Protection of Poet's IP is paramount and any additional JVs put that IP at increased risk, even outside of China.  

If Poet is realizing they can protect their IP & cut out the middle man (existing module makers) with a cost disruptive model, I wonder how long it will take for potential partners to start knocking on Poet's door proactively wanting a piece of the pie but on Poet's terms.

While in theory the China+1 strategy seemed like a good idea to disperse geopoiltical risk, it does open the door to other risks.  So we pick our poison either way.  Never a right answer in this type of dynamic environment.