Die "Heirat" zwischen reichen Unternehmern aus Shanxi und Henan scheitert. Wohin führt der Weg für die "erste Wasserstoff-Energie-Aktie"?

01

On the evening of September 5th, Beijing Yihuatong Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yihuatong"), known as the "first hydrogen energy stock", issued an announcement stating that after careful research and friendly consultations, the company has decided to terminate the planning of a major asset restructuring project to acquire 100% equity of Dingzhou Xuyang Hydrogen Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xuyang Hydrogen Energy") by issuing shares and simultaneously raise supporting funds.

This not only means that Zhang Guoqiang, the founder of Yihuatong, and Yang Xuegang, the actual controller of Xuyang Group, two "billionaires", failed to join forces after half a year of efforts, but also means that the strategic plan of the "first hydrogen energy stock" to improve the layout of the entire hydrogen energy industry chain has failed.

Looking back on March 12th, Yihuatong signed a framework agreement with China Xuyang Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Xuyang Group") and planned to acquire all the equity of Xuyang Hydrogen Energy by issuing A-shares. After the news was announced, Yihuatong's stock price once hit the daily limit. The market generally expected to reduce the cost of hydrogen by integrating upstream resources and build a full-industry chain model for hydrogen energy.

As the leading enterprise in the field of hydrogen fuel cell systems in China, Yihuatong was founded by Zhang Guoqiang, who was born in Datong, Shanxi in 1980. After graduating from Shanxi University of Finance and Economics in 2003, he joined Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd. as the secretary to the general manager. Later, he jumped to Beijing Qingneng Huatong Technology Development Co., Ltd. and served as the department manager and deputy general manager.

In 2012, Zhang Guoqiang left Qingneng Huatong Technology, where he had worked for seven years, and founded Beijing Yihuatong Technology Co., Ltd. with several veterans and served as the chairman. In 2015, Zhang Guoqiang achieved mass production of hydrogen fuel cell engines by acquiring Shanghai Shenli Technology.

In 2016, Yihuatong launched its first commercial product, the YHT series of hydrogen fuel cell engines. On August 10th, 2020, the company was successfully listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, becoming the "first hydrogen energy stock" in China. Then on January 12th, 2023, Yihuatong was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first domestic hydrogen fuel cell company to achieve A+H listing.

With such a powerful listed company, Zhang Guoqiang made it onto the Hurun Rich List in 2022 with a net worth of 3.3 billion yuan and became the richest man in Datong, Shanxi.

The other party in the transaction is Xuyang Group, which has been actively deploying hydrogen energy business in recent years. Against the background of the downward trend in the energy industry in 2024, Xuyang Group was severely impacted. In 2024, the company's total revenue was 47.54 billion yuan, and the net profit was 20.13 million yuan, a sharp year-on-year decline of 97.66%.

Yang Xuegang, the actual controller of Xuyang Group, was born in February 1965 in Xingtai, Hebei. He graduated from Hebei Water Conservancy Technical School in Cangzhou, China (now Hebei University of Water Resources and Electric Engineering) in 1985. He worked in the water conservancy industry for many years, successively serving in the Dongwushi Reservoir Management Office, a public institution directly under the Handan Water Conservancy Bureau. Later, he started a business in the coke chemical industry. In the year when Zhang Guoqiang became the richest man in Datong, Yang Xuegang ranked 514th on the Hurun Rich List with a fortune of 12 billion yuan. In fact, he has been a regular on various rich lists since 2019.

Currently, Xuyang Group has two listed companies. In addition to China Xuyang Group, which was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2019, Yang Xuegang also took control of Binhai Energy, the first A-share listed company, in 2021.

Originally, for Yihuatong, the intention to acquire Xuyang Hydrogen Energy was to achieve the strategic goal of the entire hydrogen energy industry chain of "production - storage - transportation - refueling - R & D - application", control the cost of upstream hydrogen, ensure the stability of the supply chain, and enhance the overall competitiveness through business collaboration. For Xuyang Group, acquiring Yihuatong would help it expand the hydrogen energy application market and build a complete hydrogen energy industry chain.

However, despite the high expectations at the beginning of the transaction, this highly anticipated cooperation ended in "breakup" after only half a year.

02

Behind Yihuatong's termination of the merger is its continuously deteriorating business and financial situation. According to the financial report for the first half of 2025, the company's operating income was only 71.9293 million yuan, a year-on-year plunge of 53.25%; the net loss reached 163 million yuan, an increase of more than 40% year-on-year.

