ChemChina International Holdings (ChemChina International), a subsidiary of China National Chemical Corporation, recently announced that its subsidiary “Ningxia Lithium Battery” has filed for bankruptcy due to insolvency. This marks the second lithium battery company under ChemChina International to declare bankruptcy this year.
In a statement released on October 14th, ChemChina International stated that its subsidiary Ningxia Chemill Lithium Material Co., Ltd. (Ningxia Lithium Battery) has been operating at a continuous loss and is unable to settle its debts, leading to insolvency. To prevent further deterioration of its financial condition and avoid liquidation, the board of directors agreed for Ningxia Lithium Battery to apply for bankruptcy reorganization with the court. The announcement authorized the management to organize and implement the bankruptcy reorganization within the legal framework.
As of June 30, 2025, Ningxia Lithium Battery had total assets of 243.9357 million yuan and total liabilities of 288.3264 million yuan. In the first half of 2025, the company recorded revenue of 88.1365 million yuan with a net loss of 21.5812 million yuan.
Ningxia Lithium Battery was established in October 2018 with a registered capital of 500 million yuan, mainly engaged in the production and research of lithium cathode materials. ChemChina International holds a 94% stake in the company.
In recent years, Ningxia Lithium Battery has been consistently operating at a loss. According to a report by “Jiemian News” on October 15th, in 2024, the company had an operating income of 155 million yuan and a net loss of 525 million yuan. From January to June 2025, the operating income was 88.1365 million yuan with a net loss of 21.5812 million yuan. By the end of 2024, the company had total assets of 278 million yuan and total liabilities of 301 million yuan. By mid-2025, the assets were at 244 million yuan, and liabilities at 288 million yuan.
“Cub Swanson News” pointed out that based on the financial data of Ningxia Lithium Battery, the company’s assets are insufficient to repay all debts, meeting the legal conditions for applying for bankruptcy reorganization under the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law.
The bankruptcy of Ningxia Lithium Battery has put ChemChina International’s nearly 1 billion yuan funding at risk. The company also mentioned in the announcement that its long-term equity investment and claims in Ningxia Lithium Battery are unlikely to be fully recovered, which is expected to have a certain impact on the company’s current profits and losses.
This is the second lithium battery company that ChemChina International has announced bankruptcy for this year. In April, the company’s subsidiary Junsun New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. entered bankruptcy proceedings, and in August, ChemChina International completed the transfer of equity of Junsun New Energy. Junsun New Energy specializes in soft pack power batteries, covering LFP and NCM technologies.
According to “The Paper” on October 17th, ChemChina International completed the acquisition of Junsun New Energy in October 2018, officially entering the lithium battery field. The company had plans to build a new energy ecosystem focusing on cathode materials, lithium batteries, and battery recycling to become a “supplier of new energy vehicle energy management solutions.” In 2019, ChemChina International expanded its business layout by planning to invest 10 billion yuan to build a ternary lithium battery production capacity base in Yangzhou with a total capacity of up to 20GWh. However, by the end of 2024, the annual production capacity for ternary lithium batteries was only 2.2GWh, with a capacity utilization rate of 2.32%.
“The Paper” noted that the bankruptcies of ChemChina International’s two major lithium battery companies indicate the failure of their lithium battery layout, ending the chemical company’s 7-year lithium dream.
ChemChina International is a state-owned listed company supervised by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council of China. It is the core listed company of China National Chemical Group and was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2000.
However, since 2023, ChemChina International has been in a state of continuous losses, accumulating nearly 5.57 billion yuan in losses. From 2023 to the first half of 2025, the company achieved revenues of 54.272 billion yuan, 52.925 billion yuan, and 24.353 billion yuan respectively, with year-on-year declines of 37.94%, 2.48%, and 5.83%. The net losses were 18.48 billion yuan, 28.37 billion yuan, and 8.86 billion yuan respectively, with year-on-year decreases of 240.99%, 53.52%, and 7291.9%.
As of the A-share closing on October 17th, ChemChina International was priced at 4.1 yuan per share, with a total market value of 14.713 billion yuan.