The ChiNext 50 has surged significantly recently, rising over 30% since July alone. However, CATL, the largest holding with a weight of over 20%, has been relatively lukewarm. After a decline in early August, the stock price has only recently returned to its late July highs alongside the broader market recovery. Nevertheless, CATL has been quite active lately.

On August 20, according to the dividend plan disclosed in CATL's interim report, the company proposed to distribute a cash dividend of 10.07 yuan per 10 shares (before tax) to all shareholders, completing an actual dividend distribution of 4.411 billion yuan. That same evening, CATL spent approximately 207.6 million yuan on share buybacks.

Within just one week, CATL conducted another buyback. According to the latest announcement, on August 25, 2025, the company repurchased 292,900 shares at prices ranging from 288.96 to 290 yuan per share, spending approximately 84.86 million yuan. However, both buyback amounts were relatively modest.

Meanwhile, hot topics surrounding CATL continue to emerge. A statement made by CATL Chairman Zeng Yuqun at the 2024 Summer Davos Forum has been brought back into focus: "Price competition is what CATL least engages in."

From "capacity competition" in previous years to "price competition" in recent years, the lithium battery industry and the entire new energy sector have been mired in battles involving idle capacity, low-price cycles, and significantly declining profitability.

According to Wind data, among 104 listed companies in the lithium battery industry, 65 companies saw net profit declines in 2024, and over 60 companies experienced year-over-year decreases in gross margins.

"Anti-involution" has become an industry consensus, yet gaps remain between consensus and actual implementation.

In multiple roadshows heard recently, regarding "anti-involution" policies, the consensus is that this round of "anti-involution" will be a strong medium-to-long-term driver. However, short-term effects are difficult to achieve as supply-side reform mainly involves private enterprises, making top-down coordination and immediate results challenging.

On August 10, long-circulating rumors about "whether major mine operations would cease" were settled when CATL's Kanxiawo lithium mine ceased production for at least three months. Influenced by this event, lithium carbonate futures prices surged 8% to 81,000 yuan per ton on August 11.

According to CITIC Securities research calculations, this event will reduce domestic lithium supply by 8,300 tons per month, accounting for 8% of China's monthly lithium supply, potentially causing monthly lithium salt supply shortages.

In response, CATL stated on its interactive platform on August 11 that the company had suspended mining operations after its Yichun project mining permit expired on August 9. The company is expediting the mining permit renewal application according to relevant regulations and will resume production as soon as approval is obtained. This matter has minimal impact on the company's overall operations.

This production halt has also been interpreted by the market as one of the important signals of substantive industry "anti-involution."

Returning to CATL, this year's biggest move was its H-share listing in Hong Kong on May 20, raising as much as $5.3 billion, making it the largest IPO globally since 2023.

According to Choice data, since listing, as of August 25, its Hong Kong stock price has risen 35.23%.

According to this year's public fund quarterly reports, Morgan Stanley China Century Mixed (QDII) managed by Zhao Longlong and Morgan Stanley Balanced Selection managed by Liang Peng are the only two funds heavily holding CATL (H shares).

CATL (A shares) remains the largest holding of public funds, continuing the reduction trend by institutional holders from Q1, with 14.8037 million shares reduced in Q2.

Looking at the top 20 active equity funds heavily holding CATL, there were various increases and decreases, with two funds newly adding CATL as a major holding in Q2. From passive index funds perspective, index funds primarily based on CSI 300 continue to increase holdings substantially, mainly due to the continued growth in scale of such passive products.

Fu Pengbo continued his reduction trend from the past year, reducing holdings by another 152,900 shares. Zhao Yi has been adjusting position structures back and forth, increasing holdings by 187,400 shares in Q1, then reducing by 192,100 shares in Q2, with overall minimal changes to CATL positions.

Zhao Feng has focused on the new energy industry for a long time and maintains confidence in the battery industry but has gradually reduced positions in photovoltaic equipment over the past two years.

According to the latest Q2 report of Quanguo Xuyuan Three Years, photovoltaic equipment is no longer among the top ten holdings, with increased positions in military electronics and automotive components.

CATL newly entered the top ten holdings of Xingquan Herun managed by Xie Zhiyu in Q1 2024, but has since been reduced by nearly 20%.

