China Leads Global All-solid-state Battery Race Amid Intensifying Industrial Competition
All-solid-state batteries have emerged as a pivotal strategic sector for the global future energy industry, standing at a critical window for large-scale industrialisation. Global research, development and industrialisation of next-generation solid-state battery technology have entered an intensely competitive phase, featured by parallel technical routes, accelerated patent layouts, and intertwined cross-border cooperation and regional rivalry.
China has secured a position in the global first tier in all-solid-state battery development with comprehensive strengths in scientific research output, technological innovation, industrial advancement and application expansion. In terms of academic research, the country’s annual research papers on all-solid-state batteries surged from 21 in 2015 to 562 in 2023, ranking first worldwide. Leading Chinese research institutions have overcome worldwide challenges in solid-solid interface contact, paving a core path for the technology’s transformation from laboratory research to mass production.
China has also grown into a major global source of all-solid-state battery technologies. According to global patent statistics, Japan accounts for 37 percent of worldwide solid-state battery patent applications, while China takes up 30 percent. China has surpassed Japan to become the world’s largest patent layout market with a 35 percent global share, and leads the world in electrolyte technology patent filings, occupying 39 percent of the global total.
The country’s industrialisation progress keeps pace with global advanced levels. The industry is currently transitioning from pilot testing to small-batch manufacturing, with small-scale mass production expected in 2027 and full commercialisation projected by 2030. Leading Chinese battery enterprises maintain equivalent standards with international peers in technological maturity, pilot line construction and product yield. Beyond the dominant electric vehicle sector, all-solid-state batteries are expanding to diverse scenarios including electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, humanoid robots, consumer electronics and energy storage, leveraging their advantages of high energy density, enhanced safety and prolonged cycle life.
Despite its leading progress, China’s all-solid-state battery industry faces systematic challenges amid escalating global competition. Major economies including the United States, Japan, South Korea and European countries are scaling up policy support, capital investment and strategic planning to seize technological dominance in the next-generation battery sector. Global traditional automakers, battery giants and specialised tech startups are actively deploying in the track, forming a diversified competitive landscape that brings potential overtaking risks to domestic development.
Technical uncertainties remain a key constraint. Three mainstream technical routes, namely sulfide, oxide and polymer systems, are evolving simultaneously with no universally optimal solution finalised. Critical bottlenecks involving battery failure mechanisms, lithium dendrite growth and ion transportation require further breakthroughs. In terms of industrial players, Japanese and South Korean enterprises dominate the top-tier global patent institutions, while Chinese firms face insufficient in-depth technological accumulation and potential intellectual property barriers in global market expansion.
The existing industrial system also poses transformation inertia. China has built a complete industrial chain for liquid and semi-solid batteries, and the shift to all-solid-state technology will reshape the whole industrial and innovation ecosystem. The absence of unified domestic standards for safety testing, lifespan evaluation and market access may undermine the industry’s global discourse power. In contrast with the integrated government-industry-academia alliances in Japan, South Korea and the United States, domestic innovative resources remain scattered with insufficient collaborative synergy.
To bolster high-quality industrial growth, China will optimise top-level strategic layout and implement coordinated policies covering taxation, standard formulation, platform construction and international cooperation. The country will advance systematic planning for core technology research and industrial supporting systems, adopt targeted fiscal and taxation tools to cultivate emerging markets, and drive technological iteration through new application scenarios. Continuous efforts will be made to improve global patent and standard layouts, build national public innovation platforms, foster industrial innovation consortia, and support flexible industrial transformation. Domestic enterprises will also conduct orderly international cooperation to build stable global industrial and supply chains.
