New Stock Outlook | Qingtao Energy: On the Eve of Commercialization, Will the Market Buy the "First Stock of Solid-state Batteries"?

Recently, Qing Tao Energy submitted an application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Main Board, aiming to become the first Hong Kong-listed company specializing in solid-state batteries. Prior to its listing, Qing Tao Energy has garnered support from multiple star capital investors, with shareholders including Peak Ray Capital, Shang Qi Capital, Beiqi Investment, China Investment Corporation, Yongning Investment, Hengxu Capital, Xinding Capital, Huarui Investment, GAC Capital, Kunshan Guochuang Investment, Chengdu Investment Corporation, and other well-known institutions, industry capital, and local state-owned assets. Public information indicates that Qing Tao Energy is a leader in the solid-state battery industry, being one of the first companies globally to achieve mass production of solid-liquid hybrid batteries. The company was also one of the first to deploy manganese-based cathode materials in solid-liquid hybrid batteries on a large scale worldwide. According to the Hurun Research Institute's "2025 Global Unicorn List," the company's valuation has reached 21 billion yuan. As this emerging "unicorn" in the sunrise track, can its technological strength and commercial prospects support a valuation of over 20 billion? This Hong Kong IPO will serve as an excellent window for the market to assess its true value. Early commercialization stage, low capacity utilization affecting profit performance Looking at the financial data, Qing Tao Energy's recent performance is not optimistic, showing a characteristic of "faster growth, higher losses." On the revenue side, the volume of the power battery business has driven rapid revenue growth. In the period from 2023 to 2025 ("the reporting period"), the company's operating income was 248 million yuan, 405 million yuan, and 943 million yuan respectively, with a compound annual growth rate as high as 96.5%. In 2025, the year-on-year growth rate was as high as 132.8%. However, in contrast to this, the company's adjusted net loss (excluding non-recurring items such as redeeming debt financial costs) increased from 28 million yuan in 2023 to 77 million yuan in 2025, a significant 175% increase. During the reporting period, the company's overall gross margin was -23.8%, -23.8%, and -26.5% respectively, showing a downward trend. Specifically, the gross margin of the power battery business plummeted from -38.1% in 2023 to -111.6% in 2025, becoming the main factor dragging down the overall gross profit; in comparison, the gross margin of the energy storage battery business improved from -108.5% to -6.0%, but still did not achieve profitability. For the lack of profitability despite increased revenue, Qing Tao Energy attributes it mainly to the company being in the early stages of commercialization and capacity ramp-up, limited delivery volume, and the significant upfront investment required before the large-scale production of power batteries can be achieved. Data shows that the company's capacity utilization rates during the reporting period were 43%, 26%, and 53%, at a relatively low level, leading to high unit fixed costs. Additionally, high R&D expenses are also a significant reason for the losses. During the reporting period, the company's R&D expenses were 142 million yuan, 296 million yuan, and 377 million yuan respectively, accounting for approximately 57.2%, 72.9%, and 40.0% of the revenue, far above the industry average level. While the intensive R&D investment guarantees technological leadership, it also puts significant pressure on short-term profit capabilities. By the end of the reporting period, the company had filed a total of 1,853 patent applications in China, including 804 invention patents and granted 1,037 patents. According to data from Frost & Sullivan, the company is one of the enterprises with the most extensive layout of solid-state battery technology patents in the industry, indirectly confirming the high value of its R&D investment. "Power + Energy Storage" dual-drive, facing market price war pressure In terms of revenue structure, Qing Tao Energy is accelerating its transformation into a manufacturer of new energy batteries. In 2023, the company's revenue mainly relied on automation equipment (accounting for 45.9% of revenue) and energy storage batteries (37.2%), by 2025, this structure had shifted to a dual-drive pattern of energy storage batteries (62.8%) and power batteries (25.1%), with the revenue from automation equipment dropping significantly from 45.9% to 8.2%. As for power batteries, as of March 30, 2026, Qing Tao Energy's solid-state battery products had been installed in over 30 models of passenger and commercial vehicles from well-known automakers such as Zhi Ji, MG, and Foton, with deliveries exceeding 16,800 sets. Regarding energy storage batteries, the company was the first to introduce solid-state battery technology into the energy storage industry, targeting markets with high safety requirements and high added value, covering a wide range of applications in the grid, industrial and commercial, and household sectors. For scenarios with high requirements for uninterrupted power supply, such as data centers, financial institutions, and medical institutions, the company introduced the "Storage Integrated" system; in the household scenario, it launched products that are long-lasting, easy to deploy, and space-saving, supporting users in achieving 24-hour green household power supply. Additionally, Qing Tao Energy is the sole battery supplier for the world's largest solid-liquid hybrid battery energy storage station located in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia, with a capacity of 800MWh, demonstrating the company's ability to achieve large-scale commercial deployment. In terms of production capacity, the company currently operates five battery production bases in China, with a combined annual capacity of 6.8GWh for solid-liquid hybrid and all-solid-state batteries. With the commissioning of the 3.5GWh production line in Taizhou in March 2026 and the completion of Phase One of the Wuhai Zero Carbon Industrial Park, the company's planned total capacity has exceeded 55GWh, providing room for future volume growth. However, despite the successful transformation of Qing Tao Energy, the power and energy storage battery industries face the reality