Solid state battery "China's first production": component localization accelerates breakthrough

Recently, the first high-capacity all solid state battery production line in China, built by GAC Group, was officially completed and began small-scale testing and production. This breakthrough marks a new stage in the industrial application of solid state batteries, which were once regarded as a "laboratory concept". For the electronic components industry, this technological innovation not only heralds the iteration of batteries themselves, but also triggers a deep transformation of the entire industry chain from materials, equipment to upstream and downstream applications, bringing a new round of development opportunities to the industry.

Compared with traditional lithium-ion batteries, the core advantage of all solid state batteries is that they have no liquid inside and are entirely composed of solid materials. This fundamental change stems from two key technological innovations: in the negative electrode manufacturing process, the new dry process integrates the traditional independent processes of raw slurry treatment, coating operation, and rolling forming into an integrated process, significantly reducing production energy consumption and greatly improving manufacturing efficiency; In terms of electrolytes, the production line completely abandons traditional liquid electrolytes and adopts independently developed solid electrolyte materials. Their heat resistance can reach over 300-400 degrees Celsius, far exceeding the limit of liquid electrolytes at over 100 degrees Celsius, thereby fundamentally improving the safety performance of batteries.

From the perspective of the electronic components industry, the construction of solid-state battery production lines will first drive a surge in market demand for solid-state electrolyte materials. As the core material of all solid state batteries, the performance of solid-state electrolytes directly determines the energy density and safety of the battery. Domestic enterprises have achieved breakthroughs in independent research and development, successfully replacing traditional liquid electrolytes. With the production and mass production of production lines, the demand for solid electrolytes will rapidly increase, and related material research and production enterprises are expected to benefit from the market expansion brought about by industrial scale. In the upstream of the industrial chain, solid-state batteries have higher requirements for electrode materials, copper foil and other raw materials, such as high-capacity electrode materials and ultra-thin copper foil. Some enterprises have already achieved bulk supply of key raw materials for solid-state batteries. With the release of production line capacity, upstream raw material enterprises will face a market space where both quantity and price are rising, and the synergistic effect of the industrial chain is gradually emerging.

The field of battery manufacturing equipment is also facing new industrial opportunities. Due to significant differences in production processes between all solid state batteries and traditional liquid state batteries, new technologies such as negative electrode dry process technology are driving a comprehensive upgrade of production equipment, and existing wet process equipment is facing the need for renovation or replacement. Equipment manufacturers' technical reserves and production capacity layout in specialized equipment fields such as dry electrode preparation and solid electrolyte coating will usher in an expansion of market demand, and the industry has broad growth potential. Lianying Laser and other equipment companies have keenly captured this trend, and their products have covered laser welding, laser cleaning, and coating equipment. The orders for semi-solid battery equipment have reached hundreds of millions of yuan, and all solid state battery equipment has also received orders since last year. The world's only leading intelligent device that can provide solid-state battery full range equipment, its solid-state device revenue surged 210% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, with rapid growth potential. This fully demonstrates that the construction of solid-state battery production lines is injecting strong momentum into the field of electronic device manufacturing.

Despite its broad prospects, the industrialization of all solid state batteries still faces many challenges. In a recent speech, Wan Gang, Chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology, bluntly stated that although all solid state batteries have entered the construction stage of the 100MW pilot line, industrialization is still stuck in three major hurdles: in terms of material innovation, sulfide electrolytes are prone to react with air, oxide interface impedance is high, and polymer energy density is low. Currently, there is no "all-around player"; In terms of technological breakthroughs, the yield rate of key processes such as the uniformity of dry electrode coating and the density of solid electrolyte film formation is less than 30%; The cost dilemma is that the current cost of solid-state batteries is 3-5 times that of liquid batteries, and it needs to be reduced through large-scale production and supply chain restructuring. These challenges have precisely pointed out the direction for technological innovation in the electronic components industry, and there is still a lot of research and development space waiting to be overcome in areas such as material formulation, process control, and cost optimization.

With the clarification of the industrialization schedule - small-scale loading tests will be launched in 2026, and mass production will gradually be achieved between 2027 and 2030. The commercialization process of solid-state batteries is irreversible. From the perspective of application scenarios, solid-state batteries will first land in high-end new energy vehicles, eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles), energy storage, and consumer electronics, especially in the eVTOL field, which requires extremely high battery energy density and safety. Solid state batteries are expected to achieve large-scale production in this field. For the electronic components industry, this trillion dollar track is accelerating, and leading enterprises that have laid out their core technology in advance have taken the lead. A wave of industrial transformation triggered by solid-state batteries is sweeping in.