Conductive carbon materials, as essential conductive additives, are crucial for building efficient electron transport networks, reducing internal resistance, and enhancing conductivity, making them indispensable in battery electrodes. The new energy sector represents the largest downstream application for these materials, accounting for approximately 45% of the global conductive carbon material market by 2025 revenue. Benefiting from the explosive growth of the new energy industry in recent years, the global market for new energy conductive carbon materials has surged rapidly from RMB 5.1 billion in 2021 to RMB 17.5 billion in 2025, demonstrating robust growth momentum.
Riding this industry wave, Wuxi Dongheng New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as Dongheng New Energy), which recently initiated its Hong Kong IPO, is a prime example of a company that has risen swiftly with the industry's tailwind. On June 23rd, Dongheng New Energy submitted its listing application to the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with China International Capital Corporation and Dongxing Securities (Hong Kong) acting as joint sponsors.
According to data from a leading consultancy, by 2025 revenue, Dongheng New Energy ranks as the world's second-largest carbon nanotube supplier and fourth-largest conductive carbon black supplier among all manufacturers. Among Chinese manufacturers, it holds the position of second-largest carbon nanotube supplier and the largest conductive carbon black supplier, indicating its leading status within the industry.
The scale effect has begun to materially release earnings elasticity. From 2023 to 2025, Dongheng New Energy's revenues were approximately RMB 324 million, RMB 315 million, and RMB 897 million, respectively, showing an overall high-growth trend. Its adjusted net profits for the same periods were approximately RMB 16.323 million, -RMB 33.004 million, and RMB 67.088 million, respectively, achieving a V-shaped recovery on the profit side with a clear rebound in profitability.
Key Shareholder and Growth Driver
Founded in 2011, Dongheng New Energy has consistently focused on the conductive carbon materials field. Its growth into an industry leader over more than a decade is supported by significant backing from the primary market. According to the prospectus, prior to the IPO, the company completed six rounds of financing, raising a total of nearly RMB 500 million. The Series C round in 2022 was the final round, valuing the company at RMB 3 billion post-investment.
Following these financing rounds, Dongheng New Energy's shareholder structure presents a typical mix of "family control + employee ownership + industrial capital + VC/PE." The Shen Bohua and Shen Yudong father-son duo, combined with an employee持股 platform, form the company's single largest shareholder group, holding approximately 33.07% collectively.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. (CATL) is Dongheng New Energy's largest industrial capital shareholder, holding a 7.57% stake through its investment arms. Other significant institutional shareholders include the Changjiang Chendao series (holding 8.14%), Shenzhen Capital Group (holding about 1.62%), and Jin Yu Mao Wu Capital (holding 10.37%). A state fund-backed entity, Wuhan Yuankai, holds about 3.25%.
The backing from industrial capital and institutions is likely directly related to Dongheng New Energy's comprehensive product matrix in the conductive carbon materials field. Its product system now encompasses a full range of conductive materials: "point" (conductive carbon black), "line" (carbon nanotubes), and "surface" (graphene). These products can create synergistic effects, ultimately forming a three-dimensional conductive network structure that helps extend the cycle life, rate capability, and energy density of new energy batteries.
Leveraging this comprehensive product matrix, Dongheng New Energy has successfully penetrated the supply chains of top-tier global battery manufacturers. Data shows that among the world's top ten power battery manufacturers by 2025 shipment volume, eight are its customers; among the top ten energy storage battery manufacturers, seven are its customers; and among the top ten consumer electronics battery manufacturers, eight are its customers.
However, it is noteworthy that the company's current revenue core lies in conductive carbon black and carbon nanotubes, which accounted for 17.9% and 81.6% of revenue in 2025, respectively, while graphene's contribution remains small. Performance-wise, Dongheng New Energy's trajectory resembles a "squat and jump" curve.
In 2024, impacted by overseas demand fluctuations, revenue from its core carbon nanotube product fell by approximately 9.7%, dragging down total revenue slightly. More critically, profitability deteriorated: the high-margin carbon nanotube business faced cooling overseas demand, causing its gross margin to plummet from 53.6% to 34.8%. Simultaneously, to maintain customer relationships, conductive carbon black underwent price adjustments, with its gross margin narrowing from 13.5% to 11.6%. The pressure on margins from both main products led to a more than 10-percentage-point plunge in the company's overall gross margin, which was the core reason for the shift from profit to loss in 2024.
Entering 2025, the core engine for Dongheng New Energy's explosive revenue growth was the accelerated ramp-up of carbon nanotube paste. Paste revenue for the period reached approximately RMB 624 million, a surge of over 10 times year-on-year, and its share of total revenue jumped from 17.7% in 2024 to 69.5% in 2025. Market information suggests this was primarily driven by the significant volume ramp-up of CATL's Shenxing battery in models from automakers like Chery, Avatr, Seres, and Li Auto in mid-2025, directly boosting demand for Dongheng's paste.
Benefiting from the scaled-up production of carbon nanotube paste, Dongheng New Energy's carbon nanotube business revenue surged by 378.41% in 2025, with its share of total revenue大幅 increasing from 48.6% in 2024 to 81.6%, becoming the company's new growth pillar. Consequently, the company's overall revenue achieved a leap of 185.12% in 2025, and with scale effects, it successfully returned to profitability, recording an adjusted net profit of RMB 67.088 million, indicating a significant recovery in profit quality.
