Chinese battery makers consolidated an unprecedented lead in 2025, claiming more than 70% of global electric-vehicle (EV) battery installations and an even larger share of the fast-growing energy-storage market. SNE Research’s latest tally shows global EV battery installations reached 1,187 GWh last year, a 31.7% increase on 2024, and Chinese companies accounted for six of the top ten suppliers by installed capacity.
CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited) remained the world’s dominant supplier for the ninth consecutive year, delivering 464.7 GWh and taking a 39.2% market share. Its customer list spans Chinese champions such as ZEEKR and Li Auto as well as overseas automakers including Tesla, BMW and Volkswagen; CATL’s overseas share in the first 11 months of the year was 29.2%, comfortably ahead of second-placed LG Energy Solution.
BYD was the clear runner-up with 194.8 GWh and a 16.4% global share, although most of its cells are consumed inside its vertically integrated car business rather than sold externally. BYD’s competitive pricing and broad model range are driving rapid export growth: SNE estimates its battery use in Europe will hit 14.9 GWh in 2025, a threefold increase on the previous year, and BYD’s overseas battery installations rose sharply in the first 11 months to 31.9 GWh.
Besides CATL and BYD, four other mainland firms—CALB (Zhongchuang New Energy), Gotion (Gotion High-Tech), EVE Energy and SVOLT—entered the global top ten for installed EV batteries in 2025. Their aggregate share pushed Chinese makers’ total to 70.4%, the first time on record the country’s annual share exceeded 70%. By contrast, Japanese and South Korean firms ceded ground: Panasonic was the only Japanese firm in the top ten with a 3.7% share, while LG, SK On and Samsung SDI together saw their combined share fall as they wrestled with weaker demand in Europe and North America.
The storage-battery business tells a similar story. Global shipments for stationary energy storage rose 79% to 550 GWh in 2025, and seven Chinese firms occupy seven of the top ten positions, together accounting for 83.3% of shipments. CATL again led the field with 167 GWh—roughly 30% of the market—while smaller Chinese players recorded rapid percentage gains, signalling that China’s dominance is not limited to transport batteries but extends into grid-scale and behind-the-meter systems.
The scale of China’s lead matters for more than share tables. Batteries are the strategic fulcrum of the energy transition and the EV value chain, and control of cell production confers bargaining power over automakers, raw-material flows and standards. Chinese firms’ cost structure, rapid capacity expansion and product mix—especially the widespread adoption of lower-cost lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry—have eroded competitors’ margins and compelled South Korean players to pivot toward storage and LFP to try to stabilise results.
Looking ahead, the market will be shaped by a few interlocking forces: continued demand growth for EVs and storage, raw-material supply constraints, chemistry choices (LFP versus nickel-rich cells), and national industrial policy. China’s producers benefit from scale, integrated supply chains and domestic demand that remains robust; rivals in Japan, Korea, Europe and the United States face a choice between costly local capacity build-out, deeper technology specialisation, or continued dependence on Chinese suppliers, each with geopolitical and commercial trade-offs.