Since its listing in 2020, Yihuatong's performance has been in a state of loss. From 2020 to 2024, the net profits were -23 million yuan, -162 million yuan, -167 million yuan, -243 million yuan, and -456 million yuan respectively. Adding the first half of 2025, the cumulative loss has exceeded 1 billion yuan.

The direct cause of the decline in revenue and the expansion of losses is the shrinking market demand for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. In the first half of 2025, the production and sales of domestic hydrogen fuel cell vehicles declined by nearly 50% year-on-year, and the shrinking demand directly impacted the supply chain.

In addition, factors such as the slow construction of hydrogen refueling infrastructure and the high cost of vehicle purchases have severely restricted the terminal promotion of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. As a midstream system supplier, Yihuatong's business is highly dependent on the overall development of the fuel cell vehicle industry. Once the policy support weakens or the market fluctuates, its performance will be quickly affected.

In addition, Yihuatong's long - term high dependence on government subsidies has magnified the vulnerability of its operations. From 2020 to 2022, Yihuatong received government subsidies of 44.1127 million yuan, 16.2085 million yuan, and 15.5114 million yuan respectively. This financial support was once a key support for its operations. However, with the decline of subsidy policies and the intensification of industry competition, the hidden danger of Yihuatong's insufficient hematopoietic ability has gradually emerged. In 2024, with a significant reduction in policy subsidies, Yihuatong's revenue declined by 54.21% year-on-year, and the loss expanded sharply to 456 million yuan.

It is worth mentioning that the loss of technology R & D and talent reserves is another major challenge Yihuatong is facing. On September 5th, Yihuatong also announced that Yang Shaojun, a core technical personnel, had left the company for personal reasons. Information shows that Yang Shaojun joined Yihuatong in July 2016 and served as the manager of the process department and the person in charge of production testing. He also served as the chief engineer of Shanghai Hongli Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and a senior engineer of Intel Semiconductor (Dalian) Co., Ltd.

In addition, according to the financial statements, the number of R & D personnel within Yihuatong has decreased significantly in recent years. Since 2024, the size of Yihuatong's R & D team has decreased sharply from 346 to 156, and further decreased to 128 in the first half of 2025, a cumulative decrease of more than 60%.

The current hydrogen fuel cell technology is still in a stage of rapid iteration. Especially in key technologies such as stack efficiency, system durability, and low - temperature startup, continuous breakthroughs are needed. However, Yihuatong is facing the dual pressures of a tight capital chain and talent loss, and its technological advantages are facing severe challenges.

Although the company claims that "the relevant technology handover has been completed" and says it will strengthen talent introduction and incentive mechanisms, it remains an open question whether it can truly attract and retain high - end talents against the background of the overall downturn in the hydrogen energy industry and the company's consecutive years of losses.

Yihuatong's difficulties largely reflect the common problems in the Chinese hydrogen energy industry, especially in the field of fuel cell vehicles. Although the state has continuously introduced support policies such as demonstration city clusters and financial subsidies, the hydrogen energy industry has still not escaped the primary stage of "policy - driven".

On the one hand, the cost of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles has always remained high. Core materials such as proton exchange membranes, catalysts, and carbon paper still rely on imports, resulting in the cost of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles being much higher than that of pure electric and fuel vehicles.

On the other hand, the construction progress of hydrogen refueling stations is slow, and the price of hydrogen is relatively high, resulting in low acceptance among end - users. Data shows that as of the end of 2024, a total of about 540 hydrogen refueling stations had been built nationwide, far from forming a coverage network. The phenomena of "vehicles without stations" and "stations without hydrogen" are still common.

At the same time, the upstream production of hydrogen also faces bottlenecks. Although there has been progress in green hydrogen technology, due to the limitations of electricity prices and equipment costs, the economic viability of green hydrogen has not yet been demonstrated. Although Xuyang Hydrogen Energy has made some progress in high - purity hydrogen and liquid hydrogen business, it still needs economies of scale to further reduce costs and is difficult to solve the high - price dilemma of the hydrogen energy industry in the short term.

Yihuatong's story is a microcosm of the industrialization process of hydrogen energy in China. From the enthusiasm of the capital market to the setbacks in mergers and acquisitions, Yihuatong's development process reflects the twists and turns of emerging industries. Energy transformation is a long - term battle. Before the dual - wheel drive of policy and market is fully realized, how to balance R & D investment and commercial realization and how to build a sustainable business model are still problems that all hydrogen energy companies need to solve.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Foreseeing Energy". The author is Ke Yangming, and the editor is Yang Rui. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.