"King Ning," who made 72.2 billion in explosive profits, what other stories are there to tell?

Source | Bohu Finance (bohuFN)

Author | Kai Kai

Recently, CATL delivered a “beautiful” report card, once again proving that the only one who can beat “Ning Wang” is itself.

In 2025, CATL achieved revenue of 423.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17%; net profit attributable to parent company was 72.2 billion yuan, up 42%, both reaching record highs.

More importantly, compared to the “profit increase without revenue growth” performance in 2024, CATL has broken market concerns about its sustained growth. Its power battery business still maintains rapid growth, and the “second curve” energy storage business is also accelerating upward.

However, this nearly flawless performance report also reveals a hint of dissonance. Some media calculated that the 72.2 billion yuan profit earned last year by CATL exceeds the combined profits of 13 A-share listed car companies.

The growth rate of the new energy vehicle industry is gradually slowing, yet CATL, as an upstream battery supplier, seems to live in a different parallel universe—“Ning Wang” is winning big, but is it really “cold at the top”?

01 CATL Has No Competitors

Let’s first look at why CATL can soar so “high.”

In 2025, CATL reversed the decline in revenue growth rate in 2024, hitting new highs with revenue surpassing 400 billion yuan for the first time in history. Meanwhile, its profitability improved further, with annual net profit of 72.2 billion yuan.

(Source: CATL 2025 Annual Report)

CATL’s power battery and energy storage business form the “dual engines” driving its performance.

Focusing on the power battery business, in 2025, CATL’s power battery sales reached 541 GWh, a year-on-year increase of 41.85%. Total revenue was 316.5 billion yuan, up 25.08%, accounting for 74.7% of total revenue, still the “ballast” of CATL.

According to SNE Research data, in 2025, CATL’s global market share of power batteries was 39.2%, ranking first for nine consecutive years. Domestic market share reached 43.42%, and overseas market share further rose to 30%.

On one hand, rising lithium battery prices have prompted manufacturers to stockpile in advance. Throughout 2025, the price of core raw material lithium carbonate increased from 70,000-80,000 yuan/ton in Q3 to 80,000-100,000 yuan/ton in Q4, and continued to surge this year.

Last November, Xiaopeng Motors Chairman He Xiaopeng responded to media questions about battery shortages, bluntly saying, “All of us, including battery factory bosses, have had drinks.” Industry rumors also suggest that several automakers’ procurement staff “blocked the door” at CATL’s sales office just to lock in capacity early.

By the end of 2025, CATL’s contract liabilities increased to 49.2 billion yuan, a 77% year-on-year increase. This is not the limit of CATL’s signing capacity but its production capacity. In 2025, its capacity utilization rate reached 96.9%.

On the other hand, the continuous expansion of the new energy vehicle market is also a key driver of CATL’s performance.

According to SNEResearch data, in 2025, global new energy vehicle sales reached 21.47 million units, a 21.5% increase. Although the growth rate of domestic NEV sales has slowed in recent years, the 2025 new car sales still grew by 28.2% year-on-year.

Notably, in 2025, CATL’s global market share increased by 1.2 percentage points, indicating that its revenue not only grew with the market but also gained market share from overseas competitors. Last year, overseas revenue grew approximately 17.5% year-on-year.

Looking at energy storage business, in 2025, CATL’s energy storage battery sales reached 121 GWh, up 29.13%; revenue was 62.44 billion yuan, an increase of 8.99%, reversing the decline in 2024 and adding another “leg” to CATL.

According to SNE Research, in 2025, CATL’s energy storage battery market share was 30.4%, with shipment volume ranking first globally for five consecutive years.

The energy storage sector, once seen as a “storytelling” sector with capital flooding in and fierce price wars, has seen prices drop sharply—by about 80% over the past three years, with some centralized procurement projects’ winning bids seriously deviating from costs.

However, CATL’s energy storage gross profit margin (26.71%) is higher than that of its power batteries (23.84%). Behind this, CATL’s market position, technological leadership, and other advantages are key reasons it can avoid “losing money for share.”

Additionally, AI has further fueled the industry, with high-reliability, long-duration energy storage systems becoming a necessity, bringing new opportunities for energy storage as the company’s “second growth curve.”

02 Making More Money Than the Entire Auto Industry

Over the past year, in terms of revenue, profit scale, market share, and profitability, CATL has delivered an impeccable report card. No wonder netizens joke that CATL’s only competitor is itself.

Moreover, CATL not only earns a lot but also retains its earnings.

By the end of 2025, CATL’s cash and short-term financial assets totaled 392.5 billion yuan. It also announced a dividend plan, proposing a cash dividend of 69.57 yuan per 10 shares (tax included), with total dividends approaching one trillion yuan.

(Source: CATL 2025 Annual Report)

What does this mean? According to incomplete statistics, the profit CATL earned in 2025 exceeds the combined profits of 13 listed car companies on the A-share market, with the most profitable, Great Wall Motors and SAIC Motor, each earning around 9 billion yuan in net profit.

Compare these two sets of data: in 2025, the profit margin of China’s auto industry was only 4.1%, the lowest in the past decade; meanwhile, CATL’s gross margin reached 26.27%, close to its historical peak.

This raises an interesting question: as the new energy vehicle industry enters a stock-competition phase with inevitable price wars, how does CATL manage to earn even more? How does it avoid being caught in the cyclical fluctuations of the industry?

In fact, automakers also don’t want to keep “working for” CATL.

