Why has industrialization capability become the key to Zhonglun New Materials’ global leadership?

Produced by | Bullet Finance

Author | Lin Yan

Editor | Lightning

Designer | Qian Qian

Reviewer | Song Wen

At the beginning of 2026, with a film only a quarter the thickness of a hair coming off the production line in West Java, Indonesia, Southeast Asia officially gained world-leading membrane material production technology, beginning to secure a place in the global critical new materials market.

The force driving Southeast Asia’s membrane material production technology into the world’s advanced ranks is a Chinese company—Zhonglun New Materials. This film is called BOPA (Biaxially Oriented Polyamide Film), utilizing Zhonglun’s self-developed fifth-generation low-carbon biaxial stretching technology, which can be used for soft-pack lithium batteries, forming a lightweight and sturdy “armor” to enhance batteries’ impact resistance and flame retardancy.

This situation is somewhat reminiscent of the changes foreign companies brought to China during the initial years of reform and opening up several decades ago. However, the main characters in this story have shifted from foreign enterprises to Chinese companies.

1. Going Overseas Requires Production Capacity to Go Overseas

German management scholar Hermann Simon believes that a company that meticulously operates in a specific niche market, achieving a globally “unique position” as the “Only-One Company,” is an invisible champion. Zhonglun New Materials is the invisible champion in the niche field of membrane materials.

When it comes to membranes, many people think of food preservation wraps, water purification membranes, and so on, but membrane materials have evolved into various forms, especially those applied in high-growth sectors such as new energy and biomedicine, which possess extremely high technological value and barriers. Functional membrane material BOPA is recognized as one of the most challenging new materials to produce, with an investment of several hundred million yuan required for a production line, and both the production process and technical requirements are very high.

In the field of BOPA, Zhonglun New Materials has maintained its global leadership position for eight consecutive years, with a global market share of 20%, making it the undisputed “King of Membranes.” Behind this achievement are over 200 core technology patents held by the company, pioneering the fifth-generation low-carbon biaxial stretching technology for membrane materials. Additionally, Zhonglun New Materials is one of the few companies in the world that simultaneously masters step-stretching, mechanical synchronous stretching, and magnetic levitation linear motor synchronous stretching processes.

(IMAGE / High-Performance Capacitor Film Rolls)

With a solid foundation in technology and production processes, Zhonglun New Materials has gradually established a product development model of “exploring a generation, researching a generation, developing a generation.” After all, the journey from research and development to industrial application for a membrane product is a difficult and lengthy process.

For instance, after BOPA secured its position as the global leader, Zhonglun New Materials continuously launched multiple domestic innovations: in 2021, it introduced BOPLA (biodegradable film), which reduces the carbon footprint of its raw materials by about 70% compared to traditional fossil-based plastics, and is also the first product in China to achieve large-scale production. Following that, in 2022, Zhonglun New Materials launched biobased BOPA (BiOPA) and antibacterial BOPA, both of which are domestic firsts.

Winning occasionally may rely on luck, but maintaining continuous leadership with multiple products relies on strength. Over the years, Zhonglun New Materials has honed its ability to scale and industrialize high-tech products. In addition to the aforementioned BOPA sector, Zhonglun New Materials has also laid out a series of high-tech material products, including BOPA specially designed for solid-state batteries, BOPP high-performance capacitor films, and PA6 high-performance polyamide, which can empower high-growth sectors such as new energy (lithium batteries, solid-state batteries, wind and solar storage), automotive, robotics, and the low-altitude economy.

From BOPA to biodegradable and antibacterial types, and then to BOPP, each membrane’s research and production face new material formulas, production processes, and demand scenarios, requiring a complete rework from scratch. This severely tests Zhonglun New Materials’ ability for rapid replication and implementation. It is precisely this kind of training that has enabled Zhonglun New Materials’ Indonesian production base to become the first instance of a Chinese membrane company exporting an advanced “smart manufacturing” system overseas.

