CATL's Robin Zeng: No. 1 in batteries, not yet respected

CEO of world’s largest battery maker argues that winning the numbers game is not enough, urging for quality, IP protection and long-termism.

China now produces over three-quarters of batteries sold globally, far more than any other country. Yet Robin Zeng, founder, chairman, and CEO of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the world’s largest battery maker, sounds a distinctly less triumphant.

At an industry forum in Shenzhen, he rebuked Chinese peers for homogeneous products, thin R&D, and a race to the bottom in prices at home and abroad, warning that “simply expanding capacity and earning a bit more money” could leave China’s battery sector both uncompetitive and unable to shoulder its part in the energy transition over the next 15 years. China’s battery industry, he argued, must graduate from being number one in volume to a “version 2.0” that wins something it still lacks: the world’s respect.

Zeng’s speech was delivered at the 15th Gaogong Lithium Battery Annual Conference on 20 November 2025. A transcript and a short video clip are available on the official WeChat account of Shanghai Securities News, a financial daily under Xinhua News Agency.

—Yuxuan Jia

曾毓群：不仅要做世界第一，更要让世界尊重

Robin Zeng: China’s Lithium Battery Industry Should Go Beyond Being Number One to Earning the World’s Respect

In 2024, annual lithium battery shipments officially crossed the one-terawatt-hour mark. I still remember that five years ago, I predicted this milestone would be reached in 2025, but in reality, it came a year earlier. In this post-terawatt-hour era, how should China’s lithium battery industry continue to develop? The challenges ahead are by no means insignificant.

True innovation in this industry remains far from sufficient. Many companies settle for marginal improvements and focus on short-term gains, chasing quick profits or engaging in relentless price wars instead of investing in R&D and quality. The only viable path forward is to embrace long-termism and continue driving high-quality development in this industry over the next fifteen years.

To achieve this, it is first necessary to understand the characteristics and attributes of the industry, to identify a sound path for long-term growth. I would like to share some thoughts from three perspectives.

First, lithium batteries are part of the energy industry, so it must shoulder the responsibility of driving the energy transition.

In the past, lithium batteries were largely seen as belonging to the transportation sector. Today, however, the overarching trend of “electrifying energy consumption and decarbonising power supply” is creating broad-based demand for batteries.

At an event in Yibin, Sichuan, last week, I said that the new energy industry has entered an era of across-the-board incremental growth. China’s new energy vehicle penetration rate has already surpassed 50%. Electric commercial vehicles are growing explosively. Electric aircraft and electric vessels are emerging rapidly, and new sectors such as data centres and robotics are also generating new demand.

Meanwhile, the rising share of renewable energy is driving strong demand for energy storage. Storage is the most grid-friendly way to balance the system, and among all storage technologies, electrochemical storage remains the most economical and reliable option for applications of up to eight hours.

Investment in high-quality production capacity must be scaled up, with a tighter match between supply and demand. Low-end capacity should no longer be allowed to waste government and investor resources. As the new energy system accelerates its build-out, it is time to shift perspective and consider, from the standpoint of a new energy system, how future generation, transmission, storage, and loads can be designed.

Second, lithium batteries are part of the technology industry, and innovation must be the core driving force.

The lithium battery industry is highly technology-intensive. Only sustained technological breakthroughs can unlock greater room for growth. Some people may ask: “If anyone can make lithium batteries, why are they considered high-tech?”

A look inside a lithium battery gives the answer. A 1-Ah cell contains about one billion particles in the cathode and roughly seven hundred million particles in the anode. With every cycle, ions must move smoothly from the cathode to the anode and then back again. Ensuring that particles align precisely without triggering side reactions is extremely difficult. Therefore, making a lithium battery is easy; making a high-quality lithium battery is hard.

The lithium battery industry has enormous technological potential, yet it suffers from serious homogenisation, and truly disruptive innovation remains in short supply. At the same time, stronger intellectual property protection is in dire need. Protecting IP is protecting innovation. If copying becomes the default, innovation will disappear, vitality will fade, and China’s lithium battery industry will fall behind in global competition.

I recently travelled to Korea and several other countries. What I discovered was that they are fully committed to innovation, directing their efforts toward disruptive technologies. If China’s lithium battery industry continues to repeat the old model of “simply expanding capacity and earning a bit more money,” then over the next fifteen years, China may be unable to maintain its competitive edge in lithium batteries or fulfil its responsibilities in the energy transition.

Third, lithium batteries are also part of the manufacturing sector, so it must maintain reasonable profit expectations and pursue long-term, steady growth.

The lithium battery industry is a part of the manufacturing sector that connects countless upstream and downstream sectors and touches millions of households. One of its defining features is that excessively high profit margins are unrealistic, especially in China’s highly competitive, low-price environment. Yet the industry must also maintain reasonable profit expectations in order to sustain long-term, stable growth.

It is essential to provide high-quality employment so that ordinary workers can develop skills, accumulate wealth, and share in the industry’s progress. Manufacturing places a premium on quality and technological iteration. To ensure long-term reliability, the industry needs robust full-lifecycle reliability management and testing methods, so that lithium batteries can maintain their performance over a lifespan of ten to twenty years.

Additionally, major technological iterations in lithium batteries typically occur every five years, and sometimes in just over three. Depreciation schedules for production lines must be aligned with this pace of innovation. If a production line is depreciated over ten years, once the technology shifts, that older line quickly loses competitiveness. When new products cannot be developed, strong short-term financial results merely conceal underlying weaknesses and pull the industry away from the goal of high-quality development.

Finally, I want to emphasise that, whether viewed from the perspective of the energy sector, the technology sector, or the manufacturing sector, lithium batteries are of critical importance. Yet competition is not only fierce inside China; it is now being carried overseas. This year, in major European, American, and Middle Eastern markets, Chinese companies have been competing especially aggressively, particularly in GWh-scale projects. Some have even cut prices by 30 per cent below normal levels while at the same time promising a 50 per cent increase in service life.

China’s lithium battery industry has already become the largest in the world. This is the moment to reflect on how to promote high-quality development. That is why I am standing here today, and this is also the message that I have conveyed to many senior government officials: the industry needs strong self-discipline and a firm commitment to long-termism. Only on this basis can the sector strive not only to grow bigger, but also to grow better.

China’s lithium battery industry should not only remain number one in scale, but also move toward a “version 2.0,” becoming the number one in high-quality development, truly earning the respect of the world.

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