Catl “wins big”: Beyond Batteries, What Else Can It Sell?

2025

When discussing CATL's performance in 2025, an analyst who has long followed the new energy sector offered this overall assessment: given its current position in the industry, CATL's only true competitor is itself, and the key question now is whether it can surpass itself in 2026.

Indeed, judging from CATL's 2025 annual report, both its revenue and net profit have reached historic highs, making it truly unrivaled.

After the annual report was released, several securities firms also expressed optimism about Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) in their latest research reports — among them, Soochow Securities gave it a "buy" rating with a target price of no more than 618 RMB; the internationally renowned investment bank UBS also gave it a "buy" rating, with a target price set at 660 HKD.

Timeline: Notably, on March 10, following the release of its annual report, CATL's A-share stock price surged by 5.26%, closing at RMB 376.3.

Revenue ranks first, with overseas contribution exceeding 30%.

In almost every aspect, CATL's performance in 2025 can be considered a historical best.

According to its annual report released on March 9, CATL achieved RMB 423.702 billion in operating revenue for the entire year of 2025, representing a 17.04% year-on-year increase from RMB 362.013 billion in 2024.

Notably, CATL's revenue in 2023 exceeded 400 billion yuan, reaching 400.917 billion yuan. However, in 2024, CATL's revenue saw a 9.7% year-on-year decline, amounting to 362.013 billion yuan. As the results for 2025 were released, CATL's revenue showed a significant rebound.

Of course, accompanied by this achievement, CATL’s annual revenue reached a new historic high.

The core reason for CATL's achievement is the growth of its battery business.

The data shows that CATL achieved lithium-ion battery sales of 661GWh in 2025, a year-on-year growth rate of 39.16% — among which, CATL's power battery sales were 541GWh, a year-on-year increase of 41.85%; and the sales of energy storage batteries were 121GWh, a year-on-year growth of 29.13%.

Regarding business segments, CATL's revenue from the power battery system segment was 316.506 billion yuan, accounting for 74.7% of total revenue; revenue from the energy storage battery system segment was 62.44 billion yuan, accounting for 14.74% of total revenue. In addition, the combined revenue share of the battery materials and recycling, battery mineral resources, and other business segments exceeded 20%.

At the same time, according to the region, the revenue from within China accounts for 69.4%, and the revenue from outside China accounts for 30.6%.

In terms of net profit, CATL’s performance is more impressive.

According to the annual report, in 2025, CATL reported a net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company of RMB 72.201 billion, an increase of 42.28% year-on-year; and a net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company after deducting non-recurring gains and losses of RMB 64.508 billion, an increase of 43.37% year-on-year.

As shown above, CATL’s net profit growth rate in 2025 significantly outpaces its revenue growth rate in the same year—indicating that, despite an exceptionally intense external competitive environment, CATL has further enhanced its profitability, driven by declining raw material prices (e.g., lithium carbonate) and economies of scale from expanded production capacity.

The report shows that in 2025, the gross profit margin for Ningde Time's power battery system was 23.84%, while the gross profit margin for the energy storage battery system was 26.71%, indicating that the energy storage battery system had a significantly higher gross profit margin. Meanwhile, the gross profit margin for the battery materials and recycling business was 27.27%, an increase of 16.76 percentage points compared to the previous year.

From a geographical perspective, the gross profit margin of CATL's domestic business is 24%, while the gross profit margin of its overseas business is 31.44%.

In addition to its impressive revenue and net profit performance, CATL’s financial report also features numerous highlights.

For example, in 2025, the net cash flow from operating activities of CATL reached 133.2 billion yuan, an increase of 37.35% year-on-year. The total of monetary funds and trading financial assets at the end of the period reached 392.5 billion yuan.

In terms of R&D investment, CATL invested RMB 22.146 billion in 2025, representing a 20% increase from RMB 18.607 billion in 2024; R&D expenditure accounted for 5.23% of total revenue, reaching a new high. Over the past decade, CATL’s cumulative R&D investment has exceeded RMB 90 billion.

Another notable point is that while releasing its annual report, CATL also announced a cash dividend. Its profit distribution plan is to pay a cash dividend of 69.57 yuan per 10 shares (including tax). As a result, CATL has continuously distributed cash dividends amounting to 50% of its net profit attributable to shareholders for three consecutive years. After this year's dividend distribution, the total accumulated dividends will approach 100 billion yuan.

Beyond power generation, energy storage still has significant room for growth.

For CATL, what is the key engine driving its growth in 2025?

The answer is still very simple: power batteries and energy storage batteries.

From the perspective of power batteries, in 2025, regardless of the Chinese new energy vehicle market or the global market, the growth of new energy vehicle sales will be driven by the increasing number of available models, accelerated intelligentization, and continuous improvement of charging and swapping infrastructure, which has effectively driven the continuous growth of power battery demand — and CATL has benefited from this.

According to SNE Research data, global new energy vehicle sales will grow by 21.5% in 2025; meanwhile, China's new energy vehicle sales will reach 13.875 million units in 2025, with a penetration rate exceeding 50% for the first time.

Against this backdrop, CATL achieved a power battery sales volume of 541 GWh in 2025, representing a year-on-year growth of 41.85%. According to SNE Research, CATL’s global power battery usage market share reached 39.2% in 2025, up 1.2 percentage points year-on-year, maintaining its position as the world’s top-ranked supplier for the ninth consecutive year.

Meanwhile, in the domestic market, according to statistics from the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, CATL’s domestic power battery installation market share in 2025 stood at 43.42%. Notably, although this figure does not undermine CATL’s position as the market leader, it represents a 1.67-percentage-point decline compared to 2024.

