China’s CATL, the world’s biggest electric battery maker, starts trading in Hong Kong this week, after a $4.6 billion IPO, the biggest so far this year. CATL has about 38% of the global market, and supplies Chinese automakers, as well as Tesla, Volkswagen, Ford Motor Co, and others, making it critical to the global electric vehicle supply chain. 

CATL makes both lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in EVs, and lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, a cheaper, more environment-friendly alternative that is fast gaining popularity. About one in three electric cars is powered by a CATL battery, with Tesla as its biggest client.

The secondary listing in Hong Kong, which will allow the company to tap global investors and raise foreign capital outside of China’s capital control regime, comes amid tensions between the U.S. and China. CATL has said that most of the IPO funds will be spent on factory construction in Europe. 

Here are five facts about CATL.

The Founder

CATL, or Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., was founded by Robin Zeng in Ningde, a farming village in Fujian province. Zeng, who holds a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics, first set up a battery company named Amperex Technology Ltd, or ATL. It became a supplier to Apple in 2003 for its newly launched iPod, and quickly added other clients such as Samsung and Oppo. Zeng sold the company in 2005 as competition intensified. He set up CATL in 2011, transforming Ningde from “a backwater town to a battery powerhouse,” wrote Kevin Xu, an investor and founder of the Interconnected newsletter. 

U.S. Scrutiny

CATL was blacklisted by the U.S. Defense Department earlier this year for alleged links to the Chinese military — a claim CATL has repeatedly denied. The U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party also asked Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase to withdraw from the IPO, but the two banks stayed in the deal. CATL is largely shielded from U.S. tariffs, as it does not have much exposure to the country. CATL has no plan to manufacture in the U.S., but is licensing its technology to a planned Ford battery plant in Michigan. Its involvement in the project has been opposed by some U.S. lawmakers.

European Ambition

CATL is expanding operations in Europe, where it has factories in Germany and Hungary as it localizes production to avoid import tariffs, and expands into more overseas markets. BMW was among its first clients, signing up just a year after its founding.

Supply Chain Strategy

CATL has secured its supply chain by investing in mines worldwide, including in Congo for copper and cobalt, and in Sichuan and Australia for lithium. This helps shield the company from potential price shocks and supply bottlenecks. 

Battery Tech

Competition between CATL and BYD, the world’s biggest EV maker, is ramping up as they innovate to address the two main challenges for EV users, range anxiety and charging time. CATL said last month its latest battery can deliver 320 miles of range on just five minutes of charge. BYD’s newest battery, unveiled earlier this year, can deliver 250 miles of range on a five-minute charge. BYD’s batteries mostly go into its own models.

“Once again, we are pushing the boundaries of performance beyond limits,” said Gao Huan, CATL’s chief technology officer. “Our goal is to make the CATL Shenxing supercharging battery the standard for electric vehicles.”