In recent years, a wave of “de-Ninghua” (reducing dependence on CATL) has swept the auto industry, with many automakers trying to develop their own batteries, seek second suppliers, or establish joint ventures with battery companies to reduce reliance on CATL. For example, Li Auto, Xpeng, and Leapmotor have widely introduced second and third-tier suppliers; GAC Group even dissolved its joint venture with CATL, aiming to develop and produce batteries independently.

Yet, even so, CATL remains the “first choice” for most automakers.

Last year, the delivery of Li Auto’s i6 was delayed due to battery supply issues. Various versions of the story circulated—some said CATL prioritized large clients’ capacity, causing “capacity bottlenecks” for Li Auto; others claimed Li Auto was pushing customers to choose Xinjie Wanda batteries to cut costs.

Regardless of the truth, it seems to reflect a fact: automakers and consumers are more willing to pay for CATL’s batteries.

This means that CATL’s performance explosion and market demand growth are partly due to this, but the “winner-takes-all” effect is the key reason it continues to widen the gap with competitors.

First, CATL has deeply integrated into the entire new energy ecosystem. Upstream, it invests in mineral resources through equity stakes and joint ventures; downstream, it locks in customers via joint ventures and strategic alliances.

Moreover, CATL has redefined industry standards through CTP/CTC technologies. For example, CTC technology can directly eliminate the battery pack, further strengthening CATL’s ecosystem’s irreplaceability.

In this context, CATL can use more stable self-supply costs to offset external market price fluctuations, forming a positive flywheel of “low cost—customer choice—scale expansion—lower costs,” enabling continuous scale effects.

Second, stable profitability and ample cash flow allow ongoing R&D investment, building a strong technological moat. In 2025, CATL’s R&D expenditure reached 22.1 billion yuan, a 20% increase year-on-year, reaching a new high.

Last year, CATL launched a series of new products, including the second-generation Shenxing super-charging batteries, Xiaoyao dual-core batteries, and super-hybrid batteries. The new battery demands were fully activated, allowing the company to benefit not only from industry growth but also from technological advancement.

Finally, stable capacity supply gives CATL the confidence to expand further. With sufficient funds and stable orders, “Ning Wang” is confident in continuing capacity expansion. Management revealed that current under-construction capacity has reached 321 GWh, capable of handling high-end orders driven by AI and energy storage, accelerating the elimination of inefficient, outdated capacity, and further consolidating its global supply chain dominance.

Compared to CATL, being cheaper isn’t necessarily better; being better isn’t always stable; and being stable isn’t always better—this “impossible triangle” is the true depth of CATL’s moat.

03 The Overhanging “Uncertainty”

But is this seemingly perfect barrier truly flawless?

Two potential challenges cannot be ignored: one is whether existing competitive advantages will face new variables; the other is how to maintain growth.

Let’s look at possible variables.

One is geopolitical issues, which could disrupt CATL’s global layout, including expansion of production bases and supply chains.

For example, in February this year, Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Mines suddenly announced a suspension of lithium ore and lithium concentrate exports. Although CATL had already globalized its supply chain, geopolitical turbulence could bring unpredictable changes even faster.

Another is the contest over technological routes. Over the past year, disputes over solid-state battery technology have never ceased. Before breakthroughs are achieved, companies are cautiously deploying; meanwhile, other tech fields are also “blooming” with multiple points of development.

For instance, BYD recently released its second-generation Blade Battery and fast-charging technology, capable of charging from 10% to 70% in just 5 minutes at room temperature; NIO has built nearly 3,800 swap stations, and the “battery swapping mode” is competing with solid-state batteries to land.

If we extend the timeline, one day a certain technology route might suddenly “break out,” potentially overturning CATL’s current advantages. This is a question difficult to answer.

Currently, the low growth rate of China’s new energy vehicle market is a fact, and the pressure will eventually transfer to “Ning Wang.” Despite maintaining the top domestic market share in 2025, at 45.09%, it has declined by 1.67 percentage points from 2024, ranking second among the top fifteen companies in decline.

Therefore, in recent years, CATL has been actively expanding and improving its ecological closed-loop, attempting to recreate a “Ning Wang.”

On one hand, it is further expanding its global footprint—from Hungary to Indonesia, from European R&D centers to North American tech collaborations—trying to hedge geopolitical risks with “localization.”

On the other hand, it is transforming from a single battery supplier to a comprehensive energy solution provider. Besides deploying battery swapping, battery recycling is also a strategic move to build a service closed-loop.

In 2025, although revenue from battery materials and recycling declined, the gross profit margin remained high at 27.27%, and battery recycling volumes increased significantly, indicating a gradually forming “production-use-recycling-reproduction” closed loop.

Through battery swapping, CATL is turning one-time “battery sales” into long-term service income, including battery life management and secondary recycling, offering greater growth potential and profit continuity, and hedging the slowdown in the NEV market.

Beyond that, CATL is also exploring low-altitude economy, robotics, zero-carbon power, and other fields. While these “third curve” layouts may not generate significant short-term revenue, they sow seeds for future transformation.

Overall, the 2025 report card reflects CATL’s strength but also reveals its anxieties. After all, power and anxiety often coexist— the higher you stand, the stronger the wind.

Yin Yongqing once said that humanity is undergoing a revolutionary energy transformation—from exploring and extracting fossil fuels to harnessing energy from wind and solar farms and storing it in batteries in a new era.

Every era change harbors new opportunities—it’s all about who can run faster and seize more opportunities.