Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) has revealed plans to invest 5 billion yuan to install 40 GWh of annual sodium-ion battery production capacity at its Fuding Shidai subsidiary in Fujian province. According to an environmental filing submitted to authorities in Ningde, the project will be constructed over 24 months and will operate as a standalone facility, separate from CATL’s existing operations.

The new site will feature production lines for battery cells, electrodes, modules and capacity-testing, along with supporting infrastructure. CATL aims to equip the plant with state-of-the-art manufacturing technology to build a large-scale sodium-ion power battery line. Once completed, the sixth-phase expansion at the Fuding Shidai base will bring the facility’s total planned output to 149 GWh.

The capacity expansion follows a record 60 GWh energy storage order signed with HyperStrong on April 27. In a statement, CATL said the three-year supply agreement is the largest sodium-ion battery order to date and marks the start of a new era of large-scale industry growth.

Over the past several years, CATL has made heavy investments in sodium-ion research and development, with cumulative spending expected to approach 10 billion yuan by the end of 2025. The company launched its Naxtra sodium-ion brand in April 2025 as a cost-effective alternative to lithium-ion chemistry. Sodium-ion cells deliver strong performance in extreme cold and offer simplified system architectures and competitive costs for long-duration energy storage applications.

CATL founder and chairman Robin Zeng has indicated that the company is actively working on sixth-generation sodium-ion products suitable for a wide range of use cases. He projects that, over the long term, low-cost sodium-ion batteries could capture between 30% and 40% of the existing battery market.

By scaling up production in Fujian, CATL intends to strengthen its global leadership in the emerging sodium-ion sector and meet growing demand from both electric vehicles and energy storage markets.