Chinese Battery Giants Invest $90 Billion Overseas

The combined market share of six Chinese companies, including CATL and BYD in the global EV battery market excluding China from January to August this year was 56.2%, up 12.6 percentage points compared to the same period last year. Major Chinese battery companies have invested approximately $90 billion in overseas operations since 2023, expanding their penetration of the global market. While the market share of Chinese companies has increased even in the electric vehicle battery market excluding China, the market share of three domestic battery companies, including LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On, has declined. According to the UK Financial Times (FT) on October 21 (local time), major Chinese battery companies such as CATL, BYD, and Gotion High-tech were found to have invested approximately $90 billion in building overseas battery production and supply chains, including in Europe and Southeast Asia, since 2023. The market share gap in overseas markets is also widening. According to market research firm SNE Research, the combined market share of six Chinese companies, including CATL, BYD, Gotion, CALB, SVOLT, and EVE, in the global electric vehicle battery market excluding China from January to August this year was 56.2%, up 12.6 percentage points compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, the combined market share of the three domestic battery companies was 26.8%, down 11.1 percentage points during the same period. Among Chinese companies, the growth of BYD was prominent. In markets excluding China, the total battery capacity of electric vehicles equipped with BYD batteries was 39.7GWh, an increase of 66.5% compared to the same period last year. Its market share also rose from 8.2% to 11.0%. By region, battery installation volume increased by 65.6% in Europe and 138.5% in South America. Conversely, the combined battery installation volume of the three domestic battery companies, LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK On, in markets excluding China was 96.5GWh, a decrease of 12.8% compared to the same period last year. In particular, it dropped by 46.5% from 47.4GWh to 25.3GWh in North America. In Europe, it increased by 5.2% from 49.9GWh to 52.5GWh, but this failed to offset the decline in the North American market. Along with the rising market share of Chinese companies, the proportion of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries is also expanding. According to SNE Research, the proportion of LFP batteries in the global electric vehicle battery market excluding China rose by 11.9 percentage points from 15.6% in January to August last year to 27.5% during the same period this year. LFP batteries have relatively low manufacturing costs and are mainly used in entry-level electric vehicles. As Chinese companies have secured high production competitiveness in this area and overseas automakers increasingly adopt LFP batteries, changes are also appearing in the competitive landscape of the global battery market.