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CATL shares plunged after the company reported slower-than-expected profit growth, as China’s battery champion reckoned with intensifying domestic competition and EV price wars. Its stock has nearly halved since May, as investors fret over expiring tax carve-outs and a trend dubbed “de-CATLization,” whereby former customers like Xiaomi and Li Auto source batteries from cheaper alternatives and plan to develop them in-house. Beyond domestic challenges, CATL is also scrambling to build more plants in Europe to avoid running afoul of increasing EU protectionism. The “China decoupling story” is “only accelerating,” a UBS analyst said: “Full China battery and electrical equipment supply chain dependence is no more palatable than full Saudi Arabia or Middle East oil dependence was… 30 years ago.”
document fetched 2026-10-23 22:19 · canonical https://semafor.com/article/10/21/2026/batterymaker-catl-tumbles-on-earnings-miss-competition-fears