Customer Concentration and Industry Risks
From an industry-wide perspective, the conductive carbon materials sector is entering a "golden window" driven by the convergence of technological advancement and demand. On the technology front, silicon-based anodes require high-performance carbon nanotubes to manage volume expansion, and solid-state batteries need to solve interface contact challenges, both pressuring material system upgrades. On the demand side, rapid growth in downstream new energy vehicle and energy storage battery shipments, coupled with breakthroughs in applications for carbon nanotubes and graphene in areas like semiconductor heat dissipation and AI chip lightweighting, form the core drivers of high industry prosperity.
Data indicates that propelled by both technological iteration and demand explosion, the global market for new energy conductive carbon materials is projected to grow from RMB 22.8 billion in 2026 to RMB 52.2 billion in 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate of 23%, with the Chinese market's growth rate also reaching 24.7% during the same period, highlighting a clear trend of certain industry growth.
As the world's second-largest carbon nanotube and fourth-largest conductive carbon black supplier, Dongheng New Energy, with its leading market scale and comprehensive product layout, is well-positioned to capture the growth红利 of the global new energy conductive carbon materials market. The scaled-up production of its carbon nanotube paste business not only validates its commercialization capabilities but also adds a certain growth pillar to its fundamentals.
However, operational concerns for Dongheng New Energy are equally significant, with the foremost being the continued decline in gross margins for its two main product lines. To maintain long-term relationships with major customers, the company exchanged market share for price adjustments, causing the gross margin for conductive carbon black to decline steadily from 13.5% in 2023 to 9.2% in 2025. The carbon nanotube product line also faced pressure: gross margins from 2023 to 2025 were 53.6%, 34.8%, and 27.8%, respectively, showing a stepwise decline.
The further deceleration in carbon nanotube gross margin in 2025 can be attributed to three main pressures: first, overseas demand fluctuations dragged down powder sales, diluting scale effects; second, several new powder product models were in the production ramp-up phase, with yield rates and costs not yet optimized; third, the company proactively adopted more cost-competitive pricing strategies to accelerate customer penetration. Although the scaled-up paste production significantly improved its gross margin during the period, it was insufficient to offset the sharp decline in the powder segment, ultimately leading to a continued downward trajectory for the overall carbon nanotube business gross margin.
While the reasons for the gross margin decline in the two main product lines differ slightly, the commonality lies in adopting more cost-competitive pricing strategies to maintain customer relationships or penetrate markets. This reveals a lack of pricing power, directly related to Dongheng New Energy's high customer concentration.
According to the prospectus, from 2023 to 2025, revenue from Dongheng New Energy's top five customers accounted for 95.6%, 94.2%, and 96.1% of total revenue, respectively, remaining consistently high. Moreover, revenue from its largest customer, CATL, accounted for 45.9%, 49.9%, and 74.9% over the same period, showing a持续大幅飙升 in single-customer concentration.
With this high dependence on CATL, pricing, payment terms, and technical standards for Dongheng New Energy are largely dictated by its major client, which is already evident in financial data. Data shows that from 2023 to 2025, the company's combined accounts receivable and notes receivable were RMB 129 million, RMB 140 million, and RMB 776 million, respectively. With 2025 revenue at RMB 897 million, receivables accounted for 86.51% of the period's revenue.
Simultaneously, Dongheng New Energy's debt ratio has been rising continuously. From 2023 to 2025, its asset-liability ratios were 48.2%, 57.2%, and 73.99%, respectively, showing consecutive surges. However, the company's cash flow has been shrinking. Year-end cash and cash equivalents dropped significantly from RMB 107 million in 2023 to RMB 17.817 million in 2024. Although it recovered somewhat in 2025, it was only about RMB 22.43 million.
Cross-verification of multiple data points suggests that Dongheng New Energy's current growth is achieved by "financing for major clients + leveraging to expand production," while its self-sustaining cash generation能力 has not kept pace with its expansion speed.
From a medium- to long-term perspective, whether the industry will face oversupply will be the most critical factor determining Dongheng New Energy's future value. In the conductive carbon black product segment, companies like Black Cat股份 and Yongdong股份, traditionally competing in the red ocean market for tire-grade carbon black, have begun accelerating their entry into lithium battery-grade carbon black. Among them, Black Cat股份 has moved the fastest, with its 20,000-ton/year ultra-conductive carbon black already in production ramp-up, and its second-generation SP product对标 imports, having entered CATL's Shenxing supply chain, making it Dongheng New Energy's most direct competitor.
Yongdong股份's 15,000-ton conductive carbon black capacity started production in 2024, but it is currently mainly supplied for wire and cable shielding materials. Its lithium battery-grade products are still in pilot testing, with customer validation not yet at volume, posing a limited short-term threat to Dongheng but representing a future variable. If these competitors make超预期 progress in lithium battery-grade products, the红利 of "high-end domestic substitution" could be rapidly diluted.
In the carbon nanotube paste segment, while market demand is rising, supply expansion is even more aggressive. Industry leader Tiannai Technology's paste capacity reached 95,000 tons in 2024 with a utilization rate of 91.85%, and it plans to add another 73,000 tons of paste and 7,000 tons of single-walled paste capacity through projects under construction and planned. Simultaneously, companies like Tao's Technology and Laier New Material are also expanding. More critically, battery manufacturers' in-house production ratios are gradually increasing. Industry estimates suggest that by 2025, battery manufacturers' self-supply ratio for new paste types will be 17-19%, and this proportion is expected to exceed 25% by 2026.
Once future supply enters an oversupply channel, gross margins often serve as the most sensitive "barometer." As long as prices remain above the break-even line, companies can still maintain账面 growth through "trading price for volume." However, once prices fall below the cost line, price wars transition from "profit concessions" to "bleeding losses." At that point, "revenue growth without profit growth" will no longer be an expectation but a既定 outcome. Therefore, the trajectory of gross margins will directly determine Dongheng New Energy's valuation坐标.