To The Moon

A dialogue transcending civilizations, science, and national borders has just concluded in Dubai. From February 1st to 5th, the 2026 World Laureates Summit (WLS) and the World Government Summit (WGS) were held there, with this year's theme being "Basic Science: Addressing the Challenges of Humanity's Future."

Seventy-one of the world's top scientists, including 39 Nobel laureates, 6 Turing Award winners, and 7 Wolf Prize winners, attended the event alongside nearly 40 heads of state, over 500 government ministers, and numerous industry leaders. This unprecedented gathering of scientists and politicians at the same forum was described by media as a "signal that should be viewed as influencing the course of human civilization."

A key focus of this year's conference was "energy." Robin Zeng, Chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd., was the sole Chinese entrepreneur participating in this year's WLS. This occasion is exceptionally rare globally – the two summits held their first-ever joint meeting, aiming to solve practical problems from scientific and technological perspectives. Participants intensely debated the most critical current issues, similar to Tesla founder Elon Musk's extensive discussion on artificial intelligence at last year's conference.

This was likely the most exciting setting for Zeng, allowing him to resonate with many top scientists. A graduate of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1989, he later earned a Ph.D. from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2006. Zeng received the US National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Batteries Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to enabling large-scale mass production of lithium battery technology. Previous recipients of this award include lithium battery technology pioneers and Nobel Prize in Chemistry winners Professor John B. Goodenough and Professor M. Stanley Whittingham.

While his primary identity is an entrepreneur, over thirty years of technical research work has instilled in him a deeply ingrained "scientist temperament," profoundly influencing the fundamental logic behind his ventures and giving Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. its unique character. At the summit, he presented a "bold" prediction – that 2030 will mark the first year of the sustainable energy era, which he referred to in his speech title as an "irreversible revolution."

"Today, we are experiencing another revolutionary energy transformation, as significant as humanity's transition from a hunter-gatherer society to an agrarian society – we are moving from an era of finding and extracting fossil fuels to a new era where we can obtain energy from wind farms and photovoltaic power plants and store it in batteries," Zeng said.

His logic is straightforward: green electricity is already cheaper than traditional energy in many contexts. Chile's Atacama region is an important source of lithium resources, but mines located in remote areas rely on diesel power generation for extraction, facing difficulties in oil transportation and high costs. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. implemented a "photovoltaic + energy storage" system there, astonishingly reducing power costs by 75%. This replicable, low-cost deployable energy system could potentially help many Global South countries and regions accelerate their industrialization processes.

With technological breakthroughs and engineering maturation, the costs of lithium iron phosphate batteries and solar power have dropped by approximately 80% over the past decade. The application scenarios for "photovoltaic + energy storage" systems are expanding immensely worldwide. "In many regions, people are adopting clean energy not only to meet climate goals but also because technological progress has made it the most commercially viable option," Zeng stated.

Zeng defined the three key characteristics of future energy systems for the first time: "distributed, intelligent, and recyclable." To accelerate the global energy transition, he also proposed a solution – establishing "Zero-Carbon Economic Zones." He candidly suggested that these "zones" could adopt proven building and equipment standards similar to those used in China. Accelerating the shift to a sustainable energy era requires promoting advanced energy technologies more efficiently and economically. "However, based on our experience, in some overseas markets, building and equipment regulations lead to prohibitively high final product costs," he noted.

"Addressing global warming superficially appears to be a climate issue, but its essence is an energy problem, and fundamentally, it is a development issue," Zeng said. He now confidently responds to this global challenge in his own way, believing that years of investment in R&D are ready to be fully unleashed to solve more practical problems.

Founded in 2011, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. has "making outstanding contributions to humanity's new energy endeavors" as a core part of its vision. Perhaps even he did not anticipate how close the company is now getting to its ultimate ideal.

