SMM Analysis: H2 Digital Market Focuses on New Phone Launches, Boosting Lithium Cobalt Oxide Downstream Market with 17% YoY Growth in August

[SMM Analysis] Affected by tight copper foil supply and slower-than-expected capacity ramp-up for large-capacity battery cells, China and global energy storage battery cell production growth in September is expected to slow to 4.09% and 4.25% MoM, respectively, but this does not indicate weakening end-use demand. Supply-demand conditions for energy storage battery cells remain tight, with 314Ah battery cell prices holding steady. Shipments are expected to rise steadily going forward, with prices continuing their stable-to-higher trend.

CATL Chairman Zeng Yuqun, in a video address to the 2026 World Power Battery Conference, said that in H1 this year, China's NEV sales exceeded 7.4 million units, with over 600 new models launched, averaging nearly three per day. Everyone is competing on speed, specifications, and price, and development cycles are getting shorter. He noted that power batteries require extremely high precision and have very low tolerance for error. In mass production, all small issues are magnified many times over, so every process and every parameter must be strictly controlled from the design stage, anomalies must be identified in advance, and there must be zero tolerance for quality problems.