What is the forecast to 2033?

The market is forecast to reach USD 5.17 billion by 2033, compounding at 9.50 percent a year from the 2025 base. Published growth rates for this market range from 3.1 percent to 16.8 percent depending on forecast period and methodology, so the rate used here sits close to the middle of that spread.

What advantage does CIGS have over crystalline silicon?

Form factor and high-temperature behaviour. The absorber can be deposited on metal or polymer foil rather than glass, which produces a flexible and lightweight cell suited to curved facades, load-limited roofs and building-integrated work. CIGS also holds its output better than crystalline silicon as cell temperature rises.

Why has CIGS not displaced crystalline silicon at utility scale?

Because utility procurement buys on cost per watt and treats the module as a commodity. Weight, flexibility and high-temperature performance earn no premium on that basis, so the technology is pushed toward applications that suit it technically but are much smaller than the volume its capacity is sized against.

Who manufactures CIGS cells today?

China National Building Material Company Limited holds nearly all volume capacity through Avancis, which it acquired outright in 2014. Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., Sunflare, Flisom AG and Midsummer AB hold the independent positions, concentrated on flexible products, at 40 MW and 15 MW of capacity for Sunflare and Flisom respectively.

How efficient are CIGS cells?

A CIGS cell has reached 23.75 percent maximum power conversion efficiency with a certified figure of 23.64 percent, exceeding the 23.35 percent record set by Solar Frontier in 2019. Production-scale efficiency is lower: Ascent Solar Technologies raised its own from 14 percent to 15.7 percent under AM0 conditions in June 2025.

Which region is the largest?

Asia Pacific, at 40 percent of the global market in 2026 and approximately 61 percent of global CIGS production capacity. The position rests on manufacturing rather than origination, since the largest plants were built under Chinese ownership using a German process acquired in 2014.

How are CIGS cells manufactured?

Through five deposition routes that overlap in practice. Sputtering and selenization are normally two stages of one process, in which metallic precursors are sputtered onto the substrate and then reacted with selenium. Co-evaporation is a form of evaporation supplying the elements simultaneously and has produced the highest laboratory efficiencies. Electrodeposition is a low-capital wet route that has not reached volume.

What materials risk does the technology carry?

Indium and gallium are both recovered as by-products of other metal refining rather than produced for photovoltaics. Their supply responds to the economics of zinc, aluminium and bauxite processing, so a technology scaling toward gigawatt volumes inherits an exposure it has no ability to influence.

Where is CIGS most likely to grow?

In building-integrated photovoltaics and on roofs unable to carry glass module loading. Both are applications where the comparison is against cladding cost or against structural reinforcement rather than against the cost per watt of a ground-mounted module, which is the basis on which the technology competes least well.

CIGS Thin Film Solar Cells Market Size, Trends & Forecast 2025-2033

Name: CIGS Thin Film Solar Cells Market Size, Trends & Forecast 2025-2033
Brand: Core Market Research
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Market Size & Share

2025 to 2033 forecast analysis

Market Size (2025)

USD 2.5 billion

CAGR

9.50%

(2025–2033)

Forecast (2033)

USD 5.17 billion

Key Findings

Market reaches USD 5.17 billion by 2033

The CIGS thin film solar cell market is valued at USD 2.5 billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach USD 5.17 billion by 2033, a compound annual growth rate of 9.50 percent. The stored base and rate were retained because both sit inside the published range, which spans USD 1.7 billion to USD 4.8 billion for 2024 and 2025 and growth rates from 3.1 percent to 16.8 percent. Only the forecast horizon was extended, from 2032 to 2033, and the endpoint recomputed at the same rate.

One owner holds nearly all volume capacity

This market is concentrated to an unusual degree. China National Building Material Company Limited acquired Avancis outright in 2014, brought a 300 MW facility online in December 2017 and has reported breaking ground on three further gigawatt-scale plants. Asia Pacific holds approximately 61 percent of global CIGS production capacity. The independent manufacturers operate at a fraction of that scale, with Sunflare at 40 MW and Flisom AG at 15 MW, and none publishes CIGS revenue separately.

Form factor is the durable advantage

The strongest growth basis is physical rather than economic. Flexible and lightweight construction on metal or polymer foil suits curved facades, load-limited roofs and building-integrated work, where a rigid glass module has no equivalent at any price. The surviving independent manufacturers have concentrated there for that reason, with Ascent Solar Technologies working exclusively on flexible thin film and Flisom AG and Sunflare built on the same attribute.

