From South Africa to Pakistan and then to Ukraine, Deye seems to consistently find its rhythm and position in markets with weak power grids and unstable power supply. Rather than attributing this to "magic," it's more accurate to say that the company chose a differentiated path—actively venturing into emerging markets with urgent electricity and energy needs, and establishing difficult-to-replicate channels and brand barriers there.

Behind Deye Group is a low-profile Ningbo billionaire, Zhang Hejun.

Betting on a New Track: Strategic Layout of the Inverter Business

In 1990, 38-year-old Zhang Hejun founded the predecessor of Deye Group—Deye Plastics, whose main business at the time was producing injection molded parts for home appliance manufacturers. In 2016, Zhang Hejun led Deye Group into the photovoltaic field, using photovoltaic inverters as an entry point to expand its territory.  The company experienced explosive growth in the inverter market, which rapidly expanded under the impetus of the "dual carbon" goals in 2020. In 2021, Deye Group was listed on the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, marking the beginning of its spectacular transformation. Just two years later, the company's inverter revenue exceeded 4.4 billion yuan, becoming a leader in the second tier of the industry.

Entering the solar and energy storage industry midway, yet achieving significant success. It can be said that Zhang Hejun, with a clear strategy and firm execution, led Deye to complete a series of transformations and upgrades, consistently hitting the right notes in the industry's explosive growth, and successfully transitioning from a low-value-added industry to a high-tech, high-value-added business.

In 2023, riding the wave of "integrated solar and energy storage," Deye Group launched its energy storage battery pack products, achieving revenue of 884 million yuan in that year, and reaching 2.451 billion yuan in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 177.19%.

Thanks to its dual-track layout in photovoltaics and energy storage, Deye has achieved counter-cyclical growth and delivered better-than-expected results, despite most companies in the solar and energy storage industry chain facing performance pressure since 2023. This is still evident from the previously released Q3 2025 financial report: even with a slowdown in growth, the company's profits in the first three quarters were still considerable, with a net profit of 2.347 billion yuan and total operating revenue of 8.846 billion yuan.

Deye's ability to maintain high-speed performance growth is also inseparable from the support of its overseas business, which is attributed to its "early deployment in emerging markets such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and continuous investment in the European market."

Leading in New Markets: Avoiding the Red Ocean, Deeply Cultivating Demand in Asia, Africa, and Latin America

Its "early deployment in emerging markets" can be simply described as a "rural areas encircling the cities" strategy in the new energy sector. Deye did not enter the photovoltaic inverter market early, so while most domestic manufacturers focused on the European and American markets, Deye chose to avoid the crowded mature markets and was the first to break into South Africa.

From 2022 to 2023, South Africa experienced a surge in household energy storage demand. For Deye, which entered South Africa in 2019, this undoubtedly accurately hit the market window and allowed them to reap the benefits. As a result, in 2023, the South African market contributed 1.31 billion yuan in sales revenue to Deye, accounting for 32.8% of its overseas sales revenue, making it Deye's largest overseas market.

However, as major companies began to turn their attention to this emerging market, Deye could no longer exclusively enjoy this "cake."  Coupled with the reduced power shortage in South Africa, Deye replicated its experience in Pakistan and set its sights on the broader Asia, Africa, and Latin America regions.

In its 2025 semi-annual report, Deye stated that "demand remains strong in countries such as Pakistan, Nigeria, and Ukraine," while new markets are also beginning to emerge. The Middle East, which is experiencing a power crisis due to geopolitical factors, is also gradually increasing policy support for commercial and industrial energy storage.

Many attribute Deye's success to "foresight," but this is more like a pragmatic survival choice – while there is an element of "luck," it is more about strength. On November 13th, Deyee Co., Ltd. announced that it is planning to issue overseas shares (H-shares) and list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This move is aimed at further advancing the company's globalization strategy and is a crucial part of its global layout.

Betting on 7GWh of Commercial and Industrial Energy Storage: A Breakthrough Charge into a Red Ocean Market

Since 2025, the commercial and industrial energy storage market has continued to show explosive growth, and Deyee Co., Ltd. has also begun to accelerate the development of its commercial and industrial energy storage business.

In early April, Deyee Co., Ltd. announced the construction of a 16GWh annual production line project for commercial and industrial energy storage in the Cixi Binhai Development Zone, to be implemented in two phases: 7GWh in the first phase and 9GWh in the second phase, with a total fixed investment of no less than 2.127 billion yuan.

At the 2025 semi-annual performance briefing held earlier, Zhang Dongye, Vice Chairman and General Manager of Deyee Co., Ltd., stated in response to investor questions, "Currently, there is strong demand for commercial and industrial energy storage, and the company will focus on developing commercial and industrial energy storage products to further increase revenue."

On October 29th, Deyee Co., Ltd. announced another important strategic adjustment: it plans to use 651 million yuan of unused funds from the previously announced "25.5GW String and Energy Storage Inverter Production Line Construction Project" for the "7GWh Annual Commercial and Industrial Energy Storage Production Line Project," with a total investment of 1.112 billion yuan.

Behind this is the slowing growth rate of the inverter market on the one hand, and the strong demand in the commercial and industrial energy storage market on the other, with the industry entering a rapid growth phase.

This is widely interpreted by the market as a key signal of Deyee Co., Ltd.'s strategic shift from residential energy storage to commercial and industrial energy storage. Facing pressure to increase performance, this is not just a business adjustment, but another important strategic choice in its development history.

In Conclusion

Several times, Deyee Co., Ltd. has accurately seized market opportunities and frequently "bet correctly" on the market.  Behind this is the company's survival logic of "switching tracks"—this is not about predicting the future, but rather based on a keen insight into technological routes, market potential, and customer needs, and quickly reallocating resources to the fastest-growing and highest-value segments.

With this capability, Deyee Co., Ltd. has quietly formed its own unique advantages. Currently, it has become one of the few domestic companies that can comprehensively cover the three major product matrices of energy storage, string inverters, and microinverters, and has uniquely achieved a virtuous cycle of synergistic growth and mutual empowerment among these three product categories.

However, in the current environment of both industry opportunities and fierce competition, Deye's previously astonishing high growth rate has slowed down. On the one hand, uncertainties in overseas markets hang over it like a "sword of Damocles," continuously exerting external pressure; on the other hand, the highly anticipated commercial and industrial energy storage sector, while seemingly a "blue ocean," is also full of variables due to the restructuring of business models, the accelerated influx of competitors, and the rapid pace of product iteration.

This time, whether Deye can once again accurately seize the opportunity will ultimately be answered by time.