From Import Dependency to Global Leadership: The Story of China's Intelligent Manufacturing Comeback Behind a Separator

Amidst the global surge in the new energy industry, battery technology stands as an unignorable force. Lithium batteries are hailed as the "heart" in various new energy sectors, and the separator, one of the four key materials in lithium batteries, is metaphorically referred to as the "valve of the heart."

The separator is the most technically challenging inner component within the lithium battery industry chain and was the last among the four key materials to achieve localisation. Its core technologies and production were long controlled by Japanese, South Korean, European, and US enterprises, making the separator a critical bottleneck in the development of China's lithium battery industry.

From "dependence" to "comeback," China's lithium battery separator industry is advancing towards high-end, clustered, and international development. This significant transformation is driven by the relentless technological innovation and breakthroughs of Chinese enterprises, aligning with the theme of "Technological Sovereignty + Open Ecosystem" at this year's CIBF 2025. The exhibition attracted nearly 3,200 enterprises from both domestic and overseas markets, with a cumulative attendance exceeding 400,000. Numerous enterprises across China's battery industry chain showcased their leading technological prowess and R&D achievements, actively promoting exchanges and cooperation with global counterparts.

Breakthrough Moment: The "Micron War" of Overcoming Constraints

As a critical component of lithium batteries, the separator's performance directly impacts core indicators such as battery energy density, cycle life, and safety.

Historically, lithium battery separator technology was predominantly led by countries such as Japan, South Korea, Europe, and the US. Since Sony launched the first commercial lithium battery in 1991, sparking a revolution in consumer electronics batteries, lithium battery separator technology remained under strict technological embargo for nearly two decades. Prior to 2010, over 90% of separator products in the global market were dominated by Japan, the US, and South Korea.

It was not until 2010, with the explosive growth of the power battery industry, that China's lithium battery industry rapidly emerged, officially marking the beginning of China's lithium battery separator technology's comeback journey.

Today, China's lithium battery separator production continues to grow. According to the "White Paper on the Development of China's Lithium-Ion Battery Separator Industry (2025)" jointly released by EVTank, EV Economics Research Institute, and China Battery Industry Research Institute, in 2024, China's lithium battery separator shipments reached 22.75 billion m², accounting for 79.4% of the global market share, demonstrating significant competitive advantages in the global market. Mention must be made of Enjie Group, which holds the largest market share in the global lithium battery separator industry. As a leading enterprise in the global lithium battery separator sector, Enjie Group has achieved technological leaps from dry-process/wet-process separators to semi-solid products, and further to fully solid-state products, injecting strong momentum into the development of China's lithium battery industry.

From a technological perspective, separator technology is mainly divided into dry-process and wet-process methods. Compared to dry-process separators, wet-process separators present higher technological barriers and are more challenging to breakthrough, which has long been a significant hurdle for China's separator industry. However, Semcorp had already identified wet-process technology as a breakthrough direction as early as 2010, investing substantial R&D resources to tackle key challenges, aiming to break the current "bottleneck" status of separator technology and enable lithium ions to move freely through our own separators.

Currently, Semcorp's wet-process separator products have maintained the top global market share for several consecutive years and have achieved a series of technological R&D outcomes. As of the end of 2024, Semcorp holds 482 valid patents in the field of lithium battery separators, including 38 international patents, accumulating a significant leading edge.

At the CIBF 2025 conference, Semcorp proposed new perspectives on the current focus of separator innovation, which primarily centers on coating technology, processes, and materials. The company believes that the base film is the foundation of separators and that separator innovation should return to base film innovation, providing the "Semcorp Solution" for technological innovation in the industry. Simultaneously, Semcorp launched two new base film products: the high-safety base film X series and the high-wettability base film I series. These products aim to enhance the overall performance of lithium battery separators from the perspective of base film modification, contributing to the continuous consolidation of Semcorp's leading position in China's lithium battery separator industry.

Global Restructuring: The World Map of China's Separator Corps

Currently, the country is actively promoting new quality productive forces enterprises to expand into international markets, deeply participating in the restructuring of the global value chain through the export of technology, products, and services. Meanwhile, with the explosive growth of the global NEV and ESS markets, there is ample room in overseas markets, and the demand for high-performance lithium battery separators has surged. "Technology going global" and "capacity going global" are becoming proactive choices for more lithium battery separator enterprises.