Zeng has consistently benefited from technological R&D. Whether before founding Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. or during his entrepreneurial journey over the past decade, "technology" and "innovation" have long been his lens for deconstructing issues. In an interview last July, he emphasized that prioritizing testing is foundational, and "Gewu Zhizhi" (investigating things to extend knowledge) is fundamental. This ancient philosophical concept from the "Book of Rites · Great Learning" was historically used to translate Western natural sciences, particularly "physics," meaning to investigate the principles of things to acquire genuine knowledge. As a Ph.D. in physics, Zeng is naturally deeply influenced by this.

This explains many of his actions. Every major breakthrough in battery technology constitutes a "hardcore scientific endeavor" intersecting materials science, electrochemistry, and other disciplines. He firmly believes his business philosophy stems from fundamental scientific principles, where technological breakthroughs overcome bottlenecks to achieve victory.

The "Shenxing Pro" battery, based on the lithium iron phosphate chemical system, achieves fast-charging performance and high energy density comparable to ternary batteries, shattering the traditional belief that "LFP is unsuitable for fast charging." The core ternary battery product, "Kirin Battery," boasts an energy density of 255 Wh/kg, enabling the first pure electric vehicles to exceed 1000 km range. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. pioneered the world's first mass-produced sodium-ion battery, addressing lithium resource constraints with technology. Solid-state batteries aim to push the limits of energy density and safety, with small-scale production anticipated by 2027.

Throughout his entrepreneurial career, Zeng has been associated with bold, sometimes perceived as "stubborn," strategic decisions, often interpreted externally as "gambles." However, the origin of his thinking lies in scientific questions. The primary trait of the scientific spirit, in his view, is "acknowledging the unknown and respecting complexity." He sees pursuing multiple technological pathways as essentially an exploration strategy based on scientific understanding, rather than simple commercial trial and error.

In an internal speech, he once used the metaphors of "carrying poles" and "lottery tickets" to explain this strategy. "Carrying poles" represent ongoing work like lithium-ion, condensed-state, sodium-ion, perovskite, and other new lithium-based batteries – these are known areas, refining existing knowledge, with some being "old poles" and some "new poles." "Lottery tickets" refer to pre-research on potentially disruptive key technologies, advocating "buying more tickets" to prepare for the future.

"'Lottery tickets' can generate more value because we understand the technology roadmaps and business models. So, our aim isn't to buy 100 tickets and win once; we aim to buy 100 and win over 90 times," Zeng said internally. He highly encourages R&D personnel to have a strong sense of identity. "Some enjoy the 'carrying pole' work, finding成就感 (sense of achievement) seeing their products installed in best-selling cars; others prefer cutting-edge research, excited by exploring the unknown. You must be true to yourself and follow your genuine inner choice."

He cares deeply about this micro-level issue – how to infuse the "scientific spirit" into every employee's mindset. According to senior Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. executives, Zeng applies two different logics to the R&D and commercial systems. He is quite tolerant towards the former, acting like a scientist, encouraging progress even if mistakes occur, and welcoming radical and超前 (forward-thinking) technical concepts. However, he is very strict with commercial departments.

Over the past three years, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd.'s cumulative R&D expenses exceeded 52 billion yuan. As of June 30, 2025, the company held and had applied for a total of 49,000 domestic and international patents. It has established six major R&D centers in Ningde, Liyang, Shanghai, Xiamen, Hong Kong, and Munich, Germany, employing over 21,000 R&D personnel.

It is no exaggeration to say that the entire R&D system is the "moat" Zeng has built for Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd.. Last year, he stated bluntly in an interview: Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd.'s number one position is somewhat "virtual"; the real "number one" must be achieved through internal and external excellence. "It's not yet Solid enough. A 'Solid number one' means reaching a state where there's only Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. and 'the others'."

This so-called "number one" is not merely about market share in the conventional commercial sense. "We must re-study all the most important fundamental theories of electrochemistry, and then build battery engineering on that foundation," he stated during a 2023 internal discussion, proposing that technological innovation occurs at three levels. The highest level involves breakthroughs at the boundaries of scientific cognition, opening up entirely new fields of basic scientific research. The second level involves breakthroughs in engineering technology and application, i.e., inventing new products through innovative combinations and applications of technology. The third level involves improvements or enhancements to existing engineering technologies for larger-scale, wider-ranging application.

