On the evening of July 24th, Xinwangda (300207. SZ) issued an announcement regarding the capital increase and share expansion of its subsidiary Xinwangda Power Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "Announcement"). Sunshine Power Co., Ltd. and Tianqi Lithium Industry (Shehong) Co., Ltd. plan to invest a total of 805 million yuan to increase capital in Xinwangda Power, holding a total of 2.93% of Xinwangda Power.

The announcement states that this capital increase and share expansion is an industrial synergy behavior that introduces downstream core customer Sunshine Power and upstream lithium resource supplier Tianqi Lithium as strategic investors in Xinwangda Power. After the equity financing is implemented, the cooperative relationship between the subsidiary and the partner will be upgraded to strategic cooperation, and a long-term stable upstream and downstream industrial synergy system will be built. On the one hand, relying on the equity cooperation with Sunac Power, the strength of the energy storage cell business sector will be significantly enhanced, further improving the understanding of the demand for energy storage application scenarios and consolidating the leading position in the industry; On the other hand, reaching a strategic equity partnership with upstream lithium resource leader Tianqi Lithium will help ensure long-term stable supply of core lithium raw materials and reduce the adverse impact of supply fluctuations on Xinwangda Power's operations.

In April of this year, Sunac Power (300274. SZ) disclosed that it may take a stake in battery cell companies. According to the investor relations record released by Sunshine Power on April 27th, the company stated that its principle of battery neutrality will not change. The risk of operating with heavy assets is relatively high. The company does not produce battery cells and insists on operating with light assets. We are researching more and closer cooperation with battery cell manufacturers, especially in strengthening strategic cooperation, supply chain cooperation, technology research and development, and market collaboration. We may even consider mutual equity participation.

Sunshine Power will achieve a shipment of 43GWh of energy storage by 2025, but it does not have its own battery cell production capacity. It mainly purchases batteries from external sources and integrates the energy storage system to achieve shipment.

According to the reporter's understanding, since the beginning of the year, Sunshine Power's energy storage business has been seeking battery cell production capacity for its energy storage integration orders in the market. At that time, the reporter consulted Sunac about whether to invest in building a battery cell factory in the future. Sunshine Power told reporters that the company currently does not have a battery cell production line and is unsure if it will lay out a battery cell production line in the future.

Energy storage batteries began to experience a wave of "one chip shortage" and price increases in the second half of last year. From October to November 2025, the average price of 280Ah and 314Ah battery cells will increase from 0.303 yuan/Wh and 0.308 yuan/Wh, respectively, to 0.305 yuan/Wh and 0.312 yuan/Wh. As of July 2026, the price of 314Ah battery cells is approximately 0.365 yuan/Wh or more

According to statistics from Shanghai Nonferrous Metals Network, in the first half of 2026, the global energy storage battery market will maintain a high growth rate and tight balance. Affected by the spillover effect of the surge in large storage orders at home and abroad since the second half of last year, the existing production capacity is facing great delivery pressure. From January to June, various battery cell factories accelerated production, and the cumulative output of energy storage batteries in the entire industry reached 437.8 GWh, with a monthly compound annual growth rate of up to 6%. Despite the significant acceleration of production pace, the battery cell inventory in the entire industry is still at an extremely low level and continues to be in the stage of destocking. The current industry wide inventory is only maintained at around 28GWh, and the inventory cycle has been extremely compressed to 0.36 months. Energy storage integrators generally need to transfer gross profit premiums in order to lock in the source of goods.

A senior executive of a leading energy storage battery company stated that the delivery cycle of energy storage orders is relatively long, and there may be significant changes in battery prices between contract signing and actual delivery. He gave an example that in the battery market of 2026, prices need to be renegotiated for orders in 2025.

Sunshine Power stated in its investor relations record released on March 31st that on the supply side, the company has signed long-term cooperation agreements with core battery cell suppliers, relying on the advantage of large-scale procurement to lock in battery cell prices for a certain period of time, and the prices are significantly competitive compared to the market. On the technical side, the company continuously reduces costs through various means such as technological innovation and supply chain collaboration every year. On the client side, although negotiating with customers can be painful, the company will always strive to do a good job in price transmission. Overall, customers recognize our value and past service capabilities.

Due to the price increase of energy storage cells, the gross profit margin of Sunshine Power's energy storage business decreased in the second half of last year. According to the financial report of Sunac Power, the energy storage business will generate a total revenue of approximately 37.3 billion yuan in 2025, with a gross profit margin of approximately 36.49%, a year-on-year decrease of 0.2%. In 2025, the revenue will be approximately 17.8 billion yuan, with a gross profit margin of approximately 39.92%. The gross profit margin of energy storage business will be about 33% in the second half of 2025 and about 35% in the second half of 2024.

In the first quarter of this year, Sunshine Power's energy storage revenue was about 8.7 billion yuan. In its investor relations record released on April 27th, Sunac Power stated that its gross profit margin in the first quarter decreased year-on-year, mainly due to the structural impact of lower prices in some regions compared to the same period last year and a decrease in the proportion of overseas revenue, but increased month on month.

Sunshine Power's energy storage products are currently in the product iteration period, and there is a limited production capacity of suitable battery cells in the market. At present, Sunac Power mainly chooses 684Ah battery cells as the next generation of energy storage large battery cells, and adopts laminated technology instead of winding technology.

At present, various battery manufacturers have launched a wide variety of specifications for large battery cells. In September 2025, Xinwangda 684Ah laminated energy storage battery cells will officially start mass production, and the battery cell specifications meet the requirements of Sunshine Power products. Ningde Times chooses 587Ah winding technology for large battery cells, Haichen Energy Storage has 1175Ah and 587Ah battery cells, Zhongchuang Chuanghang has 392Ah, 588Ah, and 661Ah battery cells, and EVE Energy has 587Ah and 628Ah battery cells.

Shanghai Nonferrous Metals Network stated that at the beginning of the year, the industry generally expected the new production capacity in the large storage field to quickly switch to specifications of 500Ah and above, but the progress was not as expected.

(Author Pan Juntian)