At the 14th Energy Storage International Summit and Exhibition (ESIE2026) held at the Beijing National Convention Center in April 2026, the atmosphere was a mix of excitement and anxiety. The booming token economy has transformed energy storage for AI data centers (AIDC) from a simple backup power requirement into a deep integration of computing power and electricity. Observations indicate that large-scale energy storage system solutions for power generation and grid applications, which previously dominated the exhibition, have now taken a backseat. Nearly all leading energy storage companies have reserved the most prominent exhibition spaces and their latest technology launches for one key theme: energy storage solutions for artificial intelligence data centers (AIDC).
Players across the industry spectrum, from lithium battery leader CATL to second-tier firms like Penghui Energy and NARADA Power; from solar-storage integrators such as Trina Solar and
In essence, this unprecedented focus on AIDC energy storage, while superficially a collective bet by Chinese energy storage firms on an emerging market, reflects the industry's deep-seated anxiety and concerted effort to break through amid intensifying competition in a saturated "red ocean" market.
**Intensifying Competition in Power Energy Storage** "If 2025 was the first year of price wars in the energy storage industry, then 2026 marks the beginning of the elimination round," admitted a senior executive from a listed energy storage company during the exhibition. "The gross margin for traditional energy storage projects has now fallen to single digits." This is not an exaggeration. Over the past two years, China's energy storage industry experienced explosive growth but also severe shocks. The average market price for energy storage battery cells plummeted from 0.8 yuan/Wh in early 2023 to around 0.26 yuan/Wh by mid-2025. Although prices have recently recovered slightly, with some companies quoting 0.35 to 0.4 yuan/Wh to secure orders, rising raw material costs have prevented any significant improvement in industry-wide gross margins. Financial reports from several listed energy storage companies in the fourth quarter of 2025 showed profits plummeting due to fierce competition.
With competition in the domestic power generation and grid-side energy storage markets already white-hot, especially for mid-tier companies, price wars are intensifying, project payment cycles are lengthening, and corporate cash flow pressures are immense. "The traditional energy storage market has become a 'red ocean'," the aforementioned executive stated. "Everyone is searching for the next growth driver, and AIDC energy storage is currently the most visible and tangible high-growth, high-margin market."
**The Sweet Allure of AIDC** The explosion of the token economy has reshaped the commercial value of AIDC energy storage, elevating it from a supporting facility to a strategic asset in the era of computing power. With the rapid iteration and commercial application of large language models, global AI computing power demand is growing exponentially. Industry forecasts suggest that by 2030, power consumption from global AI data centers will account for over 10% of total global electricity use, with growth in the Chinese market being even more staggering, expected to see a compound annual growth rate exceeding 40% from 2026 to 2030.
Globally, requirements for the proportion of green electricity used in data centers are also increasing. China has mandated that by 2030, newly built large data centers must source over 80% of their electricity from green sources, while requirements in developed regions like Europe and North America are even stricter. Energy storage, as the critical link connecting green power and data centers, has become essential infrastructure for achieving these goals.
Zhang Jianhui, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Hyperstrong, proposed that computing centers are becoming a highly promising, high-value scenario for the energy storage industry, and "computing-power coordination" will be a major growth driver for storage applications over the next five years. "Future AI data centers cannot operate stably, let alone meet green electricity requirements, without energy storage," echoed a负责人 from a company that launched AIDC-related energy storage products.
Massive market demand coupled with relatively high gross margins has made AIDC energy storage a coveted opportunity in the eyes of the industry. This market's explosive growth has opened a new door for struggling energy storage companies. For example, in 2025, Shuangdeng Group's AIDC data center energy storage business experienced explosive growth, with revenue surging 113.1% year-on-year, surpassing its communications energy storage business for the first time and providing a new growth engine for the company.
**The "Triple Challenge" Behind the Anxiety** However, energy storage companies rushing into the AIDC space are quickly discovering that this seemingly "blue ocean" market is fraught with hidden obstacles.
First are the technical challenges. The requirements for energy storage systems in AIDC are far more demanding than those for power-side scenarios. Previously, new energy storage only needed to meet basic charge/discharge requirements. In contrast, the power consumption characteristics of AI data centers are completely different from those of traditional data centers or UPS backup power. AI training tasks are characterized by "high power, high fluctuation, and high pulse." The power consumption of a single GPU server is 5-10 times that of a traditional server, load fluctuations can exceed 180%, and instantaneous pulse currents are multiples of traditional loads. This places unprecedented demands on the stability, reliability, and response speed of the power supply.
Industry insiders explain that AIDC energy storage is not a single solution but is divided into three core scenarios, each with completely different technical requirements for the storage system. Specifically: * *Outside the Fence*: The core requirements are largely consistent with power energy storage paired with wind/solar, focusing on optimal cost, ensuring green power consumption, and stable power supply. * *Inside the Fence*: Energy storage on the medium-voltage side typically requires pairing with SST (Solid-State Transformers) and energy storage systems capable of high-rate charging/discharging, while also serving UPS backup and load smoothing functions. Sodium-ion batteries show clear advantages in this scenario. * *At the Rack/Chip Level*: To handle chip-level instantaneous fluctuations, ultra-high frequency storage (primarily supercapacitors) with ratings of tens of C is needed to smooth load impacts within milliseconds.
"Many companies think they can simply rebrand their power energy storage systems and sell them to AIDC customers. This is completely wrong," pointed out a technical expert.
Second, the market is intensely competitive from the outset, with major players keenly eyeing the opportunity. It was noted that industry leader CATL has targeted this new market, launching new battery products. During the exhibition, CATL displayed its sodium-ion battery for energy storage, claiming a cycle life exceeding 15,000 cycles. Its related energy storage products are designed to cover large-scale storage applications from 2 to 8 hours, as well as AIDC scenarios, with the goal of achieving commercial deployment within the year.
However, in the field of AIDC energy storage, the current situation is one of many products but few applications. An experienced enterprise负责人 in the IDC backup power field revealed that the AIDC customer base is highly concentrated, primarily consisting of internet giants, telecommunications operators, and large cloud service providers. These customers have extremely stringent requirements for suppliers' technical capabilities, project experience, financial strength, and service capacity. Furthermore, once a partnership is established, the cost of switching suppliers is high, resulting in strong customer loyalty. "The supplier lists for top-tier customers are very closed. It's very difficult for new entrants to break in. Right now, many companies have launched AIDC products but haven't actually secured any orders; they are just 'staking a claim'," the source admitted.
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