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A massive industrial fund worth nearly 5 billion yuan emerged in mid-September. According to listed company disclosures, industrial capital from Zijin Mining Group Company Limited (601899.SH), Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (300750.SZ), Range Intelligent Computing Technology Group Company Limited (300442.SZ), and Lens Technology Co.,Ltd. (300433.SZ) jointly participated in establishing the Xiamen Times Shenyuan Venture Capital Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership), hereinafter referred to as the "Times Shenyuan Fund," with total subscribed capital reaching 4.9 billion yuan. Among them, Zijin Mining and Range Intelligent each subscribed 1 billion yuan, entities within the CATL system subscribed 500 million yuan, and Lens Technology subscribed 200 million yuan, bringing the four industrial leaders' combined contribution to 2.7 billion yuan.
What is noteworthy is that these funds are not directed toward traditional industrial capacity expansion, but instead target artificial intelligence, embodied intelligence, industrial applications, and frontier technologies. For the fund, the industrial resources behind it are not lacking: Zijin Mining has mines and industrial scenarios, CATL has battery and manufacturing capabilities, Range Intelligent possesses intelligent computing infrastructure, and Lens Technology has precision manufacturing capabilities. Theoretically, this combination of "resources plus energy plus computing power plus manufacturing" can provide AI and robotics companies with industrial resources spanning from research and development to scenario validation.
But the other side is equally realistic. Currently, AI and embodied intelligence remain in a stage of rapid technological iteration and continuous business model validation, with valuations of leading projects, investment competition, and industrialization costs all rising. For these listed companies originally positioned across different industry chains, how to truly convert their respective resources into orders, technological synergies, and investment returns for portfolio companies may be more worthy of market observation than the "4.9 billion yuan" figure itself.
A 4.9 Billion Yuan Fund Takes Shape, with the Industrial Ecosystem as the Biggest Highlight
As an industrial fund with approximately 5 billion yuan in assets under management, the Times Shenyuan Fund has attracted market attention due to the industrial span of its contributors. According to the partnership agreement, the Times Shenyuan Fund does not merely engage in traditional equity investment but can participate in projects through direct investment, SPV investment in unlisted company equity, convertible equity-debt investment, bridge investment, and other methods. Its investment direction is concentrated in artificial intelligence, embodied intelligence, technology applications, and frontier technologies.
From the perspective of the industry chain, the four listed companies that are major contributors to the Times Shenyuan Fund each have their own strengths. Among them, Zijin Mining's advantage lies in the resource end and industrial scenarios. The company's net profit attributable to shareholders for the first half of 2026 was 39.170 billion yuan, up 68.17% year-on-year, with net cash flow from operating activities of 55.472 billion yuan, up 92.41% year-on-year. At the same time, Zijin Mining is increasing investment in mine electrification, intelligentization, and unmanned operations. In the first half of this year, nearly 400 new electric mining trucks were added, and the proportion of electric mining trucks used in domestic open-pit mines has exceeded 50%.
CATL, according to its company announcement, possesses a complete industry chain from materials and battery cells to systems. In the first half of 2026, the company achieved revenue of 276.917 billion yuan, up 54.80% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 43.284 billion yuan, up 41.98% year-on-year. As of the end of the period, CATL held and had applied for more than 60,000 domestic and international patents, and its global market share of power battery usage from January to May 2026 reached 40.2%.
Range Intelligent's advantage lies in computing infrastructure. In the first half of 2026, the company achieved revenue of 3.746 billion yuan, up 50.05% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.203 billion yuan, up 36.43% year-on-year, with net cash flow from operating activities of 2.958 billion yuan, up 30.78% year-on-year.
Lens Technology's position in the industry chain is closer to the hardware end. Its 2026 semi-annual report shows that the company is focusing on AI edge devices, AI computing power, embodied intelligence, and other businesses, with research and development investment reaching 1.49 billion yuan in the first half. However, during the same period, the company's revenue declined 12.42% year-on-year, net profit attributable to shareholders declined 49.52% year-on-year, and net cash flow from operating activities declined 53.5%. Currently, the consumer electronics business still accounts for a significant proportion of Lens Technology's revenue composition.
The grouping of these companies undoubtedly forms a combination of "resources plus power plus computing power plus manufacturing," which is one of the main reasons the fund has attracted market attention. Especially for embodied intelligence, which requires the coordinated cooperation of algorithms, hardware, computing power, and industrial scenarios, what industrial capital can provide is not just funding.
However, it must be noted that the establishment of the fund itself does not mean that the aforementioned capabilities have already formed a mature commercial closed loop. Whether investments can be converted into orders, technological cooperation, or exit returns from invested projects still depends on specific projects.
Giants Band Together, Each Contribution Is Not Simply "Idle Money"
If we further break down the four major contributors, we find that their participation in establishing the fund each has practical motivations, but they are not entirely the same.
For Zijin Mining, the fund is most directly connected to its digital and intelligent transformation. The company explicitly stated in its announcement that it hopes to rely on the research capabilities and project resources of professional investment institutions to track frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and embodied intelligence, with a focus on application opportunities in resource exploration, intelligent mines, smelting processes, safety production, and operational decision-making. This would improve the development efficiency of its mines to address geopolitical, environmental, and other risks that have emerged in recent years. In other words, Zijin Mining is not trying to switch its main business to robotics but hopes to reduce the cost of "starting research from scratch" through external investment. Mine intelligentization involves a large number of segmented scenarios, but technological routes change rapidly, and tracking projects through the fund is also a more flexible way to build technological reserves.
