(Yicai Global) Dec. 30 -- Contemporary Amperex Technology’s shares surged after the world’s biggest maker of power batteries for electric vehicles announced plans to invest as much as CNY39 billion (USD6 billion) in new production capacity.

CATL [SHE: 300750] closed 10.4 percent higher today at CNY340 (USD52) after earlier touching a record high CNY347.94. At more than CNY800 billion (USD122 billion), the firm’s market capitalization now puts it among the top 10 companies listed in the Chinese mainland.

The shares of other lithium battery firms also advanced, lifting the sector by an average 7 percent, to help push stock benchmarks in Shenzhen to their highest levels in five years.

CATL plans to build three new lithium-ion battery plants, it said in a statement yesterday. The company will invest up to CNY12 billion in one in Liyang in eastern Jiangsu province; up to CNY12 billion in another in Yibin in southwestern Sichuan province; and as much as CNY17 billion on the third at its home base in Ningde in southeastern Fujian province.

The firm’s net profit fell 3.1 percent to CNY3.4 billion (USD514.3 million) in the first three quarters from a year earlier on a 4 percent dip in revenue to CNY31.5 billion (USD4.8 billion), its latest earnings report showed.

Its global installed capacity for power batteries was 19.2 gigawatt hours in the January to September period to rank it first in the sector, with a 23 percent market share, according to statistics from Korean market research institute SNE Research.

Editor: Ben Armour, Xiao Yi