However, Xingquan Trend Investment, co-managed by Dong Li, Yang Shijin, and Xie Changyan, significantly increased CATL holdings in Q2, making it the fund's largest holding. The reason is optimism about the irreplaceable competitive advantages of leading companies in industries like power batteries, with downstream demand still having structural development potential.

There's also the "treasure fund" GF Multi-Factor Mixed discovered last year, co-managed by Yang Dong and Tang Xiaobin. From 2018 to 2024, it was one of only two active equity funds that outperformed the CSI 300 Index, CSI 800, and Wind Partial Stock Mixed Fund Index every year. Its investment strategy focuses on "subjective + quantitative," and it also increased CATL holdings considerably in Q2.

Additionally, Huatai-PineBridge Value Selection managed by Lao Jienan and Qianhai Open Source Shanghai-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Selection managed by Qu Yang both significantly increased CATL holdings in Q2.

On the evening of July 30, CATL released its 2025 interim report. In the first half, it achieved revenue of 178.9 billion yuan, up over 7.2% year-over-year, and net profit of 30.5 billion yuan, up over 33% year-over-year.

According to SNE Research data, CATL's global market share for power battery usage from January to May 2025 was 38.1%, ranking first. According to Xinluo data, from January to June 2025, CATL's energy storage battery production ranked first globally.

It must be said that CATL's dominant position in the global market remains solid.

Meanwhile, from Zeng Yuqun's vision outlined at CATL's Hong Kong listing ceremony: "Currently, the global transportation system is being restructured, new energy vehicles and battery swapping ecosystems are entering an explosive phase, and fields like low-altitude economy and electric ships are emerging."

Against this backdrop, CATL, relying on the world's most advanced and comprehensive product matrix, has promising future market potential.

Based on Zeng Yuqun's media interviews and public statements over the past two years, here are 50 of his most valuable insights, revisiting this entrepreneur's forward-looking business wisdom.

**Abandoning Price Competition, Emphasizing Value Competition**

1. (CATL) doesn't have a "competition king," and I don't know what "competition" means. The market thinking is to drive prices very low, which is called "competition." But actually, price competition is what CATL least engages in.

2. "Low prices" achieved through low quality and reduced configurations lack economic benefits and sustainability. Once the entire industry is labeled as "low quality, low price," it becomes a matter of life and death.

3. We don't engage in price competition but value competition. We don't "compete" on transaction prices but on the best value throughout the product's entire lifecycle.

4. If we must "compete," it should be on technological innovation, quality, and safety.

5. (Batteries) being a highly technology-intensive industry, only by creating "high-value" products can we embark on a path of healthy development.

6. On the path of high-quality development, we will definitely face overcapacity issues in power batteries, but low-end capacity is incompatible with high-quality development and may be naturally eliminated through market clearing. I encourage mergers and acquisitions of low-end capacity, which is also a model for promoting high-quality industry development.

7. If new energy vehicles drive prices very low, the final competition might not be about product quality, which deviates from the "high-quality development" track required by the nation.

8. We should use effective resources to make high-quality products, form high-end brands for export - this is the industry direction, not merely lowering prices to compete in the domestic market.

**Innovation is the Solution to Breaking "Involution"**

9. We must never stick to conventions. This reflects the Chinese civilization concept of "renewing oneself daily." Self-disruption and always embracing change - this is the way to survive.

10. World-class enterprises must be "world-class" in invention and discovery, especially in technology. While having advantages where others have them is good, we hope for more uniqueness. We want to achieve world-class technology first - Advanced Technology.

11. Our biggest competitor is ourselves. Because there are still many challenges to overcome, particularly in electrical and chemical fields. Currently, we still use lithium iron phosphate, NCM materials, with graphite and silicon also having their place. But most importantly, we must continuously innovate.

12. When the industry was small, starting from mobile phones, technological development was linear without acceleration. But now, with more money and people invested, everyone is seeking innovation. The innovation space is accelerating, and we believe another new industry, a new chemical reaction, will emerge.

13. When we launch products and invest in production lines, we must make production lines depreciate faster. The depreciation cycle must be five years; we hope it's shorter because new technologies keep emerging.

