This week，the solid-state battery industry showed a dual-engine momentum driven by "intensive breakthroughs on the technology front and targeted solutions on the policy front." CATL disclosed a sulphide patent, Zhongkeyuanben's 20Ah all-solid-state battery passed third-party detection, and Dreame Technology released a 450Wh/kg product; Guangdong took the lead in incorporating diversified solid-state battery technology routes and eVTOL scenarios into provincial-level action plans.

This week，the solid-state battery industry showed a dual-engine momentum driven by "intensive breakthroughs on the technology front and targeted solutions on the policy front." CATL disclosed a sulphide patent, Zhongkeyuanben's 20Ah all-solid-state battery passed third-party detection, and Dreame Technology released a 450Wh/kg product; Guangdong took the lead in incorporating diversified solid-state battery technology routes and eVTOL scenarios into provincial-level action plans.

As the world focuses on climate change and pursues sustainable development, countries are actively promoting the transformation of their energy structures. The involvement of new energy vehicle (NEV) enterprises in the eVTOL sector is emerging as a major trend in the current transportation landscape, highlighting the significance of the integration between the two. What kind of synergy will emerge when electric vehicles (EVs) meet the low-altitude economy in the future? This event, centered around the entire industry chain of electric drive systems for NEVs & eVTOLs, will focus on areas such as "power systems, electric drives, motor and electronic control, low-altitude aircraft, and innovative raw materials." It will feature a high-quality opening ceremony, a high-level dinner, an awards ceremony, procurement and supply business matchmaking, a study tour of the new energy industry, and "1+2+3" themed forums. Here, organized by SMM and with the grand participation of Fengyang Aiersi Light Alloy Precision Forming Co., Ltd., the "2025 SMM (4th) Electric Drive System Conference" will be held on June 20-21, 2025, at the Huatian Hotel in Loudi, Hunan Province. The theme of this conference is "New Quality Drives, Low-Altitude Takes Off." We extend a special invitation to enterprises in the low-altitude sector and the NEV industry chain to join us, alongside industry leaders, in building the 2025 SMM (4th) Electric Drive System Conference into a vital platform for the rapid development of the new energy industry. Click the registration form to sign up immediately. We look forward to meeting you at the conference. Booth Number: B6 Professional Supplier of Lightweight Solutions for Made-in-China Products Fengyang Aiersi Light Alloy Precision Forming Co., Ltd. Established in Fengyang in 2010, the company is a comprehensive lightweight solution provider that leverages aluminum and magnesium alloy materials, integrating the full-process technologies of part/mold design and development, and casting production. Centered around two core segments—aluminum/magnesium alloy materials and aluminum/magnesium alloy castings and molds—the company constructs a full-process, integrated lightweight solution. Its products are widely applied in various fields, including NEVs, electric two-wheelers, aerospace, weapons and equipment, photovoltaics, communications, consumer electronics, and more. Currently, the company has established strategic partnerships with numerous industry-leading enterprises, including top-tier enterprises in the two-wheeler sector such as Didi, Yadea, LIMA, Songuo, and major well-known brands such as Changan Automobile, XPeng Motors, NIO, BYD, Xiaomi Auto, FAW Jiefang, China National Heavy Duty Truck Group, AVIC, SAIC-GM, and HiPhi Automobile, which have also become strategic partners of Fengyang Aiersi. Click here to participate in the 2025 SMM (4th) Electric Drive System Conference immediately. SMM Conference Contact Person Zhang Xi 17629250652 zhangxi@smm.cn

The 2024 Annual Performance Briefing for the Sci-Tech Innovation Board's IC Design Sector was held today (April 17), with 17 companies including Espressif Systems, Amlogic, Bright Power Semiconductor, and Semidrive participating. They addressed investor inquiries on market concerns, business progress, and product strategies. Attendees noted that recent overall order growth has been significant, driven by localisation and digitalisation trends, with strong end-use demand. Despite global market challenges from trade policies, several companies indicated limited impact due to their small direct export share to the US, autonomous product technology development, competitive advantages in niche areas, diversified supply chains, global operations, and deep collaborations with customers. The localisation of analog ICs is accelerating, with breakthroughs in niche segments. Against the backdrop of China's countermeasures to the US's so-called "reciprocal tariffs," the analog IC sector has garnered sustained attention in the A-share market this week. Given that analog ICs predominantly use the IDM model and half of the top ten global analog IC companies are US-based, coupled with the current localisation rate of around 20%, institutions anticipate substantial room for localisation. At today's briefing, an analog IC company executive reported noticeable growth in customer orders recently. Jiang Yanbo, Chairman and CEO of Semidrive, stated that the company's production, operations, and orders remained normal in Q1, with customer orders up YoY. Semidrive's products include battery safety ICs, battery gauge ICs, and charging management analog ICs. Yu Faxin, Chairman of Zhanrui Technology, also noted a significant increase in new orders and projects