Nordex SE
German maker of wind turbines, selling machines plus decades of service contracts.
On the record
Checkpoint: US Court of International Trade ruling on Nordex USA's Section 301 tariff challenge
The call
Nordex sits behind political and technical walls that keep cheaper Chinese turbines out, but its own margins and US pipeline depend on those walls holding.
Nordex is a German company that designs and builds large wind turbines and sells long-term service contracts to power companies. It has real advantages that are hard to copy: customers lock in for 15 to 20 years, it has built factories in key countries, and governments require expensive certifications before anyone can sell turbines. The main threat is not a startup or new technology, but two older rivals that also make turbines (Vestas from Denmark and GE Vernova from the US) plus cheaper Chinese competitors like Goldwind that are blocked from Western markets only by tariffs and politics, which could change. The one thing that could flip everything: the US government frozen wind permitting in August 2025, and new tariffs on imported turbines took effect July 2026, both now in legal battles. If those policies reverse or China finds ways around the tariffs, Nordex's prices could get crushed overnight.
Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. AI doesn't design or install wind turbines; it may speed up Nordex's own engineering and service analytics instead. Could AI do the core job? Unlikely.
02
Bigger players: Goldwind and Envision (Chinese OEMs), plus Vestas and GE Vernova in the West. Chinese OEMs already dominate global installs but stay walled out of US/EU by tariffs; Vestas and GE Vernova compete hard in the same open markets. Could a giant copy it? No, they are blocked.
03
What protects it. 64GW of turbines under 15-20 year service deals plus Western certification and local-content rules that Chinese OEMs can't yet clear.
What would change this call
US DoD onshore wind permitting freeze resolution or 19-state AG lawsuit outcome within 6-12 months. Shows whether US order pipeline and tariff-protected pricing hold or collapse.
Goldwind or Envision lands over 500MW European utility order at sharply lower price. Would show Chinese OEMs breaking through Western pricing walls, compressing Nordex margins.
Two consecutive quarters of EBITDA margin decline or negative free cash flow beyond Q1 2026 seasonality. Would show margin recovery is not structural but temporary.
Goldwind or Envision lands over 500MW European utility order at sharply lower price. Would show Chinese OEMs breaking through Western pricing walls, compressing Nordex margins.
Two consecutive quarters of EBITDA margin decline or negative free cash flow beyond Q1 2026 seasonality. Would show margin recovery is not structural but temporary.
Key numbers
- Q1 2026 EBITDA margin rose to 8.2% from 5.5% a year earlier
- Q2 2026 order intake hit 3.054 GW, up 32.2% year over year
- Cash position stood at 1.8 billion euros
Named risks
- US DoD freeze since Aug 2025 has blocked 100+ wind projects, threatening US order pipeline.
- Active tariff litigation (Nordex USA suit filed March 2026; Section 301 tariffs effective July 2026).
- Negative free cash flow (-€98M in Q1 2026) despite revenue and margin growth.
- Cyclical thin-margin industry history: Nordex posted losses as recently as 2022 to 2023.
- Chinese OEM global volume dominance could eventually pressure Western pricing if political walls fall.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Vestas Wind Systems | losing to | Vestas installed 12.9 GW globally in 2025 vs Nordex's 7.7 GW, per GWEC, June 2026 |
| GE Vernova | losing to | GE holds 58% US market share vs Vestas' 30%, leaving little room for Nordex domestically as of July 2026 |
| Goldwind / Envision | contesting | Chinese OEMs made up most of record 178 GW global installs in 2025 but remain tariff-blocked from West |
| Siemens Gamesa / Siemens Energy | gaining on | Nordex #1 in Europe 2025 while Siemens Gamesa dealt with prior quality/margin blowups |
Questions people ask
- Is Nordex profitable in 2026?
- Nordex's EBITDA margin rose to 8.2% in Q1 2026 from 5.5% in Q1 2025, on revenue of €1.6 billion (up 11% YoY), but free cash flow was still negative €98 million that quarter, per its April 28, 2026 earnings report.
- Who owns Nordex SE?
- Spanish conglomerate Acciona holds roughly 47% of Nordex SE, a stake dating to the 2016 merger of Acciona Windpower into Nordex, per ownership data cited June 2025. The rest is split between institutional and public shareholders.
- Who is Nordex's biggest competitor?
- Vestas Wind Systems is Nordex's biggest rival, installing 12.9 GW globally in 2025 versus Nordex's 7.7 GW, per GWEC industry data from June 15, 2026. Nordex still ranked #1 in Europe that year.
- Could Chinese wind turbine makers like Goldwind replace Nordex in Europe?
- Not yet: Chinese OEMs Goldwind and Envision made up most of the record 178 GW installed globally in 2025 (GWEC, June 15, 2026), but tariffs and domestic-content rules currently wall them out of Western markets Nordex serves.
- Is Nordex facing problems in the US market?
- Yes: the US Department of Defense froze onshore wind permitting reviews in August 2025, blocking over 100 projects, and Nordex USA filed suit against the US government in the Court of International Trade on March 10, 2026 over tariffs.
- Is Nordex's order intake growing?
- Yes: Nordex reported Q2 2026 order intake of 3,054 MW, up 32.2% year over year, and H1 2026 total order intake of 4,923 MW, up 9.6% YoY, per its July 9, 2026 press release, with average selling prices also rising.
Timeline
- 2026-07-2119-state coalition sues US DoD over onshore wind permitting freeze
- 2026-07-16Nordex announces 325 MW US order using Iowa-manufactured turbines
- 2026-07-09Nordex reports Q2 2026 order intake of 3.1 GW, FY2025 sales ~€7.6B
- 2026-04-28Q1 2026 results: EBITDA margin 8.2%, revenue €1.6B, FCF -€98M
- 2026-04-21Nordex unveils 7.3 MW operating mode for N175/6.X turbine
- 2026-03-10Nordex USA files tariff suit in US Court of International Trade
- 2025-11-17Nordex wins 77 MW Schneifelhoehe order with 20-year service contract
- 2025-09-16Nordex enters Ecuador market with 112 MW order
- 2025-08US DoD begins freezing onshore wind permitting reviews
Revision history
25 July 2026
First assessed. Protection under test. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Nordex Group announces 3.1 GW of order intake in the second quarter 2026 (2026-07-09)
- Nordex SE (NRDXF) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Highlights (2026-04-28)
- GWEC records sharp rise in wind turbine installations (2026-06-15)
- Nordex Secures 325 MW U.S. Wind Order (2026-07-16)
- Nordex Delta4000 Turbines for Rhineland-Palatinate (2025-11-17)
- Nordex Turbines for Ecuador (2025-09-16)
- Nordex SE Insider Trading & Ownership Structure (2025-06-15)
- 19-State Coalition Joins Suit Against U.S. DoD (2026-07-21)
- Nordex USA, Inc. et al v. United States et al (2026-03-09)
- Who Is The Largest Wind Turbine Manufacturer In The US? (2026-07-24)
- gurufocus.com (2026-07-25)
- Nordex Pushes Forward Development: N175/6.X Turbine Receives 7.3 MW Operating Mode (2026-04-21)