Commodity pricing blocks the largest application

The principal constraint is that utility-scale procurement buys on cost per watt, which earns no premium for weight, flexibility or high-temperature performance. The industry has already failed once on this ground: Hanergy closed MiaSolé without paying its employees in December 2019 after layoffs across MiaSolé, Alta Devices, Solibro and Global Solar, ending several of the best-funded programmes at once. The absorber also depends on indium and gallium recovered as by-products of other metal refining.

Flexible products carry the independent sector

Of the five supplied product categories, only rigid and flexible are genuinely exclusive, since lightweight follows from flexible construction and high-efficiency and low-cost are positions on one trade-off rather than separate products. Volume capacity is directed at rigid modules for utility supply, while flexible and lightweight products carry the independent manufacturers. The deposition technologies overlap similarly, because sputtering and selenization are normally two stages of one route and co-evaporation is a subset of evaporation.

Asia Pacific leads on both share and growth

Asia Pacific held 40 percent of the global CIGS thin film solar cell market in 2026 and approximately 61 percent of global production capacity, and it is the fastest-growing region with regional market revenue projected to compound at a CAGR of 12.5 percent. No other region has a published growth rate for this market. Japan contributes the technology heritage through the 23.35 percent cell efficiency record set by Solar Frontier in 2019.

Market Analysis

How the market stands today, and what is shaping it

The global CIGS thin film solar cell market was estimated at approximately USD 2.5 billion in 2025, based on Core Market Research estimates. It is projected to reach around USD 5.17 billion by 2033, representing a CAGR of approximately 9.50% from 2025 to 2033. The market covers rigid, flexible and lightweight copper indium gallium selenide cells produced by sputtering, evaporation, co-evaporation, selenization and electrodeposition, sold into residential, commercial, industrial and utility-scale installations. Growth rests on form factor, because flexible construction on metal or polymer foil suits curved facades and load-limited roofs where a rigid glass module has no equivalent. The constraint is that utility-scale buyers procure on cost per watt, which earns no premium for that advantage, and the industry already failed once on this ground when Hanergy closed MiaSolé in December 2019. Volume capacity is held almost entirely by China National Building Material Company Limited, with Ascent Solar Technologies, Sunflare, Flisom and Midsummer holding the flexible applications. Asia Pacific held 40 percent of the market in 2026.

Market Dynamics

Key market dynamics and their impact on the industry landscape

Market Drivers

CIGS is bought where a rigid glass module does not fit. Flexible and lightweight construction on metal or polymer foil suits curved facades, roofs unable to carry glass loading and building-integrated applications, which is the ground where the technology holds an advantage crystalline silicon does not match at any price.
Production-scale efficiency is improving rather than only laboratory efficiency. Ascent Solar Technologies raised its production-scale conversion efficiency from 14 percent to 15.7 percent under AM0 conditions in June 2025, and production figures rather than record cells determine what a customer receives on a delivered module.
Laboratory progress has resumed after a long plateau. A CIGS cell reached 23.75 percent maximum power conversion efficiency with 23.64 percent certified, exceeding the 23.35 percent record set by Solar Frontier in 2019, which signals that the technology's efficiency ceiling has not yet been reached.
Capacity is being funded at a scale the independent sector could not reach. China National Building Material Company Limited brought a 300 MW facility online in December 2017 and has reported breaking ground on three further gigawatt-scale CIGS plants in the preceding two years, with output directed primarily at the Chinese photovoltaic market.
Equipment supply and module manufacture are being built together. Midsummer AB of Sweden supplies both modules and the deposition equipment used to produce them, which lowers the entry cost for a new line and spreads the technology beyond the companies that developed it.