recently, expressing strong confidence in the company's 2025 business development. Zhanrui's main products include RF transceiver ICs, high-speed high-precision ADC/DAC ICs, power management ICs, microsystems, and modules. Yu highlighted that the company's products are 100% domestically sold, with no export business to the US, benefiting from factors such as accelerated special equipment construction, increased defence informatisation, and higher localisation rates. Despite the strong comprehensive capabilities and extensive product lines of US giants like Texas Instruments (TI) and Analog Devices (ADI), which dominate significant market shares, several domestic producers at today's briefing stated that through deep collaborations with local end-users, they have achieved product substitution or technological parity in many niche product lines, gaining broad customer recognition. Emerging industry innovations further meet market demands. Hu Liqiang, Chairman and CEO of Bright Power Semiconductor, noted that the analog IC design industry has long been characterised by lengthy R&D cycles and reliance on designers' experience. Currently, most domestic producers focus on low and mid-end power supply ICs, with only a few breaking the long-standing monopoly of foreign companies in high-end ICs. Bright Power continues to iterate in leading technological areas and optimise its product structure while enhancing market competitiveness through major asset reorganisations, such as the Sichuan Yichong project, complementing customer resources, technological accumulation, and supply chains. Jiang Yanbo of Semidrive stated that while ADI and TI still hold significant market shares due to their strong capabilities and extensive product lines, Semidrive competes with them in the battery management IC sector. Compared to competitors, Semidrive is more agile and responsive to customer needs, leveraging stable supply capabilities and strong brand recognition to secure a good market share. The company is now a major domestic supplier in the battery management IC sector, with products used by renowned clients globally. Yu Faxin of Zhanrui Technology claimed that some of the company's core products have reached international advanced levels comparable to ADI and TI. Xie Pengcun, Chairman and CEO of Beken Corporation, emphasised the company's continuous focus on analog and mixed-signal ICs, mastering numerous core technologies and upgrading products over years of innovation. Some technologies and products have achieved international and industry-leading standards, incorporating more innovations to meet customer needs while completing localisation. Lu Guojian, Chairman and CEO of Chipsea Technologies, highlighted the company's active expansion of domestic and overseas clients aligned with its strategic direction. Several ICs, such as high-precision ADCs, EC series, PD ICs, BMS ICs, and sensor conditioning ICs, have achieved localisation. The company aims to meet user needs with more innovative products and services, gradually achieving localisation in its strategic focus areas. AI-driven SoC IC producers saw explosive performance in Q1. Telink Semiconductor previously forecasted Q1 revenue of approximately 230 million yuan, up 43% YoY, with net profit attributable to shareholders of around 35 million yuan, turning a profit YoY. Actions Technology expects Q1 revenue of about 191 million yuan, up 61% YoY, with net profit attributable to shareholders of 41.3 million yuan, up 383.91% YoY. Amlogic achieved Q1 revenue of 1.53 billion yuan, up 10.98% YoY, a record high for the period. AI end-use applications have become a key driver of growth in the SoC IC industry. Hu Shengfa, Chairman and CEO of Anyka, noted that market information received in Q1 indicates high enthusiasm for AI-enabled end-use demand. However, actual purchases by end-users will validate these demands. Hu predicted that AI glasses would see explosive growth this year, though the market remains relatively small. Emerging applications like biometric and smart lock-related ICs, which began shipping last year, will significantly impact performance. Zhou Zhengyu, Chairman and CEO of Actions Technology, observed a flourishing trend in emerging applications like AI glasses and AI toys, with high investment enthusiasm from domestic and overseas downstream clients. Developers and potential consumers are widely distributed. The company will continue to closely monitor downstream market demands and innovation trends, optimising its product matrix. Zhang Ruian, Chairman and CEO of Espressif Systems, noted that while the company's products are not yet used in AI glasses, its business has achieved steady growth due to deep digitalisation across industries. Globally, downstream application scenarios are expanding, driving more digital demands. Espressif has seen significant growth in industrial control, energy management, and healthcare. As the company enters more markets, it can enjoy broader market growth benefits, smoothing out cyclical fluctuations in single industries. Notably, while strong end-use demand for domestic SoC ICs drives shipment growth, the industry is concerned about upstream IC products falling into homogeneous competition. Hu Shengfa of Anyka stated that the SoC IC industry faces homogeneous competition, potentially intensifying price and supply chain capacity pressures. Since Q4 last year, the industry has been on an upward trajectory, but price pressures persist. Hu believes such competition is normal and that companies should enhance product competitiveness through technological innovation and increase customer stickiness by expanding product categories and improving coverage in niche