(Yicai) Sept. 13 -- Guizhou, known for its karst landscape and ethnic diversity, is gaining a new reputation as China's "electric province" as its key mineral resources and business-friendly policies entice major investments from domestic electric vehicle and battery giants.

The EV battery supply chain is fast becoming the mountainous province’s new calling card, transforming Guizhou's economic landscape and positioning it as a key player in China's EV supply chain. Major investors include Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world's biggest maker of EV batteries, top-selling electric carmaker BYD, and producer of anode materials for lithium batteries Zhongke Shinzoom Technology.

“We're working at full capacity to meet monthly orders for lithium battery anode materials," Peng Jiguang, the manager of Zhongke Shinzoom's plant in Gui'an New Area, told Yicai. The factory supplies CATL's Guizhou and other nearby bases, has an annual capacity of 65,000 tons, and its production value surged 400 percent in the first half of this year from a year earlier, Peng noted.

Gui'an New Area, situated to the southwest of the provincial capital of Guiyang, has become a hub for leading EV and battery firms, according to a local official. The plant belonging to Ningde-based CATL, which went live last October, brought in first-half revenue of CNY618 million (USD84.7 million), with the full-year figure expected to reach CNY2 billion (USD281.4 million), he said.

BYD's 10-gigawatt-hours power battery project and the 100,000-ton anode material facility of Zhongke Shinzoom's parent firm are also located in Gui'an New Area, the official noted.

These flagship projects have attracted many supporting firms, including manufacturers of battery materials, separators, copper foil, and structural components, creating significant growth potential for Guizhou's battery and materials sector, the official pointed out.

An official from Guizhou's department for industry and information technology focused on the industry's resilience amid fierce competition, noting that "despite downward pressure on raw material prices, the sector's production value continues to increase.”

The province has implemented various supportive policies, since “this is a critical period for Guizhou's battery and materials industry development,” the person said.

The industrial output value of Guizhou's battery and materials industry was CNY69.5 billion (USD9.8 billion) in 2022, accounting for 7.7 percent of the province’s industrial gross domestic product. It aims to boost that to CNY500 billion (USD70.3 billion) by 2027 and achieve high-end, intelligent, green, and integrated development by 2035.

Guizhou has eight types of mineral resources crucial for battery production, including phosphorus, manganese, and aluminum, Yicai found. It ships the most ternary precursor worldwide, with a 26 percent share, and with a domestic market share of over 80 percent, it dominates in high-purity manganese sulfate and mercury-free corrosion inhibitors for batteries.

In addition, Guizhou Phosphate Chemical Group has the biggest wet-process purified phosphoric acid production capacity and anhydrous hydrogen fluoride extraction globally, providing a solid resource foundation for the province's expanding battery and materials sector.

Editor: Martin Kadiev