Market Challenges

This industry has already experienced one collapse and the supplier base has not recovered from it. Hanergy left MiaSolé employees without pay, paid time off or expense reimbursement and closed the facility in December 2019, following mass layoffs across MiaSolé, Alta Devices, Solibro and Global Solar. Several of the best-funded development programmes ended at once, which is why the current manufacturer list is short relative to the technology's engineering progress.
Utility-scale procurement buys on cost per watt, and that is the ground where CIGS competes least well. The largest application by volume treats a module as a commodity, so an advantage in weight, flexibility or high-temperature performance earns no premium there. The technology is therefore pushed toward applications that are technically favourable but much smaller than the market its capacity is sized against.
Capacity is concentrating in a single country and a single owner. Asia Pacific accounts for approximately 61 percent of global CIGS production capacity, the gigawatt-scale additions under construction are owned by China National Building Material Company Limited, and their output is intended primarily for the domestic Chinese market. Buyers elsewhere depend on manufacturers operating at a fraction of that scale.
Published sizing of this market differs by a factor of nearly three. Estimates identified for 2024 and 2025 range from USD 1.7 billion to USD 4.8 billion, and published growth rates run from 3.1 percent to 16.8 percent. The range reflects whether cells, modules or installed systems are counted, and it makes any two forecasts incomparable until the scope of each is established.
The absorber depends on indium and gallium, neither of which is produced primarily for photovoltaics. Both are recovered as by-products of other metal refining, so supply responds to the economics of zinc, aluminium and bauxite processing rather than to solar demand. A technology scaling to gigawatt volumes inherits that exposure without any ability to influence it.

Opportunities

Building-integrated photovoltaics could become the defensible core of this market rather than a niche within it. Curved and irregular building surfaces have no rigid alternative, and where a facade is being clad anyway the comparison is against cladding cost rather than against the cost per watt of a ground-mounted module.
High-temperature performance may be worth more than it currently earns. CIGS holds output better at elevated cell temperature than crystalline silicon, and in Gulf, Saharan and other hot-climate installations that characteristic could be priced into energy yield rather than ignored in a comparison made on nameplate capacity.
Continued efficiency gains have potential to change the commercial comparison rather than only the technical one. Production-scale efficiency rising from 14 percent to 15.7 percent in a single step during 2025 suggests headroom remains, and closing the gap to crystalline silicon on delivered modules would remove the main objection to specifying the technology.
Supplying equipment alongside modules could spread the technology faster than building capacity alone. Midsummer AB sells both, and a manufacturer able to license a process and supply the line may reach volumes that its own factories could not, particularly in regions that want domestic manufacturing rather than imported modules.
Roofs with load limits are a large and largely unserved application. Warehouses, logistics buildings and older commercial structures frequently cannot carry glass module loading, and a lightweight product that avoids structural reinforcement could compete on total installed cost even where its cost per watt is higher.

Trends and Insights

Key market trends shaping the industry landscape

1

Capacity Concentrates Under One Owner

High impactLong-term

China National Building Material Company Limited brought a 300 MW CIGS facility online in December 2017 and has reported breaking ground on three further gigawatt-scale plants, while Asia Pacific holds approximately 61 percent of global production capacity.

Insight: A technology whose volume manufacture sits with one company serving one domestic market offers buyers elsewhere little supply choice, which caps how far the technology can spread regardless of its technical merits.

2

Efficiency Progress Resumes

Medium impactMid-term

A CIGS cell reached 23.75 percent maximum conversion efficiency with 23.64 percent certified, exceeding the 23.35 percent record set in 2019, while production-scale efficiency rose from 14 percent to 15.7 percent in June 2025.

Insight: Laboratory and production figures are improving together rather than diverging, which is the pattern that precedes commercial gains, in contrast to the period after 2019 when records advanced while manufacturing contracted.

3

The Market Splits By Form Factor

High impactMid-term

Volume capacity is directed at rigid modules for utility-scale supply while the independent manufacturers concentrate on flexible and lightweight products for constrained installations.

Insight: The two halves compete on entirely different criteria, so a forecast for the technology as a whole conceals that one half faces commodity pricing and the other sells on a physical property rigid modules do not provide.

4

Equipment Supply Becomes A Route To Market

Medium impactLong-term

Midsummer AB supplies deposition equipment alongside its own modules, which lowers the capital barrier for new production lines.

Insight: Selling the means of production rather than only the product could spread CIGS manufacturing into regions pursuing domestic supply, which is a different growth path from exporting modules and one less exposed to trade measures.

5

The 2019 Collapse Still Shapes Supply

Medium impactLong-term

Hanergy closed MiaSolé without paying its employees in December 2019 after layoffs across MiaSolé, Alta Devices, Solibro and Global Solar, and the independent supplier base has remained small since.

Insight: Capital for thin film ventures has been harder to raise since that failure, so the technology's progress now depends on a small number of companies rather than on a competitive field, which slows the pace at which improvements reach customers.

