The ascent of Robin Zeng, the battery king and billionaire from China

EV battery pioneer Robin Zeng is competing with Li Ka-shing to be the richest person in Hong Kong

He exemplifies a new type of tycoon that is thriving in China under Xi.

Robin Zeng can claim a turning point, regardless of what else occurs this year. In May, he made the risky decision to proceed with CATL's secondary listing in Hong Kong. The Financial Times claims that it was transformative. A leader in electric vehicle (EV) battery technology, the company's stock soared, increasing its market value to about £166 billion in the largest initial public offering (IPO) of the year.

The Hang Seng index is now up 30% for the year after the float helped the broader market recover from its post-Liberation Day slump. Leading the confidence rally amidst fresh hope for a trade deal between the two superpowers is China's battery king, who is now a Hong Kong resident and is competing with business tycoon Li Ka-shing for the title of richest person in Hong Kong, with an estimated net worth of £40 billion.

The Wall Street Journal claims he doesn't seem to care. With its batteries installed in one out of every three EVs worldwide last year, Zeng may have turned CATL into a global powerhouse, but he also exemplifies a new type of tycoon that is thriving in Xi Jinping's China: modest, charitable, and willing to repeat official state rhetoric. He said, "I don't want to be the rich guy," the night before the float. In order to build a decent society, I wish to distribute these riches.

Emerging during a time of upheaval for tech executives, Zeng, 57, has learned to keep his head down and use his expertise "and the states willingness to throw money at the renewable energy and EV industries." He aligns with Xis's vision for China, which states that "humility is the sentiment of the day and ostentatious displays of wealth are not tolerated." The "lifelong learning and continuous moral improvement" philosophy of the early Chinese sage Confucius serves as an inspiration for him.

How Robin Zeng earned his fortune.

He was born Zeng Yuqun in 1968 and was raised in poverty in a mountain village close to Ningde, which is now the home of CATL, in the southeast province of Fujian. Zeng was accepted into the esteemed Shanghai Jiaotong University because she was "a strong student with big ambitions." After only three months, he left his first position at a state-owned company in Fujian to work for an electronics manufacturer in Dongguan while part-time pursuing a PhD in physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He launched Amperex Technology (ATL), a lithium-ion battery manufacturing company, in 1999. Apple was a pioneering client. The Wall Street Journal claims that Zeng made his first fortune in 2005 when he sold ATL to TDK of Japan for £100 million. Nevertheless, he "stuck around" and established a car-battery division. As a foreign company, TDK was prohibited from the Chinese market; therefore, Zeng founded CATL in 2011.

"The timing was perfect" Beijing had started giving EVs priority and was providing substantial subsidies. Similar to ATL, Zeng built the company's reputation through a deal with BMW, a prestigious Western brand. The announcement by Beijing in 2015 that international automakers would only be eligible for subsidies if they used batteries from authorized Chinese suppliers, such as CATL, was a significant boost. Revenues increased to £9 billion from £1.02 billion in just one year.

According to the ft\., Zeng views himself as much more than a battery manufacturer. He wants CATL to be "the pioneer" of the larger zero-carbon economy. Reducing the energy expenses of vertical farming is of special interest to him; he told Bloomberg that "if you solve agriculture, then you've solved everything." Yet politics continues to control CATL. CATL refuted the US's January addition of the company to a blacklist of businesses allegedly connected to the Chinese military. That threat may have diminished, but it still exists. Additionally, according to Hong Kong businessman Desmond Shum, author of Red Roulette, entrepreneurs like Zeng are at Xi's mercy. "You will be killed first if you don't comprehend this.