In September 2025, CATL launched a new project in Yantai, further expanding its investment footprint in Shandong following previous ventures in Jining, Dongying, Qingdao, Jinan, and Weihai.
Amid the global energy transition, lithium-ion batteries serve as the “heart” of green power and are the focal point of international competition. Leveraging a complete industrial chain, massive market demand, and continuous technological innovation, China supplies 70% of the world’s battery materials and over 60% of its power batteries, firmly securing its leading position.
As a major hub for lithium batteries in northern China, Shandong is attempting to secure a larger share of this industrial bonanza. But when a single city in Ningde, Fujian, could give rise to a global giant, why has no true “peak” emerged yet from Shandong’s “mountains” of lithium battery companies?
Taking a path that giants won’t or can’t take
By 2025, the landscape of the global lithium-ion battery market will become increasingly clear: China, South Korea, and Japan will dominate, while Europe and the United States will accelerate their pursuit, yet China will firmly hold the reins. According to the “Global Lithium-Ion Battery Industry Chain Map White Paper (2025)” released by the Yivi Economic Research Institute, global lithium-ion battery shipments are projected to reach 5.1 TWh by 2030, with China accounting for 70% of the market share.
Data released by the General Administration of Customs shows that in 2025, China’s total lithium battery exports reached 570.86 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.4%. This is not merely a matter of expanding production capacity, but a demonstration of dominance across the entire industrial chain.
On the map of China’s lithium battery industry, the south is undoubtedly the standout region. Ningde in Fujian, Huizhou in Guangdong, Changzhou in Jiangsu… Leveraging leading enterprises and first-mover advantages, these cities have long emerged as the “top performers” among industrial clusters worth hundreds of billions of yuan. Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that in 2025, the top six provinces by lithium battery export value were Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Guangxi, collectively accounting for over 80% of the national total.
In this industrial race, the northern regions’ voice was once somewhat muted.
This imbalance has its historical inevitability. The lithium-ion battery industry originated in the consumer electronics era, with the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta regions leveraging their contract manufacturing foundations to complete their initial accumulation first; in the new energy vehicle era, the rise of CATL in Ningde and BYD in Shenzhen further reinforced the “southern dominance” path dependency.
As a major industrial base and a strategic fulcrum for economic development in northern China, Shandong is clearly unwilling to remain a mere spectator.
By 2025, the revenue of Shandong’s new energy battery industry had surpassed 120 billion yuan, with a growth rate exceeding 20%, and total production capacity reached 280 GWh—doubling compared to 2024. Of this, lithium-ion battery production capacity reached 225 GWh, accounting for 15.2% of the national total. In the first 10 months of 2025, the growth rate of Shandong’s lithium battery production surged to 68%, far exceeding the national average.
From nothing to something, from individual cases to a broader trend—the story behind these figures begins with the choices made by individual companies.
“We operate in the mid-stream of the industrial chain, primarily engaged in cell manufacturing.” In the workshop of Jining Xiaolu Lithium Battery, automated production lines are lined up in order. Deputy General Manager Wang Bing explained that Xiaolu Lithium Battery’s products mainly consist of “18650” and “32140” battery models, which are primarily supplied to the markets for two-wheeled and three-wheeled vehicles, streetlights, and portable energy storage.
While giants like CATL and BYD have set their sights on the fiercely competitive passenger vehicle battery market, this company has chosen a radically different path—avoiding direct competition with the industry titans and carving out a niche in markets they “look down upon.”
In Zaozhuang, Jinggong Electronics has chosen to deeply cultivate niche markets for over 20 years, focusing on the small-scale power battery and energy storage sectors in high-end overseas markets, while carefully expanding into domestic segments such as in-vehicle emergency call systems and commercial and industrial energy storage.
The choices made by these two companies reflect the overall situation of Shandong’s lithium battery industry: having started relatively late, they cannot compete head-on with the “top performers” and must instead find their own niche in specialized sectors. Yet it is precisely these micro-level explorations that ultimately converge to form the macro-level landscape of Shandong’s lithium battery industry.
From a government perspective, rather than blindly replicating the southern model of “seeking shelter under a big tree,” various regions in Shandong have followed the distinct paths pioneered by enterprises, forging their own unique development trajectories.
Zaozhuang has adopted a strategy of “mobilizing the entire city’s resources.” Lithium batteries have been designated as the city’s top priority industry and are being vigorously cultivated. The municipal party secretary personally serves as the “chain leader” for the industry, and the city has enacted the nation’s first specialized regulation for the lithium battery sector, the “Zaozhuang Municipal Regulations on the Promotion of Lithium Battery Industry Development.” Currently, Zaozhuang has attracted 128 lithium battery enterprises, and its lithium battery products are exported to more than 40 countries and regions. Zaozhuang