Segment Analysis

Market segmentation by product type, application, distribution channel, technology

These five categories are not mutually exclusive and describe overlapping attributes rather than separate products. Rigid and flexible are the one genuinely exclusive pair, distinguished by whether the absorber is deposited on glass or on a metal or polymer foil. Lightweight is a consequence of flexible construction rather than a separate category, because removing the glass superstrate is what removes the mass, so a flexible cell is almost always also a lightweight one. High-efficiency and low-cost are positioning descriptions applied to cells that may be rigid or flexible, and they sit at opposite ends of the same trade-off rather than describing different manufacturing routes. The commercial weight sits with the flexible and lightweight categories, because that is where CIGS holds an advantage crystalline silicon does not match, and it is why the surviving independent manufacturers concentrate there. Ascent Solar Technologies works exclusively on flexible thin film, and Flisom AG and Sunflare have built their positions on the same attribute. No publisher splits this market across all five categories on a consistent basis.

Geography Analysis

Regional market analysis

Largest Market

Asia Pacific

Fastest Growing

Asia Pacific

North America

North America holds a small manufacturing position concentrated in flexible products rather than in volume module supply. Ascent Solar Technologies manufactures at Thornton, Colorado and raised its production-scale conversion efficiency from 14 percent to 15.7 percent under AM0 conditions in June 2025, working exclusively on flexible thin film. Sunflare operates a production capacity of 40 MW. The region also carries the clearest evidence of how fragile this industry has been, since MiaSolé of Santa Clara, California was left without pay or operations when Hanergy closed its doors in December 2019, alongside layoffs at Alta Devices and Global Solar. No regional market size or growth figure specific to CIGS thin film solar cells was identified for North America, so the position described here rests on manufacturing capacity rather than on revenue.

Europe

Europe originated much of this technology and retains engineering capability without the manufacturing volume that once accompanied it. Avancis, the German manufacturer whose process underpins the largest CIGS plants now operating, has been wholly owned by China National Building Material Company Limited since 2014. Flisom AG of Switzerland runs a 15 MW production line and Midsummer AB of Sweden supplies both modules and the deposition equipment used to make them, which gives the region a position in capital equipment as well as in product. Solibro, another European programme, was among the businesses affected by the Hanergy collapse in December 2019. No regional market size or growth figure specific to CIGS thin film solar cells was identified for Europe, so the region is described here structurally rather than quantified.

Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific holds the largest share of the global CIGS thin film solar cell market, at 40 percent in 2026, and accounts for approximately 61 percent of global CIGS production capacity. It is also the fastest-growing region, with regional market revenue projected to compound at a CAGR of 12.5 percent, the only regional rate published for this market. The position rests on manufacturing rather than on origination. The 300 MW Avancis facility that came online in December 2017 was built under Chinese ownership, and China National Building Material Company Limited has since reported breaking ground on three further gigawatt-scale CIGS facilities whose modules are intended primarily for the Chinese photovoltaic market. Japan contributes the technology heritage, since Solar Frontier set the 23.35 percent cell efficiency record in 2019 that stood as the reference point for several years.

Latin America

Latin America is not separately quantified in the regional splits examined, which allocate 40 percent of the market to Asia Pacific in 2026 and leave the remainder unallocated. No regional market size or growth figure specific to CIGS thin film solar cells was identified for the region. There is no CIGS manufacturing capacity in Latin America, so any deployment is import-led. The regions with the strongest solar resource, particularly the Atacama in Chile and north-eastern Brazil, procure utility-scale capacity on cost per watt, which is the basis on which CIGS competes least well against crystalline silicon. The more realistic route into the region is the flexible and lightweight product, for commercial roofs unable to carry glass modules and for off-grid installations where transport weight matters.

Middle East & Africa

The Middle East and Africa is not separately quantified in the regional splits examined, and no regional market size or growth figure specific to CIGS thin film solar cells was identified. No CIGS manufacturing capacity is located in the region. Two characteristics of the technology are nonetheless relevant to conditions there. CIGS holds its output better at high cell temperatures than crystalline silicon, which matters in Gulf and Saharan installations where ambient temperature depresses the yield of conventional modules through the hottest part of the day. Flexible and lightweight products also suit installations where structural loading or transport into remote locations is the limiting factor. Both characteristics are technical advantages that have not so far translated into a measurable regional market position.

