Lithium Battery Material Prices Surge, Industry Chain Companies Invest Another 30 Billion Yuan to Expand Production

Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology, the global leader in electrolytes, has officially entered the countdown to its H-share issuance. On October 5, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange disclosed that it had passed the main board listing hearing, with J.P. Morgan, CITIC Securities, and GF Securities serving as joint sponsors. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Guangzhou, Tinci Materials listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2014. As of the close on September 30, its A-share price stood at 31.20 yuan, with a total market capitalization of approximately 63.6 billion yuan. The company first filed on September 22, 2025, but that filing lapsed. It filed again on March 27, 2026, and received the China Securities Regulatory Commission's approval for overseas issuance and listing on August 19, planning to issue no more than 413 million ordinary shares overseas. Since 2016, the company has ranked first globally in electrolyte shipments for ten consecutive years, with a global market share of about 36% in 2025. It is also the world's largest supplier of lithium hexafluorophosphate and lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide, with lithium hexafluorophosphate shipments accounting for 38.2% of the global market in 2025 and LiFSI shipments accounting for 47.2% of the global share. The prospectus shows that from 2023 to 2025, the company's operating revenue was 15.405 billion yuan, 12.518 billion yuan, and 16.65 billion yuan respectively, with net profit of 1.842 billion yuan, 478 million yuan, and 1.344 billion yuan respectively. In the first half of 2026, operating revenue reached 14.71 billion yuan, up 109.28% year on year, with net profit attributable to the parent company of 2.861 billion yuan, a surge of 967.91% year on year, and non-GAAP net profit of 2.807 billion yuan, a surge of 1096.69% year on year. The comprehensive gross margin rose to 33.55%. About 80% of the net proceeds from this H-share listing will be used for global business development, of which about 60% will go directly to the Morocco project and other overseas expansion as well as global upstream resource investment, about 10% to research and development, and the remaining about 10% to supplement working capital.

Amprius Technologies announced in late September 2026 that it entered into a US$75 million fixed-price Other Transaction Agreement with the U.S. Government for Project acCELLerate, alongside a separate U.S. Department of War IBAS grant, to build secure domestic high-energy density battery production for small unmanned aerial systems. The awards position Amprius to retrofit an existing South Korea-linked EV battery line into a U.S.-compliant facility capable of producing 12 million silicon-anode cells annually for NDAA-compliant defense customers. The company had already lifted its August 2026 guidance to at least US$140 million in full-year revenue with a narrower net loss. Amprius' narrative projects US$415.0 million in revenue and US$53.6 million in earnings by 2029, yielding a US$22.12 fair value, while the most cautious analysts assume about US$362 million of revenue and roughly US$40 million of earnings by 2029. The growing dependence on government-backed drone programs also concentrates risk should procurement cycles shift.

Arkema announced a €10 million expansion project for its Global Battery Center of Excellence in Oullins-Pierre-Bénite, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. The investment will triple the center's footprint and modernize its research infrastructure, including a significant increase in the digitalization of R&D activities. The expansion builds on the Group's global battery R&D network, which spans France, China, South Korea, Japan and the United States, and follows the September 2025 inauguration of a solvent-free battery electrode manufacturing laboratory in Normandy. Arkema said the project will let its researchers replicate customers' manufacturing conditions to accelerate integration of its advanced materials into cell makers' production processes and support batteries with greater energy density, faster charging and enhanced safety. Chief Technology Officer Armand Ajdari called the investment a major milestone in Arkema's ambition to support the rapid evolution of the battery market. The project received support from the French Research Tax Credit and the French State as part of the France 2030 program.

The 15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the New Battery Industry, jointly formulated by seven departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, was officially released on September 28, proposing that all-solid-state batteries achieve initial large-scale application by 2030. Boosted by this news, the solid-state battery concept surged again on the morning of September 30, with Transart Technology, Shanghai Xiba, and Xin Ya Zhi Cheng hitting limit up, while lithium battery materials company Lopal Technology was pulled up to a 9.99 percent limit-up. The plan makes arrangements for developing advanced battery materials and high-end manufacturing equipment, proposing to develop isostatic pressing equipment for solid-state batteries, and to develop solid-state electrolytes such as sulfide and halide materials with high air stability, as well as high-performance polymer composite solid-state electrolytes. Lopal Technology recently stated that its solid-state battery precursor product D392 is a high-nickel ternary precursor material tailored for solid-state batteries and launched by its wholly owned subsidiary Sanjin Lithium. Through measures such as element doping and structural adjustment, it has been made more stable, safer, and longer-lasting, and can better solve problems in solid-state batteries such as cracking of cathode materials and high-temperature decomposition of materials.

Chinese battery maker Gotion High-Tech will invest 1.1 billion euros, or 1.25 billion dollars, in Volkswagen's plant in Valencia in eastern Spain. As part of a broad partnership plan to jointly build a European battery supply chain, the investment will give Gotion High-Tech a 49 percent stake in VW battery unit PowerCo's Valencia plant, with PowerCo retaining a majority stake. The plant will become the European production base for lithium iron phosphate batteries. PowerCo, meanwhile, will invest 470 million euros in two of Gotion High-Tech's sites, a battery plant in Suraly in southern Slovakia and a new cathode materials production facility in Kenitra in northwestern Morocco, taking a 49 percent stake in each. Volkswagen is Gotion High-Tech's sole largest shareholder, holding 24 percent.