From the perspective of the progress of the power battery business, CATL has a multi-faceted layout for 2025, one of the key initiatives being to continuously enhance C-end users' awareness and trust in CATL's automotive power battery business through a series of methods. Not only that, while maintaining the shipment of existing products, CATL has also successively launched new products such as the second-generation Shennhang ultra-fast charging battery, Shennhang Pro battery, Xiaoyao dual-core battery, and sodium-ion passenger car power batteries.

Regarding sodium-ion battery products, CATL stated in its earnings call that it plans to engage in more communication and promotion with customers on sodium-ion batteries this year, and some customers have already adopted CATL’s sodium-ion batteries.

Next, let’s look at the energy storage business.

In 2025,'s energy storage battery sales reached 121 GWh, an increase of 29.13% year-on-year. According to SNE Research data cited by CATL, CATL's market share of energy storage batteries in 2025 reached 30.4%, and its shipments have ranked first globally for five consecutive years. The company's system integration business has delivered a total of over 70 projects worldwide, with shipment volumes increasing by more than 160% year-on-year.

According to the development of the entire energy storage industry, global energy storage battery shipments are expected to reach 550GWh in 2025, an increase of 79% year-on-year; new installed capacity of China's new energy storage is expected to reach 189.5GWh in 2025, an increase of 73% year-on-year. From this perspective, Ningde Times still has significant development potential in the energy storage business.

In its financial report, CATL stated that the company focuses not only on energy storage cell business, but also leverages its profound expertise in cell technology—as well as its downstream product capabilities, including battery packs, battery cabinets, and the ability to feed power back to the AC side—as well as its capability to integrate with power grids, to provide the industry with optimal solutions.

Moreover, in terms of collaboration strategies, CATL will maintain an open and cooperative attitude.

Notably, CATL also specifically addressed the competitive landscape of the battery industry under the current environment in its financial report.

CATL said that in terms of market growth, the overall market is showing strong momentum in areas such as power, passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and energy storage. Due to equipment limitations, CATL's capacity is restricted and it cannot deliver all orders on time, so some orders have to be overflowed to other second- and third-tier manufacturers.

In response, CATL also emphasized that the key to their success is not capacity, but technology and product quality.

What will be the next growth engine?

For CATL, power batteries and energy storage batteries are two obvious engines for business development, with power batteries being the foundation of CATL, and energy storage batteries serving as another pillar for business growth.

However, in its own self-definition, CATL prefers to label itself as a "zero-carbon new energy technology company." This means that CATL is not content with merely engaging in battery manufacturing and sales-related businesses; instead, it aims to "achieve integrated innovation in market applications through electrification and intelligentization."

Then, apart from batteries, what are CATL’s other potential growth drivers?

Currently, CATL’s battery materials and recycling-related businesses—launched as part of its battery business system—have begun generating revenue. However, as of 2025, although the profit margin for this segment is relatively high, its revenue contribution remains modest, requiring greater patience for further development.

Moreover, looking at the broader incremental business opportunities, CATL has targeted emerging electrification scenarios—not just on the road, but also in the air and at sea.

For example, in the low-altitude economy sector, FLYING Aviation, a subsidiary of CATL, has successfully developed the world's first ton-level eVTOL aircraft to be granted the three airworthiness certificates. It has also launched the world's first zero-carbon water take-off and landing platform. The company's cargo version power battery has passed the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration's conformity review for manufacturing, and has also obtained the AS9100D aerospace quality management system certification.

In the waterborne transportation sector, CATL has launched the world's first "ship - shore - cloud" zero-carbon shipping integrated solution that enables megawatt-level ship charging, minute-level battery swapping, and high-precision fusion of multi-source data from the cloud. The company continues to promote strategic cooperation with partners across industries such as port shipping, logistics, and shipbuilding. To date, CATL's electric vessels have accumulated nearly 900 safe operating ships.

Additionally, CATL has also targeted customer demand in areas such as electric motorcycles, electric two-wheelers, power tools, and data centers, launching relevant products.

However, from an external observer's perspective, CATL's most closely watched emerging business is actually battery swapping.

In the financial report, CATL stated that by the end of 2025, under the premise of accelerating the construction of the Choco Swap ecosystem with industry partners, the company has built over 1,000 Choco Swap stations distributed across 45 cities nationwide, and has achieved profitability in Chongqing—the company has reached swap strategic cooperation with multiple car manufacturers, and these manufacturers have released more than 20 swap-compatible models.

Meanwhile, in the commercial vehicle sector, CATL's Qiji battery swap business has established over 300 stations across 26 provinces in China.

Ningde Times further stated that by the end of 2025, the battery swapping services provided by Ningde Times' Chocolate Swapping and Qiji Swapping to users have exceeded 1.15 million times, with a cumulative swapping power of approximately 80 million kilowatt-hours.

Clearly, from the current perspective, although CATL has vigorously expanded its battery-swapping business and achieved milestones by 2025, this business remains in its early stage as an ecosystem-oriented initiative—characterized by heavy investment requirements, a long return period, and a relatively complex cooperation framework—thus still demanding substantial ongoing investment.

Of course, as an industry giant with nearly 400 billion yuan in cash, it is not a matter of urgency for CATL to seek new growth opportunities and new growth engines within its existing vast business system. It requires time. However, in order to maintain and strengthen its advantages, CATL still needs to continue to invest more in technological innovation and customer orientation, constantly updating itself.

After all, the industry competition is extremely brutal - even a leader like CATL must move forward or be left behind.