Among them, Semcorp, as an industry leader, continues to advance its internationalization strategy. On one hand, it enhances supply chain resilience and cost advantages; on the other hand, it leverages localized services to meet the diverse needs of customers. As of now, Phase I of Semcorp's Hungarian project has commenced production, and the company has forged collaborations with multiple European and US battery producers, becoming a crucial strategic bridgehead for business operations in Europe. In 2022, Semcorp announced its US project, aiming to meet the demand of North American customers for stable and timely supply of its lithium battery separator products. Last year, Semcorp made another overseas investment move, establishing a lithium battery separator project in Malaysia to further refine its capacity layout in Asia.

Currently, Semcorp has integrated into the supply chain systems of the vast majority of the world's mainstream lithium battery producers, including overseas lithium battery manufacturing giants such as Panasonic, LGES, French ACC, Ultium Cells, a major overseas automaker, as well as over 50 domestic and overseas lithium battery enterprises such as CATL, EVE, CALB, BYD, Gotion High-tech, Farasis, and Lishen, becoming an indispensable and important player in the global new energy industry chain.

Meanwhile, against the backdrop of global industry chain restructuring and accelerated technological iteration, industrial competition is shifting from single-product contests to ecosystem confrontations.

Semcorp's product line covers the entire technical route of lithium battery materials, from traditional wet-process separators and dry-process separators to cutting-edge aluminum-plastic films, as well as future-oriented semi-solid-state/all-solid-state products. Through this comprehensive and diverse product matrix, Semcorp further accelerates the construction of an industrial ecosystem centered on customer needs and extended by bidirectional collaboration.

The Silent Battle of Solid-State: The Sovereignty Struggle for Next-Generation Technology

Solid-state batteries are hailed as the "next-generation battery technology," becoming the future high ground of the new energy industry. Over the past three years, China has accelerated its layout in the field of solid-state batteries, ranking second globally in the number of patent applications, and continuously narrowing the gap with Japan, showing an accelerated catch-up trend. Data shows that as of May 16, 2025, the number of patent applications in the global solid-state battery field has exceeded 46,000, with nearly 30% coming from China, second only to Japan's 37%.

Against this backdrop, the government has gradually increased policy guidance for solid-state battery technology from the perspectives of technological breakthroughs and industry chain collaboration, forming a policy model of "central direction + local pilot projects." Currently, solid-state batteries have been included in the "New Industry Standardization Navigation Project Implementation Plan (2023-2035)," becoming one of the six key areas alongside intelligent manufacturing and industrial internet.

In March 2025, China's MIIT and seven other departments jointly released the "High-Quality Development Action Plan for the New-Type Energy Storage Manufacturing Industry," listing solid-state batteries as a core research direction and clearly proposing the goal of creating 3-5 global leading enterprises by 2027. This indicates that the new energy industry is expected to undergo a disruptive transformation led by solid-state batteries.

Driven by strong national and local policies, China's solid-state battery technological achievements continue to emerge, forming three major technical routes dominated by sulfide, oxide, and polymer. Among them, sulfide electrolytes have advantages such as high ionic conductivity and good interface performance, making them the optimal technical route at this stage.

At this year's CIBF 2025, Semcorp held the "2025 All-Solid-State Sulfide New Product Launch," releasing core materials such as ultra-pure lithium sulfide, ultra-fine sulfide solid electrolytes, and high-conductivity sulfide solid electrolyte membranes, providing strong support for the industrialization of solid-state batteries.

Moreover, at the beginning of this year, Semcorp's Shanghai Semcorp signed a "Procurement Framework Agreement" with Beijing WELION New Energy. According to the agreement, Beijing WELION New Energy will allocate 80% of its material procurement share to Shanghai Semcorp and its affiliated companies for the procurement of electrolyte separators for semi-solid-state batteries and electrolytes and electrolyte membranes for all-solid-state batteries. This powerful alliance not only represents the complementary strengths of both parties in the field of solid-state batteries, but will also drive technological innovation and accelerate transformation in China's solid-state battery sector.

Against the backdrop of the rapid rise of China's new energy industry, the globalization journey of Enjie shares showcases the new posture of Chinese enterprises in the global technological competition. Through continuous technological innovation and market expansion, Enjie shares has not only solidified its leading position in the global lithium battery separator sector, but also provided crucial support for the stability and efficiency of the global new energy industry chain. As the global new energy market continues to expand, Enjie shares will continue to prioritize technological innovation as its core driving force, embrace globalization opportunities with an open and inclusive attitude, continuously lead the industry's development, and contribute even greater strength to the global new energy cause.