a few years on, only a small group has converted their plans into actual multi-gigawatt manufacturing operations.
SEG Solar’s 2-GW module factory outside Houston was opened in 2024, the company’s first investment in U.S. manufacturing facilities.
Notably, SEG Solar had already established its current U.S.-headquartered operations before the IRA expansion cycle gathered pace. And by this time, the company had considerable experience within a global solar manufacturing landscape that had been routinely shaped by changing trade rules.
In August 2024, SEG Solar opened its 250,000-ft² Houston site, with 2 GW of annual module capacity that was ramped into production within about 12 months. During 2025, SEG Solar was one of only six companies in the United States that produced more than 1 GW of silicon-based solar PV modules domestically.
The comparison with the wider post-IRA solar manufacturing investment pool is even more striking. Several early multi-gigawatt entrants to the U.S. sector — including some of the largest Asian-headquartered PV manufacturers — subsequently sold their factories or restructured their U.S. operations on the back of new ownership-related criteria.
By contrast, SEG Solar then expanded further with a second module assembly factory in Tomball. At the end of 2025, SEG Solar’s cumulative global module shipments had reached about 7.5 GW with the U.S. module business the dominant driver for this strong growth.
SEG Solar’s route from 2 GW to 6 GW reveals a highly efficient approach to factory deployment. The Houston site occupies around 250,000 ft², while the new Tomball factory is roughly 500,000 ft² and adds a further 4 GW of nameplate capacity. Both sites reflect a pragmatic use of conventional industrial space, concentrating investment on the infrastructure and production equipment required for module manufacturing.
In 2026, SEG Solar expanded with a second module factory in Tomball, this time with 4 GW capacity, just a 30-minute drive from first factory site.
Notably, module assembly does not require the process infrastructure of a solar cell factory. Industrial buildings for module assembly can be adapted relatively quickly once power, logistics, testing, warehousing and line-specific requirements are in place. SEG Solar has used this approach to minimize the time between site commitment and manufacturing ramp, while avoiding some of the larger construction costs associated with more customized locations.
A bottom-up analysis of the physical sites and manufacturing requirements suggests direct factory capital expenditure across Houston and Tomball reaching $100-150 million by the end of 2026, representing a highly efficient deployment of capital compared with larger greenfield projects.
Consequently, by the end of 2026, SEG Solar should be one of only five companies in the United States with more than 5 GW of effective silicon-based module capacity.
SEG Solar’s public-facing approach is another interesting part of the story and is certainly in contrast to the somewhat ‘self-imposed’ stealthiness that others are choosing today in the U.S. market.
The company has generally made its U.S. factories, senior management and expansion plans visible to the outside world. Factory openings are high-profile events, customers appear central to the manufacturing story, local officials are involved and the company regularly links new capacity with employment and investment.
This further contrasts with a U.S. solar manufacturing sector that has routinely been embroiled in trade investigations, customs actions, legal disputes and recurring questions around supply-chain provenance and corporate structures. These issues have created reputational pressure across the sector and may also have encouraged some companies to keep their U.S. operations relatively low profile. Indeed, some solar manufacturers are only known today because of their involvement in certain trade filings and petitions.
SEG Solar’s more open approach in recent years may indeed translate into commercial benefits, although it does not remove the normal trade, policy or execution risks facing any U.S. solar manufacturer. It does, however, make the company easier for outside stakeholders to understand and engage with.
The next investment decision is therefore the more interesting question. SEG Solar has already announced an additional Tomball module assembly factory and has discussed both HJT-specific module capacity and future U.S. cell manufacturing, again highlighting HJT as a preference.
However, there are several options now available to the company, some of which may become more desirable on the back of the recent Sec. 232 ruling.
The next phase of capacity expansion for SEG Solar involves a greenfield site construction, slated for additional module capacity. It would not be a surprise for this site to be modified to include a greater percentage of upstream cell and wafer capacity.
One option is to remain heavily focused on modules and buy cells from a growing number of U.S. producers expected to come online over the next few years. This would preserve flexibility in domestic cell supply options, limit upstream capital requirements, and allow SEG Solar to focus on the part of the manufacturing chain where it has already built scale.
A second route is a much larger move into cells. SEG Solar could apply the same emphasis on speed and efficient deployment to a multi-gigawatt domestic cell project, supplying part of its own module requirement while retaining the ability to buy lower volumes from third parties. The company did mention it is considering this path.
The third route is a broader integrated U.S. platform over the remainder of the decade. A larger module base could be matched with substantial cell production and, over time, selected upstream investment in ingot or wafer manufacturing if policy and economics support this. This route offers greater supply-chain control but also brings much greater capital requirements.
SEG Solar has now joined a relatively small group of companies that converted the post-IRA investment opportunity into a meaningful position within U.S. solar manufacturing. Its next investment decisions will determine how far that position extends beyond module assembly during the remainder of the decade.
Finlay Colville has been actively engaged with the solar industry for more than 20 years and is recognized as a leading analyst in the sector. With a focus on technology, manufacturing and strategy, he has created industry-leading market reports and technical conferences. For 15 years, Finlay managed market research business units at Solarbuzz and PV-Tech. He established Terawatt PV Research in 2025 and is a senior advisor for the Global Solar Council. In 2023, Finlay was the recipient of the Solar & Storage Live “Lifetime Achievement Award.”

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