In his view, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. has only achieved "interim results." In his speech at the World Laureates Summit, he emphasized that there is still a significant gap before a fully sustainable energy system is built, with perhaps less than 30% of key technologies conquered, many disruptive technologies awaiting breakthroughs, and basic research requiring continuous dedication.

Consequently, he is extremely cautious about subtle external changes. In 2025, after visiting countries like South Korea, he observed that other companies are vigorously pursuing innovation, even focusing on many disruptive innovations. "If we repeat the model of 'scale expansion, then earn a bit more,' we might not be able to maintain the competitive advantage of China's lithium battery industry in the next 15 years, nor shoulder the responsibility of energy transition," he warned.

Especially in recent years, with severe internal competition within the domestic industry, fewer companies have maintained their R&D focus. The lowest quoted price for lithium iron phosphate cells fell by 65.79% from January 2023 to August 2025. Many second-tier battery companies are struggling to survive, often accepting orders even at minimal profit margins just to cover cash costs.

During this phase, Zeng, who previously kept a low public profile, has appeared frequently in the public eye. In public speeches, he habitually approaches technical topics from underlying industry issues like climate change trends and battery standardization processes, rather than focusing solely on production/sales scale or capital growth. As a leading company, it inherently has a duty to lead the industry, but Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. clearly does more and delves deeper, transcending the typical iterative path of a commercial organization.

In March 2024, Zeng also emphasized the significance of "open innovation" at a conference in Hong Kong. He has long contemplated how to optimize the combination of internal and external innovation capabilities to achieve efficient allocation of societal innovation resources.

He believes the power battery industry has entered a new stage transitioning from "availability" to "quality." The entire industrial layout needs optimization, and the structure must become more rational to break through the "ceiling" of power battery technology. This is no longer a matter for Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. alone.

Underpinning the scientific spirit, Zeng possesses a strong engineering mindset. Strictly speaking, lithium batteries have become immensely complex in this current wave, extending beyond pure science into increasingly numerous real-world problems and scenarios, where engineering challenges are even more intricate. At the recent WLS and WGS, Zeng specifically highlighted this point – science can propel the arrival of the sustainable energy era, but engineering determines the speed of its realization.

In Zeng's analysis, the battery industry belongs to the energy sector, needing to break free from traditional perceptions associated with the transportation industry and bear the responsibility for society's overall energy transition. It is a technology sector, a technology-intensive industry where making lithium batteries is easy, but making excellent ones is difficult, with severe homogenization and insufficient disruptive innovation. It is also a manufacturing industry where major technological iterations occur within 5 years, sometimes as fast as 3 years, requiring production line depreciation schedules to align with these cycles; once technology updates, old production lines lose market competitiveness.

Given this context, how does one build an innovation system? In terms of outcomes, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. has established four major innovation systems: materials and material systems, system structure, green extreme manufacturing, and business models. It integrates safety, quality, and cost throughout full-process management, independently developing efficient R&D platforms like high-throughput material integrated computing, intelligent cell design, and intelligent process design. It also uses massive, multi-scenario customer and end-user需求 (demand/needs) to feed back into R&D design, targetedly enhancing product performance and optimizing product solutions, forming a positive virtuous cycle.

Compared to external challenges, he is more concerned about internal issues stemming from "big company disease," including innovation stagnation. Since 2017, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. has been the world's number one power battery company by installed capacity, currently holding nearly a 40% market share. Internally, however, he repeatedly sets "world's best" as the goal, constantly "shaking things up" through organizational adjustments, such as establishing an STO (Special Technical Officer) system where technical experts take responsibility for being "the world's best" in their respective fields.

This is not just a slogan confined to the laboratory, as even the most cutting-edge technologies aim for real-world application. Reflecting on over thirty years of technical work, he believes the most critical aspect of R&D strategy is technological strategic choice, including which technology path to take and when to enter. This not only determines a company's success or failure but can also impact an entire industry's outcome.