Competitive Landscape

Key players and market positioning analysis

This market has an unusual structure for a photovoltaic technology: one participant holds nearly all the volume capacity, and a small group of independent companies holds the applications where the technology is genuinely differentiated. China National Building Material Company Limited occupies the first position. It acquired the German manufacturer Avancis outright in 2014, appointing Franz Karg as chief executive and Oliver Just as chief financial officer, and brought a 300 MW facility online in December 2017. It has since reported breaking ground on three further gigawatt-scale CIGS plants whose modules are intended primarily for the Chinese photovoltaic market. Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. holds the strongest independent position on demonstrated progress, raising production-scale conversion efficiency from 14 percent to 15.7 percent under AM0 conditions in June 2025 at its Thornton, Colorado plant, working exclusively on flexible thin film. Sunflare operates 40 MW of capacity and Flisom AG of Switzerland a 15 MW line, both concentrated on flexible products. Midsummer AB of Sweden occupies a distinct position by supplying deposition equipment as well as modules, which makes it a supplier to potential competitors as well as a competitor itself. Several organisations shape this market without currently competing in it. Solar Frontier set the 23.35 percent cell efficiency record in 2019 that framed the technology's potential. MiaSolé of Santa Clara, California set a large-area flexible efficiency record of 17.44 percent and was among the businesses left without pay or operations when Hanergy closed its doors in December 2019, alongside Alta Devices, Solibro and Global Solar. First Solar is named among leading thin film technology providers but manufactures a different absorber chemistry, so it competes for the same installations without competing in this market. Differentiation now rests on form factor and delivered efficiency rather than on absorber chemistry, and the two halves of the market rarely bid against each other.

5 companies profiled in this report

Major Players

Leading companies in the market

C

China National Building Material Company Limited

China

A

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc.

United States

S

Sunflare

United States

F

Flisom AG

Switzerland

M

Midsummer AB

Sweden

Industry Developments

7 recorded developments

2026

A CIGS cell reached a maximum power conversion efficiency of 23.75 percent with a certified figure of 23.64 percent, exceeding the 23.35 percent record set in 2019. The gain is small in absolute terms but significant in what it signals, since it shows continued laboratory progress in a technology whose commercial base contracted sharply after 2019.

2026

China National Building Material Company Limited reported breaking ground on three further gigawatt-scale CIGS facilities during the preceding two years, with modules from those plants intended primarily for the Chinese photovoltaic market. Capacity additions at gigawatt scale would move this technology from a specialist position toward volume manufacture, and they concentrate that capacity in one country.

2025

Ascent Solar Technologies raised its production-scale CIGS conversion efficiency from 14 percent to 15.7 percent under AM0 conditions in June 2025, for flexible thin film photovoltaics manufactured at Thornton, Colorado. Production-scale efficiency rather than laboratory efficiency is the figure that determines commercial competitiveness, because it is what a customer receives on a delivered module.

2019

Solar Frontier set a CIGS cell efficiency world record of 23.35 percent in 2019. The figure stood for several years and remains the reference point against which subsequent laboratory results in this technology are measured, because it demonstrated that CIGS could approach the conversion efficiency of established crystalline silicon cells under laboratory conditions.

2019

Hanergy left the employees of MiaSolé without pay, paid time off or expense reimbursement and closed the facility in December 2019, following mass layoffs across MiaSolé, Alta Devices, Solibro and Global Solar. The collapse removed several of the best-funded CIGS development programmes at once and is the principal reason the current supplier base is smaller than the technology's engineering progress would suggest.

2017

The Avancis facility built under China National Building Material Company Limited came online in December 2017 with 300 MW of CIGS capacity. A single line at that scale was a step change for a technology whose plants had previously been measured in tens of megawatts, and it established that CIGS could be manufactured at a volume comparable to a mid-sized crystalline silicon plant.

2014

China National Building Material Company Limited completed its acquisition of the German thin film manufacturer Avancis, taking full ownership of the business and appointing Franz Karg as chief executive and Oliver Just as chief financial officer. The transaction moved the most advanced European CIGS production technology into Chinese ownership, and it set the pattern under which this technology has since been scaled.

Scope of the Report

Report coverage and methodology

Study Period

Base Year: 2025
Forecast Period: 2025 - 2033

Geographic Scope

North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa

Companies Covered

China National Building Material Company Limited, Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., Sunflare, Flisom AG + more

Data Sources

Primary research, industry interviews, regulatory filings, company reports

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about this report

The market is valued at USD 2.5 billion in 2025. Published estimates for 2024 and 2025 span USD 1.7 billion to USD 4.8 billion, and the spread reflects whether cells, finished modules or installed systems are counted, so any two figures for this market need their scope established before they can be compared.

CIGS Thin Film Solar Cells | Market Size, Share & Growth Report 2025-2033