CATL Partners up With Indonesia to Boost Battery Production

Technology Author: Niko Yang Editor: Yiru Qian Apr 19, 2022 11:12 PM (GMT+8)

The company just got the license to produce batteries in Germany

CATL

China EV battery leader CATL(300750:SZ) announced that its subsidiary Brunp has entered into a partnership with Indonesian companies ANTAM and IBI to forge an EV battery supply chain. The investment would be no more than USD 6 billion.

The agreement focuses on the entire battery making process, such as Nickel mining and processing, ternary lithium battery material, manufacturing and recycling. It expects to complete the ecosystem within five years through six sub-projects. CATL controls most of the projects except for the Nickel project.

Both ANTAM and IBI are Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises, among which ANTAM is a public company engaged in mining for various types of minerals. The latter one, IBI, is a newly formed investment company by Indonesian conglomerates, which mainly invests in battery and related industry chain projects in Indonesia and overseas.

CATL claimed the project would be conducive to enhancing its strategic layout in the NEV industry, safeguarding the supply of key upstream resources and raw materials, reducing costs, and propelling its battery recycling scheme.

''We are considering building plants in Canada, Mexico and other cities, and we must enter the US market,'' the battery giant's CEO and founder Zeng Yuqun said.

Although CATL is betting huge on overseas markets, the company still relies on its homeland one. Data from the China Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance For Electric Vehicle shows that the company shipped 80.51GWh batteries domestically in 2021, contributing 83.26% of its global total capacity.

Under the backdrop of global expansion, CATL's share price has lost 40% of its market cap since its all-time high in December last year. As of press time, CATL closed at CNY 440.26 apiece.