On September 26, Talent New Energy and the management authority of the Xinqiao International Industrial Park signed cooperation framework agreement. Together, they will build a base for manufacturing semi-solid-state batteries for powering NEVs. The Xinqiao International Industrial Park is located in Shou County, which is part of the city of Huainan in China’s Anhui Province. The base, which will have a production capacity of 10GWh per year, will be built in two phases. The total investment in this project is estimated to reach more than RMB 7 billion. Once up and running, the base is projected to generate up to RMB 10 billion per year in output value.
For the first phase, Talent New Energy will spend RMB 2 billion to set up 3GWh per year of production capacity over an area of more 200 mu. The first phase will manufacture semi-solid-state power batteries for high-end NEVs. Talent New Energy has stated that there are many carmakers ready to adopt its solution. As for the second phase, the remaining 7GWh per year will be added. Once the entire base becomes operational, it will be the company’s second largest battery production site following the one in Chongqing, Sichuan Province.
Established in May 2021, Talent New Energy is a startup focusing on new types of semi-solid-state batteries and key battery materials. The company continues to develop and commercialize new material technologies. At the start of this year, the company inaugurates its base in Chongqing. The first production line of the base has a production capacity of 200MWh per year for semi-solid-state batteries, and it is expected to begin batch production this October.
In terms of fundraising, Talent New Energy completed the Series A++ (or the third round) on June 6 this year. The exact amount that was raised from the Series A++ has yet to be disclosed, but the company has stated that it reached hundreds of millions in yuan. The lead investors of the Series A++ included CICC Capital and China Merchants Group. Other investors included Tsinghua Research Capital (Suzhou), Guoding Capital, and Legend Capital. Earlier, Talent New Energy completed the Series A on March 8 this year and the Series A+ later on May 1. Investors of the Series A included Legend Capital and Liangjiang Capital. As for the Series A+, Country Garden Venture Capital was a notable participant. There is still no information on the exact amounts that were raised from the first two rounds.
Looking at the company’s client base, Talent New Energy mainly develops power batteries for NEVs. It has been collaborating and communicating with Chinese OEMs. Besides power batteries for NEVs, Talent New Energy is also developing solid-state batteries for drones, consumer electronics, and energy storage. In the drone segment, the company has already formed excellent business relations with some customers there.
This article is a translation of a Chinese article posted by TrendForce. It contains information that is either sourced from other news outlets or accessible in the public domain. Some Chinese names are transcribed into English using Hanyu Pinyin.