CATL reports profit jump
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) (300750.SZ) reported a net profit of 43.3 billion yuan for the first half of 2026, a 42% increase year over year, according to its earnings released Friday. Revenue grew 54.8% to 276.9 billion yuan. In the first half, CATL’s existing production capacity stood at 525 gigawatt-hours with a utilization rate of 94.9%, while an additional 764 gigawatt-hours of capacity is under construction.
CATL proposes record share buyback
CATL also plans to repurchase up to 40 billion yuan ($5.9 billion) of its Shenzhen-listed shares, marking the largest single buyback in the history of the Chinese mainland’s stock market. The battery giant plans to use its own funds or self-raised funds for the repurchases at a price of up to 573 yuan a share, according to a filing. Prior to this, the A-share record was a 15 billion yuan buyback by Gree Electric Appliances Inc. of Zhuhai in 2021.
China imposes export controls on 14 European entities
China’s Ministry of Commerce has added 14 European Union entities to its export-control list, citing national security and other interests. The entities added to the list include German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall AG, French drone maker Cavok UAS, Polish semiconductor company Vigo Photonics S.A. and Italian electric motor maker Lafert SpA. The move, announced Friday, is in retaliation for Brussels’ earlier measure to sanction 14 Chinese firms over their alleged support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Japan prepares for large-scale deep-sea rare-earth mining
Japan announced the results of its deep-sea rare-earth trial mining, paving the way for large-scale extraction tests slated for February 2027. The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology said Friday that it extracted about 50 tons of seabed mud from its exclusive economic zone near Minamitorishima island in January. Medium and heavy rare-earth elements, such as yttrium, gadolinium and dysprosium, accounted for about 54% of the total rare earths collected. The initiative is Japan’s first attempt to develop domestic rare-earth production, primarily aimed at reducing its reliance on China.
Li Auto to start production in Kazakhstan
Li Auto Inc. will begin producing vehicles in Kazakhstan under a strategic partnership with Allur, the country’s leading automotive group. The collaboration, announced by the Chinese electric-vehicle maker on Friday, marks Li Auto’s first overseas manufacturing project. The vehicles will be assembled at Allur’s Kostanay plant. The planned production capacity was not disclosed.
PCG Global raises pre-series A funding
Singapore-based clean-energy company PCG Global has completed a pre-Series A financing round led by GenZero, a Temasek-owned decarbonization investment platform. The funding, PCG Global’s first external capital raise, will support its expansion across Southeast Asia, Oceania and the Middle East. Founded by the team behind Chinese distributed-energy operator PCG Power, the company draws on more than 2 gigawatts of project experience and has about 1.8 GW of renewable-energy projects under development across solar, energy storage and smart energy management.
China launches national green electricty certificate price index
China’s National Energy Administration on Friday officially launched a national green electricity certificate price index. The system, the first of its kind in China, aims to enhance market transparency and improve the pricing mechanism for green certificates through unified and continuous price signals. It will also provide a reference for corporate green power consumption, renewable energy investment and the integration of the electricity, certificate and carbon markets.
State Grid investment rises
State Grid Corp. of China completed over 310 billion yuan in fixed-asset investment in the first half of 2026, up 12.6% year over year. As of the end of June, the installed capacity of grid-connected wind and solar power in State Grid’s operating area reached 1.55 billion kilowatts.
Industry ministry inspects GAC Aion, XPeng
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology conducted on-site inspections of GAC Aion and XPeng Inc. on Friday to assess their product safety. The inspections focused on evaluating the companies’ intelligent connected vehicle safety, design and development capabilities as well as production consistency, with sample vehicles and batteries randomly selected for testing to determine their compliance with national standards.
Ex-nuclear energy leader expelled from Communist Party
Gu Jun, former deputy chief of the Communist Party group and general manager of China National Nuclear Corp., has been expelled from the Communist Party over severe disciplinary and legal violations, China’s top anti-graft watchdog announced Saturday. Gu was found to have engaged in superstitious activities, traded power for sex and accepted massive bribes by abusing his power in project contracting, equipment procurement and fund allocation.
Contact editor Kelsey Cheng (kelseycheng@caixin.com)
