Robin Zeng, founder and CEO of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), is shifting the company toward sodium-ion technology. Zeng has been compared to Nvidia’s Jensen Huang for building CATL into the world’s leading battery supplier.
CATL currently commands over one-third of the global EV battery market. The company supplies major automotive manufacturers including Tesla and BMW.
At events in Europe and the World Economic Forum in Dalian in late June 2026, CATL announced a major push into sodium-ion batteries. The company launched a new energy storage system to support this transition.
Zeng plans to scale production to take advantage of sodium’s abundance. This strategy aims to reduce exposure to volatile lithium prices. CATL is investing heavily to increase manufacturing capacity for the new battery cells.