Qingtao Energy, a prominent player in the solid-state battery sector, has officially submitted its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company, with joint sponsors including Guotai Junan, CICC, and China Merchants Securities, aims to become the first solid-state battery firm listed in Hong Kong.
Despite holding the title of the world's largest solid-state battery producer by shipment volume and a valuation of approximately 28 billion yuan, Qingtao's prospectus reveals significant financial challenges. While the company has experienced rapid revenue growth, it continues to report expanding losses, negative gross margins, and a debt-to-asset ratio exceeding 165%.
Founded in 2016 by a team led by Academician Nan Cewen of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University, Qingtao has adopted a gradual technological approach—transitioning from liquid batteries to semi-solid-state batteries, with the ultimate goal of achieving full solid-state battery mass production. According to Frost & Sullivan data, Qingtao ranked first globally in the semi-solid and all-solid-state battery market by shipment volume in 2025, capturing about 33.6% of the global market and 44.8% of the Chinese market. By March 2026, its products had been installed in over 30 vehicle models from brands such as IM, MG, and Foton, with cumulative deliveries exceeding 16,800 units. The company is also the sole battery supplier for the 800MWh energy storage station in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia—the world's largest semi-solid-state battery energy storage project.
However, Qingtao's financial performance tells a different story. From 2023 to 2025, the company's revenue grew rapidly from 248 million yuan to 943 million yuan, representing a compound annual growth rate of 96.5%. Yet, net losses widened significantly over the same period—from 853 million yuan to 999 million yuan, and further to 1.302 billion yuan in 2025, accumulating to over 3.1 billion yuan in losses over three years. Even after adjusting for non-recurring items such as financial costs related to redeemable liabilities, the adjusted net loss expanded from 278 million yuan in 2023 to 766 million yuan in 2025.
The company's gross margin situation is even more concerning. Overall gross margins remained negative for three consecutive years, deteriorating from -23.8% in 2023 to -26.5% in 2025. Notably, the gross margin for its power battery business plummeted to -111.6% in 2025, indicating that the company incurred a gross loss of 1.116 yuan for every 1 yuan of power battery products sold.
Two key factors contribute to these losses: low capacity utilization and intense price competition. In 2025, Qingtao's total effective annual production capacity reached 2.50GWh, but actual output was only 1.33GWh, resulting in a capacity utilization rate of just 53%. Many production lines are still in the pre-commercialization or ramp-up phase, limiting the ability to spread high fixed costs across limited deliveries. Additionally, material waste and yield fluctuations during early-stage operations have kept unit manufacturing costs elevated. On the pricing front, Qingtao has adopted an aggressive strategy to secure supply chain partnerships with major automakers, leading to a sharp decline in the average selling price of its power battery products—from 0.6 yuan/Wh in 2024 to 0.31 yuan/Wh in 2025, a price close to the cost line of mainstream lithium iron phosphate batteries.
As of the end of 2025, Qingtao reported net current liabilities of 6.418 billion yuan and total liabilities of 10.97 billion yuan, with a debt-to-asset ratio of 165.4%, indicating that liabilities exceed assets. Of the total liabilities, redeemable liabilities—prim consisting of redeemable preferred shares held by investors—accounted for 7.71 billion yuan. These obligations could pose significant repayment pressure if the IPO fails. Meanwhile, the company's cash and cash equivalents declined sharply from 3.148 billion yuan at the end of 2023 to 1.238 billion yuan by the end of 2025. Operating cash flow remained negative for three consecutive years, with a net outflow of 530 million yuan in 2025, highlighting the company's reliance on external financing to sustain operations.
In early 2026, Qingtao raised approximately 1.9 billion yuan in its Series H funding round, reaching a post-money valuation of 27.9 billion yuan. However, at the 2025 net loss rate of 1.302 billion yuan, existing cash reserves are insufficient to cover even one year of operational expenses. The company plans to increase total production capacity from 6.8GWh to 98.2GWh by 2030—a nearly 40-fold expansion—which will require substantial capital expenditure in the coming years. Any delays in the listing process or tightening of financing conditions could severely strain Qingtao's funding chain.
Qingtao's business is heavily reliant on its partnership with SAIC Motor, which is both its largest external shareholder, holding approximately 14.24% indirectly, and its most important customer. In 2025, revenue from SAIC accounted for 41.8% of Qingtao's total sales. Under their framework agreement, sales caps to SAIC are set at 1 billion yuan for 2026, 5 billion yuan for 2027, and 9.5 billion yuan for 2028—the 2028 cap alone exceeds Qingtao's total 2025 revenue. Additionally, Qingtao has committed roughly 50% of its future production capacity to SAIC's orders, with projected annual orders increasing from 60,000 units in 2026 to 780,000 units by 2028. While this deep integration provides revenue stability, it also introduces significant operational risks due to high customer concentration. In 2025, sales to the top five customers represented 74.9% of total revenue. Any downturn in SAIC's vehicle sales or changes in the partnership could drastically impact Qingtao's financial performance. The scale of related-party transactions also raises questions about independent operations and fair pricing.
Qingtao's listing attempt comes at a critical juncture for the solid-state battery industry. Frost & Sullivan forecasts that global shipments of semi-solid and all-solid-state batteries will surge from 6.0GWh in 2025 to 745.2GWh by 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate of 151.2%. The industry widely regards 2025 as a turning point from concept validation to industrial implementation, with mass production timelines for several leading companies concentrated between 2027 and 2030. However, competition is intensifying. Established lithium battery giants like CATL and BYD are accelerating their solid-state battery initiatives, Toyota plans to mass-produce all-solid-state batteries by 2027, and second-tier players such as Gotion High-tech and Eve Energy are also making significant investments. Although Qingtao currently leads in semi-solid-state battery shipments, its ability to maintain a competitive edge amid rapid technological evolution remains uncertain. Industry experts, including the technical director of Weilan New Energy, suggest that large-scale mass production of solid-state batteries is unlikely to occur before 2030. This means Qingtao must rely on sales of semi-solid-state batteries to support revenue and cash flow in the interim, with the profitability turnaround for these products still unclear.
In summary, Qingtao's Hong Kong IPO represents both an urgent effort to secure funding and a critical test of its commercial prospects. The company's ability to overcome financial pressures, achieve commercial viability for solid-state batteries, maintain its shipment leadership amid fierce competition, and find a path to profitability will ultimately determine whether this 28-billion-yuan-valued unicorn becomes the next industry leader or a casualty of market speculation.