markets. Zhang Ruian of Espressif Systems argued that homogeneity is superficial, reflecting the value differentiation capabilities of products. The company's core strategy includes continuous innovation and R&D investment, upgrading SoCs from "communication ICs" to "platform-level ICs." Espressif's ESP32-series integrates AI, graphics, audio, and low-power management, expanding single-chip system boundaries. Its software, development toolchains, and ecosystem support form integrated advantages, offering system-level solutions rather than mere hardware sales. Yu Li, Director and Board Secretary of Amlogic, highlighted the vast application fields of edge SoCs, with increasing application areas and forms as intelligent technologies advance. The edge SoC market is a growing incremental market, with R&D companies intensifying investments, rapidly responding to market demands, and implementing new technologies. Competition lies in R&D strength, market responsiveness, and customer service capabilities. Zhou Zhengyu of Actions Technology noted the immense scale and variety of the AIoT market, with SoC IC producers expanding in their specialised categories and focused customer groups. The company will continue to focus on the trend of AI upgrades in edge products, building low-power edge AI computing platforms, and investing in chip computing power, wireless connectivity, and AI development ecosystems to maintain competitive advantages. Regarding the impact of the US's so-called "reciprocal tariffs," several companies today reiterated their assessments. Yu Li of Amlogic stated that the company's global strategy, with products sold worldwide and a diversified, non-single overseas market, ensures a mature and stable global operation system. As its export products are not delivered in the US, the tariff policy has no direct impact. The rising demand driven by intelligent technologies, enhanced competitiveness from new product launches, and improved operational efficiency will continue to strengthen the company's profitability. Zhengyu Zhou from Actions Technology stated that based on the analysis of the company's chip downstream application scenarios, customer regions, and the distribution of end consumers, the US tariff policy has a relatively small direct impact on the company. "Firstly, the company's chip sales model mainly involves customers placing orders, which are then delivered to designated processing plants or ODM producers, and finally integrated into AIoT end-use products for whole machine sales. The company does not directly export chips to the US, and typically, SoC chip suppliers not only provide chips but also offer integrated hardware and software solutions with algorithms. Brand customers, once they have selected a chip supplier, are unlikely to change easily, showing strong customer stickiness. It is understood that ODM producers and processing plants have also globally distributed their capacity and production lines ." "Secondly, the company's customers come from regions including Mainland China, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, North America, Australia, and India, showing diversity in customer geographical distribution. US-based brand customers like Harman and Bose also sell to the global consumer electronics market. AIoT end consumers are relatively evenly distributed across regions, and in the consumer electronics field, tariff costs are usually borne by importers, with limited impact on the price transmission mechanism for consumer electronics supply chain companies ." "Finally, the company has fully communicated and prepared with downstream customers and ODM producers, actively making corresponding contingency plans from the perspective of supply chain security, and collaborating to address the uncertainties brought by the tariff policy," Zhou Zhengyu stated. Rui'an Zhang from Espressif Systems mentioned that the company's direct exports to the US are very small, and the indirect proportion cannot be statistically determined, making it currently impossible to estimate the impact. "We do not bear the tariff portion, so the profit per unit will not be squeezed." Yanbo Jiang from Semidrive Technology stated that the company does not have direct export business to the US, but the US tariff policy has a relatively large impact on the company's end customers selling to the US. Semidrive's end customers include several well-known ODM producers, and the products are widely used in end-use products of well-known brands in the industry. These end customers' products are widely sold in the US, and if trade friction intensifies, it will have a significant impact on the company's end customers' sales in the US, potentially affecting the company's overseas end-use market product sales, and may have a certain impact on the gross margin of the company's products sold overseas. Guojian Lu from Chipsea Technology stated that the company's exposure to overseas business is low, with overseas business revenue of 27.92 million yuan in 2024, accounting for 3.98% of the company's revenue, so the US tariff policy has had a relatively small overall impact on the company to date. The company is long committed to independent innovation in full signal chain chips, and tariff conflicts are expected to further increase the share of domestic chips, benefiting domestic chip companies with core technologies and customer bases. Moreover, the company highly values the construction of supply chain capabilities, and the multi-source supply chain system is conducive to the company's supply chain security and can effectively ensure the company's capacity supply, reducing the impact of capacity fluctuations on the timeliness of product delivery .