The competition between ternary and lithium iron phosphate battery technology routes is a prime example. This was the battle where Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. secured its victory, but it also represents a classic case of a "counter-market" decision. In 2016, the dominant power battery in the market was the cheaper, safer, but lower energy density LFP battery, primarily used for short-range buses, China's earliest electrified transport. Although Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. already had a high market share in this segment, Zeng believed that electric vehicles, especially passenger cars, required long range to gain widespread adoption, necessitating high-energy-density ternary materials. Confident that ternary material safety could be significantly improved technically, he decided to heavily invest in R&D and switch tracks. By 2019, ternary lithium batteries accounted for 65% of the power battery installation market share.

However, after achieving decisive market victory with ternary lithium and cementing its position as the standard for "premium cars," Zeng did not rest on his laurels. He simultaneously advanced LFP R&D, aiming to solve its shortcomings in range and low-temperature performance through technological breakthroughs. As he put it, "Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. is determined to 'provide the world's most advanced batteries,' and this advancement must be accessible to every consumer."

Today, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd.'s Shenxing battery can charge from 20% to 80% in 24 minutes in the extreme cold of -20°C in Heihe, Heilongjiang. The Shenxing PLUS became the world's first LFP battery to combine 1000 km range with 4C ultra-fast charging characteristics, surpassing ordinary ternary lithium batteries in the industry. In 2025, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. ranked first in China's market share for both LFP and ternary battery technology routes.

Since Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. introduced the "Zero-Carbon Technology" concept in 2023, Zeng has been operating at a higher level to understand the industry and the company's business model. This now extends beyond battery manufacturing into broader fields like circular economy, large-scale energy storage, and energy system solutions.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. is building integrated wind-solar-storage zero-carbon industrial parks in places like Yibin (Sichuan), Hainan, Fujian, and Shandong, even constructing the world's first 100% green electricity-directly-connected zero-carbon park in Dongying, Shandong. It is leading the formulation of national standards for power battery recycling, achieving recovery rates of 99.6% for nickel, cobalt, and manganese, and increasing lithium recovery from 91% to 96.5%, both reaching the highest global levels. In 2025, it launched the "Global Energy Circulation Plan (GECC)," collaborating with partners in Europe and North America to build a circular economy network, aiming for a global battery material recycling rate exceeding 95% by 2030, creating a "production-use-recycling-regeneration" closed-loop ecosystem.

From zero-carbon mining practices to the proposal of "Zero-Carbon Economic Zones," Zeng is offering not just specific solutions but a larger vision behind them. "The ultimate mission of the new energy industry is to achieve a zero-carbon energy system." In his conception, this is not a simple product replacement but a more grand systems engineering project – treating energy electrochemical technology as the infrastructure for a sustainable future.

This is an extremely complex process, yet crucially important. Taking the "Zero-Carbon Economic Zone" concept as an example, the European market has an urgent need for stable, low-carbon local battery supply chains. However, hindered by繁琐 (cumbersome) approval processes and层层叠加 (layered) regulations, the construction of local battery factories is difficult. Notably, Northvolt, once hailed as the "European battery hope," raised over $15 billion but ultimately failed to achieve mass production scalability, declaring bankruptcy in 2025.

Bernstein statistics show that the average capital expenditure for European battery factories is nearly $100 million/GWh, significantly higher than about $93 million/GWh in the US and roughly double that in China. Against this backdrop, the "Zero-Carbon Economic Zone" proposal directly addresses pain points for many countries.

Currently, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. continues to innovate in its external cooperation models. For instance, it employs an LRS (License, Royalty, Service) model with US clients, allowing good technology to flow globally and helping OEMs and even battery manufacturers quickly establish battery factories.

Zeng's ultimate goal for development is to achieve "technology democratization." "The purpose of technological innovation is never to widen the world's disparities; its purpose must be popularization, it must be about technology democratization."

"China's lithium battery industry has developed to become world-leading; it's time to think about how to promote high-quality development. We must achieve a version 2.0 of being world-leading, to earn the respect of the entire world." These words, spoken to the industry at a forum three months ago, seem more like a goal he has set for himself – Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,Ltd. is already a large company, but there is still some distance to go before it becomes "great."