CATL's logic leans more toward expanding industrial boundaries. The company stated in its announcement that participating in the fund is mainly to combine the advantages of professional investment institutions, expand its layout in artificial intelligence, embodied intelligence, industrial applications, and scientific innovation, while seeking business cooperation and development opportunities. This is somewhat consistent with CATL's approach in recent years of continuously expanding business boundaries in energy storage, battery materials, recycling, and other areas to maintain high growth. In the first half of 2026, CATL's power battery system revenue was 192.125 billion yuan, up 46.02% year-on-year, and energy storage battery system revenue was 53.261 billion yuan, up 87.54% year-on-year. As the original business scale grows larger, advance layout in new technologies and applications is itself a common way for industrial leaders to build long-term technological reserves.
Range Intelligent's situation is even more interesting. The AIDC business is an important growth direction in recent years, and the company has upgraded from traditional IDC to AIDC. Participating in the Times Shenyuan Fund can be seen as a way to establish more contact with the AI application layer beyond computing infrastructure. However, the direct goal stated in Range Intelligent's announcement remains "broadening investment channels, enhancing sustainable development capability and overall value," and it did not explicitly describe the fund as a direct extension of its main business.
Lens Technology's investment is strongly related to its emerging business layout. The company has already included embodied intelligence, AI glasses, and other areas as key development directions and continues to increase research and development investment. However, based on first-half 2026 data, the company's new businesses are still in the investment and cultivation stage, and fluctuations in the traditional consumer electronics business will still have a significant impact on overall corporate performance. Therefore, for the four listed companies, this fund is more like a tool for "low-cost trial and error plus early positioning" rather than a project that will immediately contribute profits.
It is worth noting that the contribution amount does not equal decision-making power over the fund. According to the agreement, the fund is operated and managed for external investment by Xiamen Puquan, and the investment decision committee consists of 4 members, with decisions in principle requiring the consent of more than three-quarters of the members; Mindong Times, under CATL, also does not have veto power over the fund's proposed investment targets. This means that although Zijin Mining and Range Intelligent each subscribed 1 billion yuan and are both the largest limited partners, the final project selection still depends on the fund management mechanism and the capabilities of the investment team.
The Track Is Hot, but Making Money Is Not Easy
From the market environment perspective, the investment direction chosen by the Times Shenyuan Fund is indeed in a stage of rapid industrial development. Data from the State Taxation Administration shows that from January to May 2026, sales revenue of enterprises in China's embodied intelligence industry increased 22.4% year-on-year. Among them, sales revenue of robot body and complete machine manufacturing, AI algorithm and software integration, and system integration and industry application enterprises increased 30.1%, 24.5%, and 27.9% respectively, but core component manufacturing grew only 6.8%, indicating that growth across different segments is not entirely synchronized.
Industrial robots also have considerable market prospects. Data from the International Federation of Robotics shows that global industrial robot installations in 2024 were 542,000 units, of which China installed 295,000 units, accounting for 54% of the global total, and China's industrial robot stock has exceeded 2 million units. At the policy level, artificial intelligence, intelligent robots, and embodied intelligence have also become key emerging and future industries for development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently explicitly proposed promoting deep integration of artificial intelligence and manufacturing and developing products such as intelligent mining machinery, agricultural machinery, and intelligent medical devices.
However, market growth does not mean projects have entered a mature stage. For embodied intelligence to truly move toward industrialization, what needs to be solved is not only model capability but also issues such as sensors, actuators, reducers, batteries, control systems, as well as real-scenario data and long-term reliability. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's previously issued "Guiding Opinions on the Innovative Development of Humanoid Robots" listed core component supply, scenario applications, and industry chain coordination as key tasks and proposed accelerating large-scale industrial development by 2027.
For the Times Shenyuan Fund, the difficulty may lie precisely in the word "synergy." The four contributors possess resources, manufacturing, computing power, and scenarios, but the scale, product cycles, and procurement logic of different industries are not the same. Robotics startups may still be in the product validation stage, while the supply chains of large manufacturing enterprises are usually already highly mature. Funds can be put in place quickly, but technology validation, product certification, production adaptation, and customer onboarding often take longer.
In addition, the fund itself must face the issue of investment returns. The agreement stipulates a term of 7 years, with an extension period of up to 2 years; at the same time, fund investments are characterized by long cycles and low liquidity, which means there is inherently significant uncertainty from project investment to final exit. Moreover, in the current primary market, which is mainly led by government guidance funds, internet companies, and industrial giants, and with leading companies such as Unitree Robotics and AgiBot already capitalized or preparing for capitalization, whether the Times Shenyuan Fund can secure investment allocations and grasp project leadership to bring in industrial resources is also unknown.
More importantly, the demands of the four industrial capitals are not entirely consistent. Zijin Mining focuses more on mines and industrial scenarios, CATL focuses on power and manufacturing, Range Intelligent is closer to computing infrastructure, and Lens Technology leans toward hardware and terminals. Whether the fund can ultimately form a unified project screening logic and avoid "each looking at its own" is also worth observing.
For investors, what is truly worth watching about the Times Shenyuan Fund is not just which companies the 4.9 billion yuan ultimately flows into, but more importantly whether these investments can in turn enter the contributors' real business systems. Only when orders, scenarios, technology, and capital circulation can be formed will the fund's industrial synergy value gradually emerge; if it ultimately remains at the level of financial investment, then the "industrial ecosystem" is still more of a combination on paper.
Against the backdrop of AI and embodied intelligence still being in an industrial expansion period, the Times Shenyuan Fund has already taken a step forward in capital deployment. Next, what the market needs to wait for is whether it can truly convert the resources in the hands of several industrial leaders into project screening capability, industrial empowerment capability, and investment returns.
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