On the afternoon of April 9, Li Qiang, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Premier of the State Council, presided over a symposium with economic experts and entrepreneurs to solicit opinions and suggestions on the current economic situation and the next steps in economic work. At the symposium, Zhang Bin, Li Xunlei, Shen Jianguang, Wan Min, Zheng Jin, Peng Zhihui, and Wang Zuan delivered speeches successively. They believed that since the beginning of this year, China's economic operation has been generally stable and improving, with new development momentum accelerating. Although changes in the external environment have brought many difficulties, China's economy has numerous advantages, strong resilience, and great potential, with a long-term positive development outlook. They also put forward opinions and suggestions on responding to external shocks and promoting sustained economic improvement. Among the seven speakers, Zhang Bin is the Deputy Director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Li Xunlei is the Chief Economist of Zhongtai Securities Co., Ltd., Shen Jianguang is the Vice President and Chief Economist of JD Group, Wan Min is the Chairman of China COSCO Shipping Group Co., Ltd., Zheng Jin is the Chairman of Guangxi Liugong Group Co., Ltd., Peng Zhihui is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Zhiyuan Robotics, and Wang Zuan is the President of Fujian Zongteng Network Co., Ltd. Public information shows that Zhang Bin is a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as the Deputy Director, Researcher, and Doctoral Supervisor of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Zhang Bin's main research areas include China and global macroeconomics, focusing on issues such as China's economic structural transformation, macroeconomic and financial market fluctuations, RMB exchange rate and foreign exchange management policies, and global macroeconomics. He has received the Outstanding Researcher Award from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the First China Young Financial Scholar Award, and the "Pusan World Economics Excellent Paper Award" in 2014. Li Xunlei is the Chief Economist of Zhongtai Securities Co., Ltd. His main research areas include multinational corporations, exchange rates, government bonds and government bond futures, and securities markets. Shen Jianguang, Ph.D. in Economics, is currently the Vice President and Chief Economist of JD Group. He previously served as a consultant for the OECD and a visiting scholar at the People's Bank of China, and is one of the authors of the OECD's 2002 monograph "China and the World Economy." Wan Min is currently a member of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Chairman and Party Secretary of China COSCO Shipping Group Co., Ltd., and Executive Director and Chairman of the 6th Board of Directors of COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co., Ltd. China COSCO Shipping Group was formed through the reorganization of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company and China Shipping (Group) Company. Headquartered in Shanghai, it is a super-large state-owned enterprise directly managed by the central government. As of December 31, 2024, the group's fleet had a comprehensive capacity of 130 million DWT/1,535 ships, ranking first in the world. Among them, the container fleet size was 3.388 million TEU/542 ships, ranking among the top in the world; the dry bulk fleet capacity was 49.826 million DWT/468 ships, the oil and gas fleet capacity was 32.8 million DWT/251 ships, and the general and special cargo fleet capacity was 7.883 million DWT/207 ships, all ranking first in the world. Zheng Jin is currently the Chairman of Guangxi Liugong Group Co., Ltd. and Vice Chairman of the Autonomous Region Association for Science and Technology. Liugong Group was established in 1958 and is a large state-owned enterprise in the equipment manufacturing industry formed through the authorization of state-owned assets. Its core enterprise is Guangxi Liugong Machinery Co., Ltd. Peng Zhihui, born in 1993 in Ji'an, Jiangxi, is the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Zhiyuan Robotics and a well-known KOL in the tech circle. Peng Zhihui was also a former "Genius Youth" at Huawei. He left Huawei at the end of 2022 and co-founded Zhiyuan Robotics in February 2023, serving as the Chief Technology Officer. In the rapidly developing field of artificial intelligence and robotics, Zhiyuan Robotics is leading industry trends with its outstanding innovation capabilities and cutting-edge technology. Since its establishment in 2023, Zhiyuan has developed at an astonishing speed. In 2023, they released the Expedition A1 robot; in 2024, they released five general-purpose robots including the Expedition A2 and Lingxi X1; in 2025, they launched the world's first general embodied base model GO-1 and released the all-around exploration robot Lingxi X2, integrating motion, interaction, and operation intelligence. Wang Zuan is currently the President of Fujian Zongteng Network Co., Ltd. Zongteng Group was established in 2009 with the corporate positioning of "Global Cross-border E-commerce Infrastructure Service Provider," focusing on cross-border warehousing and logistics, providing overseas warehousing, commercial dedicated logistics, and customized logistics solutions for global cross-border e-commerce merchants, export traders, and global brands. The group owns well-known brands such as GuCang Overseas Warehouse, YunExpress, and WORLDTECH.

On September 14, CATL and Shandong Heavy Industry Group held a strategic cooperation signing ceremony in Ningde, Fujian, according to a post on CATL's WeChat account.