CATL Invests Over $1 Billion in New Lithium-Ion Battery Project

IThome reported on Monday that leading Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL) held the commencement ceremony for its Times New Lithium-Ion Battery Project in the city of Xiamen on the morning of December 19.

On November 15, CATL and Xiamen C&D Logistics Group Co., Ltd. (Xiamen C & D) signed a strategic cooperation agreement.

According to the agreement, CATL and Xiamen C&D will focus on the needs of strategic development, give full play to their respective advantages, and carry out cooperation and exchanges in terms of business model innovation of battery application scenarios, the new energy vehicle industry, supply chain business cooperation and other fields.

According to CATL, in September this year the firm’s chairman Zeng Yuqun and his entourage visited Xiamen C&D. The two parties communicated on areas of existing cooperation and on areas of potential cooperation, mainly focusing on the further collaboration in the upstream and downstream supply chain business of new energy vehicles and power batteries. Both of them hoped to give full play to their respective advantages, strengthen cooperation between each other and achieve common development in the future. Regarding the deal, the relevant individual in charge of CATL said, “For CATL, it is a crossover cooperation covering particularly extensive fields.”

Before this cooperation with Xiamen C&D, on November 5, CATL announced that it planned to build the first phase of the Guizhou New Energy Power and Energy Storage Battery Manufacturing Base in Guian New Area, Guizhou Province, with an investment of no more than 7 billion yuan (about $1.10 billion). In addition, it also planned to build the Xiamen Times Lithium-Ion Battery Production Base Project (Phase I), with an investment of no more than 8 billion yuan (about $1.25 billion).

According to the announcement, the Xiamen Times Project is located in the Xiamen Torch Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Fujian Province, with a planned land area of about 1,000 mu (about 66.7 hectares) and a construction period of no more than 26 months. The project mainly involves the construction of a lithium-ion battery production line, and its main investor is Xiamen Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd.

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Regarding the investment in and construction of the Xiamen Times Project, CATL said that it will increase the company’s capital and cash expenditure temporarily, but in the long run it will have a positive impact on the company’s business layout and performance, and will help meet the needs of future business development and market expansion.

According to the financial report, in the third quarter, CATL achieved revenue of 29.287 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 130.73%, while and its net profit was 3.267 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 130.16%.