Is Zhong Shanshan, the founder of Nongfu Spring, going to venture into the solid-state battery business?

Investment can sometimes be quite magical because it connects "A" and "B", which are completely unrelated in the public's perception, leaving us in shock.

Just like the recent news that Zhong Shanshan, the founder of Nongfu Spring, is reported to be venturing into the solid-state battery technology field.

Zhong Shanshan Enters the Solid-State Battery Race

According to media reports, this month, there was a new record of investor change at "Zhibang Lithium New Materials Co., Ltd." in Zhejiang.

The three newly emerged parties are Quzhou Zhiyuan Enterprise Management Partnership (Limited Partnership), Chengdu Xianfeng No. 5 Venture Capital Partnership (Limited Partnership), and Kunshan Gezhi First-phase Venture Capital Partnership (Limited Partnership).

Let's not mention the first two for now.

The investor of the last one, Kunshan Gezhi First-phase Venture Capital Partnership (Limited Partnership), is "Yangshengtang Co., Ltd.". And the actual controller behind Yangshengtang is a well - known name - Zhong Shanshan, the former richest man in China and the founder of Nongfu Spring.

With Zhong Shanshan's appearance, another question has started to surface.

As a company that most people have never heard of, what on earth is Zhibang Lithium? It managed to attract Zhong Shanshan to indirectly invest nearly 500 million yuan for about a 10% stake.

Although the company's official account has stopped updating for half a year, by going through media reports, we have pieced together the real picture of Zhibang Lithium.

In March 2024, Zhibang Lithium was officially established.

This company, headquartered in Quzhou, Zhejiang, focuses on the supply of "core materials for solid-state batteries". And the Quzhou state - owned assets hold about 15% of Zhibang Lithium, making it the second - largest shareholder after the founding team.

In the past, they have simultaneously explored three technical routes: oxides, polymers, and sulfides. Regarding the business prospects and partners, in March 2026, the official media in Quzhou revealed that Zhibang Lithium's project with an annual production capacity of 11,000 tons of solid-state battery electrolytes is about to be put into production, and it will supply key materials to car manufacturers such as Geely and BYD.

The Classic "Zhong - style Investment Style"

"Solid-state batteries have become the core development direction of the new - generation energy storage technology due to their outstanding advantages of high energy density, high safety, and fast - charging potential."

There are actually many hidden clues in this official statement of Zhibang Lithium.

As of 2026, although the new - energy vehicle market is a well - known blue - ocean market, the entry space for new players is much more limited than we thought. Moreover, as the competition is intensifying, industry giants like CATL and BYD have already divided up the "cell manufacturing" upstream process.

There are business prospects, but the industry environment is becoming stable, and the effect of industry giants is becoming prominent.

At this time, if one wants to start a business or innovate, one of the most labor - saving approaches is to review the processes and find an undetermined position in the entire supply chain to focus on.

So Zhibang Lithium has bet on "solid - state electrolytes". On the one hand, it is the core material for cell production. On the other hand, there is still a wide space for technological exploration in this field, leaving sufficient room for development.

It is precisely this point that has caught Zhong Shanshan's attention.

Looking back at the investment path of this former richest man in China, from Jinbo Biology to Rongda Photosensitive, and then to the raw material bases in Yunnan and Xinjiang and Zhibang Lithium. We will find that although the investment matrix of Zhong Shanshan and Yangshengtang spans multiple fields such as biotechnology, electronic chemicals, agricultural products, and solid - state batteries.

But "avoiding the downstream market and focusing on upstream supply or technological barriers" has always been the unchanging investment strategy.

In other words.

Zhong Shanshan knows where the trends are and which concepts have commercial potential. But rather than competing head - on with the rising stars and experienced players, he prefers to be the one who makes money by "selling shovels". After all, regardless of how much money is made, at least it is "stable".

Will Zhong Shanshan's Bet This Time Be Successful?

In terms of data, Zhong Shanshan once topped the Forbes 2025 list of the richest people in the Chinese mainland with a fortune of $77.1 billion. When talking about the secret of his wealth accumulation, he once publicly said: "For a small enterprise to grow and expand, the types of business it operates must be unique."

Just as the advantage of Nongfu Spring lies in its special production model of "building factories and filling products at the water source"; Wantai Biotech (with Zhong Shanshan as the actual controller) applied for the listing of the first "domestic nine - valent HPV vaccine"; Rongda Photosensitive has overcome the "color display photoresist technology" and has achieved mass supply, etc.

Let's get back to the solid - state battery and the investment in Zhibang Lithium.

If the fact that it is in line with the trend of the times provides it with certain innate potential; and the Quzhou state - owned assets' shareholding provides it with certain advantages in industrial implementation and coordination.

Then the choice of the niche "electrolyte formula" technology supports the technological uniqueness or industry uniqueness of this enterprise.

Compared with liquid lithium - ion batteries, solid - state batteries have theoretical advantages in concepts such as energy density and cycle life. It is precisely the performance differences brought about by this technical route difference that in the first quarter of 2025 alone, the investment scale of solid - state and semi - solid - state battery projects in China reached about 18.8 billion yuan.

"The real bottleneck for solid - state batteries lies in the upstream electrolyte materials. Whoever can break through the mass production and cost reduction of materials first and reduce the cost of million - level materials to hundred - thousand - level will occupy a key position in the next round of industrial competition and cooperation." In the report, Wang Peng, an associate researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, introduced.

From the news that Zhibang Lithium is about to supply materials to Geely and BYD, it is not difficult to see that the relevant technology is in the critical transition period from laboratory results to large - scale products. At this time, Zhong Shanshan's entry not only avoids the pain point of "heavy - asset investment" in cell manufacturing but also further enriches the "growth matrix" of his business empire.

References:

IT Home: Zhong Shanshan Enters the Solid - State Battery Race, Yangshengtang Strategically Invests 500 Million Yuan in Zhibang Lithium

Beijing News Official Account: Zhong Shanshan Enters a New Race

21st Century Business Herald, Sina Finance: China's Richest Man Spends 500 Million Yuan on Another Cross - border Investment

This article is from the WeChat official account "Internet Matters", author: Internet Matters. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.