BEIJING, July 16 (Reuters) - Two of China's top solar

firms have signed joint ventures with Saudi Arabia's sovereign

investment fund to set up factories in the kingdom worth

billions of dollars, they said on Tuesday.

China's TCL Zhonghuan Renewable Energy Technology

said its Singapore unit planned to set up a joint

venture with partners including a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's

Public Investment Fund (PIF) to manufacture silicon crystal and

silicon wafers in Saudi Arabia.

TCL's LumeTech, PIF's Renewable Energy Localization Co and

Vision Industries Co will invest around a combined $2.08 billion

in the 20 gigawatt (GW) per year project, the company said in a

Shenzhen Stock Exchange filing.

Their respective stakes in the joint venture will be 40%,

40%, and 20%, it said.

Separately, JinkoSolar ( JKS ) said in a Tuesday filing that it had

signed an agreement with the same Saudi partners for a project

producing 10 GW per year of solar cells and modules in the

kingdom.

The companies' combined investment in the project is

estimated at 3.693 billion riyals ($985 million), the filing

said, with Jinko holding a 40% stake.

PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is also chairman of

Saudi Aramco, met last week with China's Commerce Minister Wang

Wentao.

Wang said in the meeting that China would deepen its

cooperation with the kingdom in areas including energy, trade,

and investment.

TCL said in a WeChat post that the project, TCL's first

manufacturing silicon crystal and silicon wafers overseas, would

be of great significance to China's Belt and Road infrastructure

strategy.

(Reporting by Ella Cao and Colleen Howe; Editing by Kirsten

Donovan and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)