(IMAGE / Indonesian Base)

The establishment of the Indonesian base signifies the transition of Chinese membrane materials from leading to system output. Zhonglun New Materials has fully replicated its mature high-end smart manufacturing technology system to the Indonesian base, achieving high-efficiency, high-quality customized production that accurately meets the diverse needs of global customers.

2. Research and Development Must Also Focus on Industrialization

Membrane materials are typical of materials science, heavily reliant on technological innovation. However, laboratory research alone is not enough; membrane materials must also possess strong industrialization capabilities. Success in the laboratory is just the first step, while large-scale, industrialized, and quality production is the key to a membrane company’s ascent. For decades, Japanese and European-American companies have dominated the world of membrane materials due to their strong industry know-how, mature production lines, and stable supply chains based on established formulas, leading to superior industrialization capabilities.

The reason is simple: just because a good membrane can be made in the lab does not mean that a production line can reliably output 1,000 meters, as the latter involves multiple fields including process control, equipment precision, clean environment, temperature and humidity, tension, speed, and defect control.

The so-called industrialization capability is the ability to continuously advance rapidly from the laboratory to large-scale production and to push products to the market and the world. This involves two key factors: first, both the laboratory and production line must be strong, meaning R&D innovation + intelligent manufacturing. Second, industrialization operation capability must be capable of quickly expanding to more new products, rapidly connecting the supply chain, industrial chain, and market applications.

In terms of R&D innovation, Zhonglun New Materials has built an advanced material R&D platform covering the entire process from “material mechanism research - small-scale testing - pilot testing - product incubation - mass production,” as well as a research matrix that includes national and provincial enterprise technology centers and a key laboratory for polymer functional films (recognized by CNAS), accumulating a vast material experimental database.

(IMAGE / Technical Engineer Testing Film)

At the same time, Zhonglun New Materials has assembled a self-developed team consisting of over a hundred materials technology engineers, along with an external advisory group of material experts from Xiamen University and Beijing University of Chemical Technology. This advisory group collaborates closely with top domestic and foreign universities, research institutions, and scientific research institutes, deeply participating in national key material research programs led by multiple academicians.

On the foundation of industry-leading R&D, Zhonglun New Materials is diligently honing its smart manufacturing capabilities. It has pioneered the fifth-generation low-carbon biaxial stretching technology for membrane materials globally, being one of the few membrane companies that master step-stretching, mechanical synchronous stretching, and magnetic levitation linear motor synchronous stretching processes. For example, on Zhonglun New Materials’ biaxial stretching technology production line, the thickness of the lithium battery film produced is only 15 micrometers, about the thickness of the scales on a butterfly’s wing. Such a small unit still needs to be stretched to over six meters in width while ensuring an average thickness deviation of less than 2%.

Thanks to its unique process technology and independent innovation, Zhonglun New Materials’ production lines have achieved the lowest energy consumption in the industry per product unit and the most optimal overall cost.

Industry-leading R&D and production capabilities provide a foundation for Zhonglun New Materials to advance its industrialization. Coupled with an integrated industrial chain layout from upstream raw materials PA6 to downstream functional membrane materials BOPA (biaxially oriented nylon film), Zhonglun New Materials has gradually established a virtuous cycle of “demand insight - technology breakthroughs - scenario implementation,” accelerating the transformation process from R&D to industrialization.

The ultimate value of industrialization capability lies in the ability to replicate explosive products in large quantities. Based on BOPA and its various functional membrane materials, Zhonglun New Materials has also achieved the industrialization of biodegradable membrane materials BOPLA and new energy membrane materials BOPP.

The latest industrialization achievement is the new energy BOPP film. At the end of last year, Zhonglun New Materials invested 2.5 billion yuan to build the first production line of its new energy materials project—the largest-width BOPP production line in the ultra-thin capacitor film field, measuring 6.4 meters wide. Notably, the product was recognized by multiple leading customers immediately after it came off the production line, indirectly validating Zhonglun New Materials’ strong industrialization capabilities.

