What is the investment intention of Xiaomi's large-scale overweight battery industry?

Since the official announced that the car was built in March this year, the layout of Xiaomi Group in the electric vehicle and power battery industry chain began to accelerate.

In recent days, both investments in the battery sector have come from Xiaomi Group or its related companies.

First, Honeycomb Energy announced the completion of round B financing on July 30, with a total financing amount of 10.28 billion yuan. The current round of financing was led by the Bank of China, and the co-investment institutions included Xiaomi Group, the National Scientific and technological achievements Transformation Fund Sub-Fund, country Garden Venture Capital, Deep Venture Capital, Jianxin Investment, IDG, Sany heavy Industry, Huzhou Haisong, China Renaissance Capital Investment and other institutions.

Second, on July 30, Ganfeng Lithium Industry issued an announcement that Ganfeng Lithium, a holding subsidiary, had completed capital increase and share financing. Hubei Xiaomi Yangtze River Industrial Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) (hereinafter referred to as "Xiaomi production Investment") and Hainan Jimu Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hainan Polar") appeared on the financing list. It is worth noting that Hainan Jimu is also a company under Xiaomi. After this round of capital increase and share expansion, Xiaomi Group will hold 7.02% of Ganfeng Lithium Power, making it the second largest shareholder in the company after Ganfeng Lithium.

On March 30th, Xiaomi Group announced that the board of directors formally approved the establishment of a wholly-owned subsidiary in charge of the smart electric vehicle business, with an initial investment of 10 billion yuan. The investment is expected to reach 10 billion US dollars in the next 10 years. Lei Jun will also serve as CEO of the smart electric vehicle business.

After the official announced that the car was built, Xiaomi Group's investment in the field of electric vehicles began to accelerate. According to incomplete statistics of industry organizations, since June this year, Xiaomi Group has made a number of huge investments in self-driving, lidar, car networking and other areas, while its investment in the core links of the automotive industry chain is also accelerating.

Some analysts believe that with Xiaomi's announcement of car construction, it is believed that Xiaomi's future investment direction will focus more on industrial coordination and build an industrial chain. Shengang Securities pointed out that in the early days of Xiaomi, the main investors in the field of self-driving are mainly Shun for capital, and the main purpose of investment is financial investment, while the investment in the field of car networking and automobile aftermarket is mainly Xiaomi Group, and the purpose of investment is to pay more attention to its platform attribute and its ability to link with Xiaomi ecology.

Similarly, Xiaomi production and Investment also plays an important role in Xiaomi's overall investment structure.

01 previously invested in AVIC Lithium Power and Zhuhai Guanyu

Before investing in Honeycomb Energy and Ganfeng Lithium Power, Xiaomi had already invested in leading companies in the battery sector, such as AVIC Lithium, Zhuhai Guanyu and so on.

In December 2020, AVIC Lithium investors changed, from 6 investors such as Chengfei Integration before the change to 35 investors. The new investors include Sequoia Kachen (Xiamen) Equity Investment, Xiaomi Industry Investment, Wuxi League of Nations, Xiamen Gold and Lithium Equity Investment, PICC, the cornerstone of the Link, Getiansda and many other capital institutions. At the same time, with the participation of many investors, the registered capital of AVIC Lithium Power has also increased from 6.997 billion yuan to 12.769 billion yuan.

Enterprise inspection data show that in the current round of financing of AVIC Lithium Power, Xiaomi Investment Corporation's registered capital contribution to AVIC Lithium Power is about 290 million yuan, with a shareholding ratio of about 2.2826%.

Xiaomi Investment Corporation invested in Zhuhai Guanyu in December 2018, with a 4.3 per cent stake in Zhuhai Guanyu, making it its fifth largest shareholder, according to company data.

According to Battery China, Xiaomi is also one of the main customers of Zhuhai Guanyu. Zhuhai Guanyu's battery products are also widely used in Xiaomi mobile phones, 3C, consumer and smart home products.

From the public information, so far, Xiaomi Group, Xiaomi Investment in the field of lithium battery investment including AVIC Lithium, Honeycomb Energy, Zhuhai Guanyu and Ganfeng Lithium and other enterprises. Considering that Xiaomi car-building is still in the early preparatory stage, the editor speculates that its investment in AVIC Lithium and Honeycomb Energy may still be for the purpose of financial investment, and whether it will be included in the battery supply chain as the car construction advances remains to be seen.

There are four rumors about the supplier of 02 Xiaomi battery.

As a leading enterprise in the mobile phone field, Xiaomi has a huge fan base. Whether Xiaomi's entry into the automobile industry will cause changes in the auto market has also triggered widespread discussion. At the same time, the investment plan of nearly 100 billion yuan in the next 10 years also makes people look forward to building cars.

Power battery as the core component of electric vehicle, whose power battery Xiaomi will use in the future has always been the focus of the industry. In fact, every related move by Xiaomi Group and Lei Jun has caused widespread speculation in the industry since Xiaomi Guan announced the construction of the car.

In late April, there were rumors that Lei Jun visited the Ningde era or looked for battery suppliers for Xiaomi cars. In this regard, some media have interpreted that Xiaomi will purchase Ningde era batteries. However, so far Xiaomi, Ningde era has not responded to this.

In fact, Lei Jun visited Great Wall some time ago, and some people speculated that Xiaomi might find Great Wall OEM and consider using honeycomb batteries.

Recently, it has been exposed by the media that Jianghuai may produce cars for millet OEM.

"Hefei and Xiaomi are in talks, and Xiaomi is expected to settle in Hefei, but the specific policy on attracting investment is not clear," said a person related to Anhui high-tech industry and investment, according to the Future Automobile Daily on July 28. " At the same time, the source also revealed his confidence in the city of Hefei, saying that "Hefei's (new energy vehicle) industry has a good foundation and is attractive to Xiaomi."

In addition, some media said that Xiaomi settled in Hefei, there will be Jianghuai OEM production in the future, the first model is likely to focus on the market of less than 200000 yuan, "considering the cooperation between Jianghuai and Guoxuan, Xiaomi may use Guoxuan batteries in the future."

Soon, however, both Jianghuai Motor and the Hefei government denied the authenticity of the news.

In addition, some analysts pointed out that considering that at present, Xiaomi's electronic products are mainly supplied by Xinwanda, while Xinwanda is also actively laying out the power battery business, "Xinwanda, which has a lot of relationship with Xiaomi, has been given more room for imagination after Xiaomi official announced the construction of the car."

Some investors asked Xin Wanda during the investor interaction whether Xin Wanda could get an order for Xiaomi car. The company said: "Xiaomi official announced that the car represents its confidence in the development prospects of the new energy vehicle industry. In the future, our company will continue to seek multi-field cooperation with Xiaomi."

It should be noted that it is not clear when Xiaomi's first car will be born, but it is still in the preparatory stage. It is believed that Xiaomi's past experience in selecting and controlling the mobile phone supply chain and ecological chain will also be transferred to the car, which may also be a test for the battery industry itself.

At the present stage, whether Xiaomi's investment in the battery field is for the purpose of financial income or from the long-term point of view of car construction needs to be observed, but it is certain that its frequent investment in the battery field is very recognized and optimistic about the development prospects of this industry.