14. We must continuously develop new chemical formulas to meet more application scenarios and consumer needs, such as low-temperature performance.

15. We welcome more people to join this "journey," which will inspire more innovation. This isn't simple imitation but winning consumer favor through excellent product and technology performance. Only competition in invention and creativity can help this industry grow healthily in the future.

16. Whether Chinese private enterprises can truly lead the world in the future depends on how determined our entire nation is about innovation. Innovation requires two aspects: first, protecting innovation. Protection intensity differs for disruptive versus incremental innovation. We encourage more disruptive innovation because only new products and technologies from disruptive innovation can lead high-quality development. Management is also a major part of innovation. Leaders must inspire everyone to innovate at the management level, not manage people to death, but learn to stimulate employees' innovation points and improve their problem-solving capabilities.

**Safety and Quality are the Bottom Line of "Anti-Involution"**

17. In 2023, I proposed that the power battery industry needs to progress from "having" to "good"; this year, I believe the industry must enter the "high-standard" development stage. "High standards" mean high safety, high reliability, high performance, and high value.

18. If safety issues aren't resolved, the consequences will be catastrophic. The industry should set competition aside and prioritize consumers' vital interests, especially consumer safety; jointly improve safety standards and establish absolute safety standard red lines.

19. Currently, the safety factors of most batteries in the market are far from adequate. Many products claim safety failure rates at PPM levels (one in a million), but their actual safety failure rates are at one in ten thousand or even one in a thousand levels.

20. European battery manufacturers can't make good products because their designs, processes, and equipment are wrong. If scaled up massively, they'll face production, utilization, and reliability issues, with safety problems emerging in two to three years.

21. The market craves large quantities of correct electrification products, and correct products come from corresponding technologies. In the battery industry, this means precise chemical compositions and materials.

22. The essence of batteries is materials and chemical systems - this is the basic skill for making good batteries and the decisive factor in battery quality. CATL has an internal saying: "Master basic skills, unleash imagination" - first solidly master the "basic skills" of materials and chemical systems, then unleash innovative and forward-looking "imagination."

23. The most difficult thing in the battery field is deep understanding of electrochemical systems in the real world. You must maintain 20-25 years of continuous effort to predict and accurately assess battery relationship tests to ensure they reach a satisfactory level.

24. The intrinsic thermal stability of materials is very important for batteries; battery systems composed of individual cells also contain very important interactive processes. The difficulty in battery thermal stability management lies in how to completely explore various side reactions in battery systems.

25. We hope to improve battery manufacturing quality to PPB levels - only one defect per billion parts. This would improve quality levels by three orders of magnitude to meet energy storage equipment usage requirements.

26. We've built the industry's most comprehensive battery defect database, introducing AI learning to the lithium battery industry, continuously learning and optimizing algorithms to improve detection accuracy and system stability.

27. Currently, one in every three new energy vehicles globally uses CATL batteries. "Choose electric vehicles with CATL batteries" has become consumer consensus.

**Emphasizing Full Lifecycle Value, Long-term Development Against Short-term "Involution"**

28. The next stage of new energy industry development will compete on who better understands consumers' real needs, who can define next-generation product value, and who can truly serve customers.

29. CATL covers all mainstream electrochemical routes, with understanding and exploration of each chemical system at the forefront. Meanwhile, CATL has built an automated materials design platform integrating over 20 specialized simulation software packages and 30 self-developed core algorithms, driving leapfrog improvements in R&D efficiency.

30. We'll use multi-core technology to solve consumers' "pain points" and "satisfaction points." This technology's application isn't limited to passenger vehicles but will land across all fields including electric buses, heavy trucks, aircraft, ships, and industrial/commercial applications, greatly accelerating application processes for frontier technologies like solid-state batteries.

31. For a good battery, energy output is just "basic skill." We hope batteries release multi-dimensional economic and social value, creating "high value." Good batteries can even be "investment products."

32. The V2G technology often discussed in the industry - vehicle-to-grid interaction technology - is essentially B2G: bidirectional integration interaction technology between batteries in vehicles, ships, and other equipment with grids. We're currently piloting this model, including interactions between various batteries and grids, local area networks. This makes batteries not just consumer goods but also investment products. Batteries can provide new value to consumers in places with significant peak-valley electricity price differences. Meanwhile, batteries as "mobile power banks" can balance wind, solar, storage, and charging in the future, serving as power sources in extreme situations when grids are unstable.

