(Yicai Global) May 15 -- Chinese new energy firms in the power storage supply chain, such as Contemporary Amperex Technology, GEM, and Tianqi Lithium, are expanding production in Europe and Southeast Asia and starting to export capital and technology along with products.

Ningde-based CATL, whose battery plant in Erfurt, Germany, its first overseas, began production last December, intends to use advanced analytics, digital twin solutions, the fifth generation of computing, and other technologies to promote smart processes and innovative design.

GEM will build a USD500 million laterite nickel project in Indonesia with Singapore's Cahaya Jaya Investment and Weiming Hong Kong International Holdings, the Shenzhen-based green energy firm said on May 11. The project will have an annual capacity of 20,000 metric tons of nickel intermediate product used in the new energy sector, it added.

Chinese firms in the new energy supply chain may face many challenges going overseas, including different business environments, competition, and talent access, but huge market potential and sub-par energy infrastructure mean demand for energy storage products is strong and the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in Europe and SE Asia is relatively low compared with China. That is why Chinese firms see foreign markets as new growth channels.

“When Chinese firms go global, they must focus not only on their products, but also on their technology, and more importantly, on their capital,” said Li Zhen, chairman of electric vehicle battery giant Gotion Hi-Tech, according to Shanghai Securities News.

Eve Malaysia, a unit of Chengdu-based Tianqi Lithium, plans to buy land from Kuala Lumpur-based Pemaju Kelang Lama to build a lithium battery plant and promote the digitalization of local factories, the parent firm said on May 12, citing a deal inked on the same day. Eve also plans to buy land in Hungary for EUR12.9 million (USD14 million) to produce cylindrical power batteries, it announced on May 9.

Battery materials supplier Putailai New Energy Technology plans to construct a 100,000 mt lithium-ion anode material research, development, and production base in Sweden, with an investment of as much as SEK15.7 billion (USD1.5 billion).

Editor: Martin Kadiev