"As the Q3'14 earning season draws to a close for leading solar PV companies, with re-stated full year forecasts made for the final time, IHS has released its global top 10 module rankings based on full year shipment estimates.

• In 2014 top 10 module suppliers are expected to be almost the same group of companies in 2013, though several ranking changes will have occurred. SunPower entered the top 10 with the same ranking as Kyocera.
• Trina Solar is forecast to be the largest module supplier in 2014 in terms of global shipments. Whilst JA Solar will be the supplier that has increased its ranking the most as well as the highest shipment growth rate among the top 10.
• China, Japan, and the US were unsurprisingly the biggest markets for all of the top 10 module suppliers in 2014.

The 2014 top 10 PV module suppliers are almost the same group of companies as one year ago. SunPower entered the top 10 in 2014 and was ranked joint 10th largest suppliers alongside Kyocera according to IHS estimates.

Trina Solar is expected to be ranked the world's largest PV module supplier by shipment volume for the first time. It is also expected to break industry records for both quarterly and annual PV module shipments in Q4'14. Yingli Green Energy, the holder of these previous records, is expected to be ranked the 2nd largest supplier having adopted a new strategy to prioritize profitability.

JA Solar is forecast to gain most ranking places amongst the top 10 and expected to be ranked the fifth largest supplier in 2014. Its module shipments are expected to double from 2013 level, outpacing all of the other top 10 suppliers. Such impressive growth highlights JA's successful transformation from a major cell manufacturer into a leading module supplier.

China, Japan, and the US have been the largest three PV markets in 2014, and unsurprisingly were the key markets for all of the leading PV module suppliers. Japanese suppliers, Sharp Solar and Kyocera leveraged high brand awareness and acceptance in their domestic market to retain positions in the top 10 rankings in 2014.

Many of the top 10 suppliers also accelerated the use of a large quantity of PV modules for internal solar projects in 2014, especially Trina Solar, Yingli, Jinko Solar, and JA Solar. Total unrecognized module shipments that will be used in internal projects will reach 1.4 GW in 2014 for these four companies combined, in an effort to shift towards PV project development pioneered by Canadian Solar, First Solar, and SunPower. "