33. We've invested 7-8 years researching all-solid-state batteries. Using numbers 1-9 to represent solid-state battery technology and manufacturing maturity, the current industry's highest level is only around 4, having only made some device samples for experimental verification. Our current research progress is also around 4, but compared globally, our research should be "leading by a big step."

34. CATL's sustainable development practices aren't abstracted into ESG data indicators but permeate every specific link in the full lifecycle of lithium battery product R&D, manufacturing, and recycling.

**Building Global Ecosystems to Broaden Anti-Involution Paths**

35. Since establishment, CATL has focused on three strategic development directions, building four major innovation systems. Open innovation is the practical path for the four major innovation systems.

36. The value of "open innovation" lies not only in accelerating breakthrough of technical barriers but also in promoting sharing and win-win of technological dividends, thereby helping accelerate industry development and jointly addressing climate change. In this world full of challenges and uncertainties, unity is core.

37. CATL's vision is to make outstanding contributions to humanity's new energy cause. For this, we've proposed our solution: building "zero-carbon new infrastructure" and opening new opportunities for climate action.

38. "Zero-carbon new infrastructure" should have three characteristics: first, feasible comprehensive, integrated solutions; second, definitely sustainable; third, globalized new ecosystems.

39. "Zero-carbon new infrastructure" cannot have depressions or islands but should be an open, co-creative global ecosystem. Unbalanced development is another major problem in energy transformation.

40. Currently, the biggest challenge for companies going global comes from geopolitics. Even the best things going out will impact others' markets, so our overseas model is teaching others, helping them make products together.

41. To address climate change, achieving "zero carbon" in some regions is far from enough. Global collaborative cooperation is needed, from "zero-carbon islands" and "zero-carbon cities" to "zero-carbon villages," ultimately achieving a "zero-carbon earth." This requires technology openness and sharing, and closer cooperation among countries in policies, industries, and markets.

42. Now, we've basically completed zero-carbon technology layout. This year, all our battery factories will achieve carbon neutrality.

43. In global zero-carbon transportation, a trillion-level market is exploding. To achieve global net-zero emission goals, Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that by 2030, investment in electric transportation must reach over $3 trillion annually. Currently, global transportation systems are being restructured, new energy vehicles and battery swapping ecosystems are entering explosive phases, and fields like low-altitude economy and electric ships are emerging.

44. Global zero-carbon electricity is moving from "whether to do" to "how to do faster." By 2050, global annual electricity consumption will increase 75%. Over the next 25 years, renewable energy total investment potential exceeds $10 trillion. Zero-carbon electricity systems face unprecedented opportunities and huge challenges.

45. Global industrial new energization is the biggest increment in zero-carbon economy. Currently, 195 countries and regions globally have announced carbon reduction nationally determined contribution targets, all accelerating energy structure transformation. The International Energy Agency predicts that starting in 2030, to achieve "net zero emissions," global investment will reach $4.5 trillion annually.

46. The trend of global automotive electrification won't change. Because we have no retreat - this is humanity's inevitable choice to protect the environment and ourselves.

**Talent Development is Core Driver of "Anti-Involution"**

47. There are many excellent universities and students in the US, but they prefer choosing high-paying fields like finance or semiconductors; but in China, many students choose to study electrochemistry after entering university. Therefore, compared to the US and Germany, China has more talent reserves in electrochemistry. If the US and Germany want to catch up or surpass China in batteries, they might need to start with curricula.

48. In different fields, CATL has over 20,000 engineers. Some focus on basic material structure research, some concentrate on simulation analysis, others explore material interactions, and some investigate future chemistry fields, such as using artificial intelligence to find next-generation revolutionary materials and chemical systems beyond lithium-ion.

49. Accurately grasping mining investment directions requires not only technical personnel's professional knowledge but also insight into future application development trends - perhaps this is CATL's advantage.

50. Today's young people often desire quick success and wealth accumulation. But I want to say: be patient and work harder. Everyone has their own opportunities.