Since Tesla entered the Chinese electric vehicle market, related industry chain companies have continued to improve their self-research capabilities, especially in Tesla's continued pursuit of breakthroughs in the battery field, stimulating Chinese companies to continuously improve their comprehensive capabilities in the battery field.
Leading enterprise in China's lithium battery copper foil industry, listed company GDJY Electronic Materials Technology Group's main products have always been dual-optical 6μm ultra-thin lithium battery copper foil and dual-optical 7-8μm ultra-thin lithium battery copper foil. Now it has achieved 4.5μm ultra-thin copper foil. Stable mass production.
Double barriers to technology and cost
GDJY has always insisted on developing high-end lithium battery copper foil. As downstream customers continue to improve the performance indicators and cost requirements of lithium battery materials, the development of China's lithium battery copper foil industry has changed from quantity to quality, and high-performance ultra-thin lithium battery copper foil has become the mainstream development direction. From the initial 18-35μm electrolytic copper foil, the company continues to iterate to 6μm and 4.5μm high-performance ultra-thin copper foils, showing strong R&D and manufacturing capabilities.
After years of investment, GDJY has mastered the core technology of lithium battery copper foil manufacturing, including additive technology, cathode grinding technology, etc., especially through the additive technology to solve the problem of low elongation and high resistance of electrolytic copper foil.
The core technology of lithium battery copper foil brings high-standard products and high yield to the company. With stable and continuous research and development, the company improves product quality while effectively controlling costs, forming double barriers to peer companies, effectively ensuring company performance and market competitiveness.
With excellent product quality, the company has established a long-term cooperative relationship with the international power battery leader CATL (CATL), BYD, and the polymer lithium battery leader Ningde New Energy (ATL). From an industry perspective, lithium battery faucets have a strict raw material certification system and will not easily change suppliers. The company's top five customers contributed 1.3 billion yuan in revenue in 2019, accounting for 90% of the company's total revenue, of which CATL accounted for 68%.
As far as CATL is concerned, it has been cooperating with GDJY for 9 years. GDJY won the title of CATL Excellent Supplier of Lithium Battery Copper Foil in 2018, and is the only lithium battery copper foil company to receive this honor.
4.5μm product exceeded expectations
GDJY's current product line is dominated by 6μm copper foil. In 2019, China has more than 30 lithium battery copper foil manufacturers, but only a few of GDJY and GDND Copper Foil Technology Group have annual shipments of more than 10,000 tons. Lithium battery copper foil manufacturers are mainly GDJY, GDND and LBHX, and HBZY and CHKJ are also accelerating their capacity expansion.
In the future, as downstream battery manufacturers switch to 6μm, the penetration rate of 6μm products is expected to continue to increase. Head lithium battery copper foil companies are expected to continue to leverage their technological and cost advantages to expand second and third-tier battery manufacturers' customers and increase market share.
While the 6μm production capacity is stable, GDJY has also achieved a breakthrough in 4.5μm technology. Compared with 6μm copper foil, the energy density of 4.5μm copper foil batteries will increase by about 5%, and the amount of lithium copper foil required per GWh will drop by more than 10%. This happens to meet the requirements of head battery manufacturers for performance improvement and cost control, so after the release of 4.5μm capacity, it may replace 6μm.
GDJY has a great advantage in the promotion and application of 4.5μm. As the largest supplier of CATL lithium copper foil, the absolute leader in downstream, it has the advantages of rapid response to new product development and sufficient application technology reserves. It is expected to lead the high-quality customer group to achieve 4.5 Mass application of μm.
CATL has already begun to apply 4.5μm, with a penetration rate of about 3%. With reference to the CATL6μm switching progress, the CATL 4.5μm penetration rate will rise to 56% by 2023, and the market demand for 4.5μm will reach 33,000 tons.
The 4.5μm processing fee is significantly higher than 6μm. After mass promotion in the future, 4.5μm copper foil is expected to achieve stable applications, customer demand will be released quickly, 4.5μm penetration speed will exceed expectations, and high gross profit margins are expected to continue.