(Yicai Global) Dec. 15 -- Contemporary Amperex Technology’s shares ended 5.3 percent higher after the Chinese battery giant said it had signed deals to supply Huawei Technologies’ smart car project and Chery Automobile, a major private Chinese carmaker.

CATL’s stock price [SHE: 300750] closed at CNY423.80 (USD60.85) today, bringing its market capitalization to CNY990.2 billion (USD142.2 billion). The benchmark Shenzhen Component Index rose 0.3 percent.

CATL will be the first preferred partner for Huawei’s smart car project and provide market-competitive and high-quality power batteries for its vehicles to reach the market quicker, the Ningde-based firm said via its WeChat account late yesterday.

CATL will supply Chery with batteries for passenger cars, electric buses, delivery vehicles, heavy trucks, and ships, with the two also agreeing to cooperate on technologies and explore battery swap new energy vehicle models and battery swap services, CATL said in a separate statement yesterday.

Shenzhen-based Huawei became keen on developing and manufacturing smart connected vehicles in recent years. It has joined hands with carmakers mainly based on two approaches.

One is Huawei Inside, in which carmakers incorporate Huawei’s autonomous driving technology into their vehicles. The other is Adding Intelligence to Auto, or AITO, which involves Huawei much more in a vehicle’s development process, including design, the supply of key parts, and uses the telecom giant’s sales network.

Wuhu-based Chery is already a Huawei AITO partner, with their first co-developed model, which is powered by a CATL battery, expected to go on sale next year.

CATL and Huawei will continue to increase investment in developing and applying smart networked electric vehicle technologies and jointly bring a more advanced smart travel experience to users, CATL said.

Editor: Martin Kadiev