(IMAGE / High-Performance Capacitor Film Production Line)

3. Growth Requires a Second Growth Curve

The membrane material industry is undergoing a three-dimensional transformation of materials, processes, and scenarios. Material innovation is the foundation, determining the “performance of the membrane material”; process iteration acts as an amplifier, determining “whether it can be produced on a large scale, stably, and at low cost”; scenario demand is the driving force, determining “what commercial value is created.”

Zhonglun New Materials is opening up new demand and growth channels through innovations across these three dimensions. Moreover, the performance growth brought about by new scenarios is not simply linear growth but holds the potential for geometric growth in the form of a second growth curve.

Currently, BOPA membrane materials remain the mainstay of Zhonglun New Materials’ performance, but from last year’s successful research and development of membranes specifically for solid-state batteries to this year’s mass production of new energy high-performance capacitor films, and the ongoing research of composite current collector-based membranes, the emergence of Zhonglun New Materials’ second growth curve is already evident. These new products will be widely used in lithium batteries, new energy vehicles, photovoltaics, wind power, energy storage, and other new energy fields, possessing extremely high growth potential.

Taking the high-performance capacitor film produced at the Xiamen base as an example, it is the core material for high-end film capacitors. Film capacitors are technologically iterating towards high voltage resistance, high-temperature resistance, and ultra-thin designs, and their performance directly determines the efficiency of electric drive systems in new energy vehicles, the stability of photovoltaic inverters, and even the safety factor of smart grids.

(IMAGE / Aerial View of Zhonglun New Materials Xiamen Base)

With the rapid increase in the penetration rate of new energy vehicles, the demand for film capacitors will surge further. According to a forecast by Zhiyan Consulting, the market size for film capacitors used in new energy vehicles in China will reach 12.7 billion yuan by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 17.78% from 2024 to 2029. Additionally, the development of industries such as photovoltaics and wind-solar storage has opened up new application scenarios and market demand for film capacitors. Zhiyan Consulting predicts that from 2024 to 2029, the global film capacitor market will achieve a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 14.9%, with the market size exceeding 48.5 billion yuan by 2029.

Undoubtedly, this will bring new market space and growth opportunities for Zhonglun New Materials’ high-performance capacitor films.

New energy is just one of the fields in which Zhonglun New Materials is planning for the future. It is reported that Zhonglun New Materials will focus on “multi-matrix, globalization, and high-tech” as its core development philosophy, concentrating on technological innovation and market expansion of “high-tech” materials, striving to develop multiple champion products that benchmark against BOPA’s market position within the next five years, and accelerating its layout and expansion in key materials and application scenarios in high-end emerging markets such as solid-state batteries, humanoid robots, high-end medical, and artificial intelligence.

It is evident that Zhonglun New Materials has planned to position itself early in many emerging fields. It is expected that, with strong industrialization capabilities, Zhonglun New Materials will likely be the first to reap the future development dividends.

(IMAGE / New Energy Membrane Material Base)

From a broader perspective, as Zhonglun New Materials’ product matrix becomes richer, it will generate powerful industrial ecological value.

Over the past several years, Zhonglun New Materials has solved the “bottleneck” problem in the membrane material field, achieving a leap to become a global leader. In the next decade, as it moves towards globalization and builds a new material industry ecosystem, Zhonglun New Materials will better support the innovation iteration and domestic substitution of China’s advanced manufacturing industry.

Zhonglun New Materials’ emergence as a core new material supplier will resonate with already overseas Chinese photovoltaic and automotive companies, driving the rise of a complete industrial chain from new materials to new energy vehicles overseas, enhancing the global competitiveness of Chinese industry.

The cover image in this article is from: Shetu Network, based on the VRF agreement.