of oversupply and severe "internal competition" in prices, which is reflected in the financial statements. The financial reports show that the average selling price of power batteries decreased from 0.60 yuan/Wh in 2024 to 0.31 yuan/Wh in 2025, a significant decline of 48.3%. The company explained that this was mainly due to large-scale supplies to top OEMs starting in 2025, making the prices more competitive in the market; the average selling price of energy storage batteries slightly decreased from 0.54 yuan/Wh to 0.51 yuan/Wh, reflecting the company's challenge of having to sacrifice pricing for market share. Moreover, the high degree of customer concentration could potentially bring significant fluctuations to the company's performance. In 2025, the company's top five customers contributed 74.9% of the revenue, with the largest customer accounting for 41.8%. During the reporting period, revenue from the largest customer increased from 75.40 million yuan to 395 million yuan, with their share increasing from 30.4% to 41.8%. This means that if major customers reduce orders or delay payments, it would have a significant adverse impact on the company's operations. The commercialization turning point of the solid-state battery industry is approaching Despite the pressure on the profit side, the broad growth prospects of the solid-state battery sector provide Qing Tao Energy with plenty of room for imagination. From a technical standpoint, traditional lithium batteries consist of liquid electrolytes, porous separators, and cathodes and anodes, whereas solid-state batteries use solid electrolytes instead of liquid electrolytes and separators. This revolutionary change brings higher energy density, thinner battery forms, a wider operating temperature range, and eliminates the safety hazards associated with flammable liquid electrolytes. In the field of solid-state batteries, Qing Tao Energy has always been at the forefront. The company established one of the world's earliest solid-liquid hybrid battery production lines in 2018. In 2021, it achieved real-world validation of high-energy density solid-state batteries with a range of over 1000 kilometers in collaboration with SAIC, and by 2026, the company's fully solid-state battery-equipped prototype vehicles had been produced. As of March 2026, Qing Tao Energy has become the first manufacturer globally to deliver over ten thousand sets of solid-liquid hybrid batteries. It is understood that Qing Tao Energy follows a unique path of organic-inorganic composite solid-state electrolytes. By enhancing ion conductivity, interface stability, and manufacturing feasibility through material complementation, it is one of the few companies that has successfully commercialized this technology. This approach supports both its solid-liquid hybrid and fully solid-state battery products, offering comprehensive advantages in safety, cycle life, power output, energy density, temperature adaptability, and cost. Specifically, its independently developed SHO solid electrolyte has higher room-temperature ionic conductivity compared to liquid electrolytes, with a unit cost only about one-tenth of the common sulfide solid electrolyte. The company's high-voltage manganese-based cathode material, while incompatible with liquid electrolytes, is well suited for solid-state batteries, enhancing safety, cycle life, low-temperature performance, and reducing costs. The company's independently developed core processes such as integrated interfaces, direct formation of solid electrolyte layers, and dry electrode processing have enabled it to achieve a yield of over 94% in mass production of solid-liquid hybrid battery products, placing it at the forefront of the industry. At the industry level, the increase in demand for power batteries in line with the penetration of electric vehicles, along with the accelerated penetration rates of wind and solar power, is driving the growth of energy storage batteries. This is further compounded by the rapid expansion of AI data centers, which pose higher requirements for power reliability and stability, creating new application scenarios for advanced battery technologies such as solid-state batteries. Data from Frost & Sullivan shows that the global market size for solid-liquid hybrid and fully solid-state batteries is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 151.2% from 2026 to 2030, with the global shipment volume of solid-liquid hybrid and fully solid-state batteries expected to reach 745.2GWh by 2030. In 2026, numerous breakthroughs in the solid-state battery industry seem to indicate the approaching commercialization turning point. CHERY AUTO (09973) disclosed that its self-developed Rhino S fully solid-state battery achieves an energy density of 600Wh/kg, fast charging 500 kilometers in 5 minutes, and a pure electric range expected to exceed 1500km, with plans for mass production in 2027; Contemporary Amperex Technology (03750) revealed the latest progress in solid-state batteries, with a sulfide all-solid-state battery energy density exceeding 500Wh/kg, supporting fast charging to 80% in 15 minutes; CALB (03931) has built a car-use fully solid-state battery production line and plans to achieve mass delivery of a thousand Siasun Robot & Automation units by the fourth quarter of 2026. As solid-state batteries move from "concepts" to "mass production," Qing Tao Energy currently holds a leading position. In 2025, by shipment volume, the company ranked first in the global solid-liquid hybrid and fully solid-state battery markets, with a market share of approximately 33.6%; in the Chinese market, the company's market share is even higher at 44.8%. Fundamentally, Qing Tao Energy's strong technological capabilities and clear strategic path in the field of solid-state batteries have placed the company in a leading position. Once the industry reaches a "tipping point," the company, with its leading position, is poised for explosive growth. However, the company is currently in the early stages of commercialization with high investments, high growth, and high losses, and the solid-state battery industry as a whole is facing challenges such as insufficient technological maturity, high cost pressures, and incomplete industrial chain support. For Qing Tao Energy, while the growth story is compelling, the conversion of technological strength into tangible profits remains a crucial issue that market investors are most concerned about.