Mit einem Schätzwert von über zehn Milliarden Yuan hat Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) ein Unicornunternehmen hervorgebracht.

01 Valued at Over 10 Billion Yuan

Recently, CATL (Shanghai) Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Times Intelligent") announced the completion of its first round of external financing, with a total financing amount exceeding 2 billion yuan. It is understood that this round of financing was led by Boyu Capital, Guotai Junan, etc., and jointly participated by BAIC Industrial Investment, Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation, Futeng Capital, etc., bringing together market-oriented institutions, industrial capital, and state-owned capital.

Times Intelligent said that this round of financing will be mainly used for the mass production of the Rock Chassis models and the R & D of the next-generation Rock Chassis technology. According to a report by the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, after the completion of this financing, the valuation of Times Intelligent exceeded 10 billion yuan.

Public information shows that Times Intelligent was established in 2021 and is a holding company under CATL, which holds approximately 70.6% of the shares. The current core product of Times Intelligent is a CIIC integrated intelligent chassis called the "Rock Chassis", which integrates core chassis components such as the battery, electric drive, thermal management, chassis domain controller, braking system, steering system, and suspension system.

The Rock Chassis is what the industry often refers to as the "skateboard chassis". As the name suggests, this chassis can be separated from the upper body like a skateboard, similar to building blocks. Using skateboard chassis technology, automobile manufacturers can develop the frame and chassis separately. It may be easier to understand by referring to a toy four - wheel drive car, where the car shell and the chassis are separated.

According to the official introduction, this product reserves various expandable software and hardware architectures and standardized interfaces. If an automobile manufacturer uses the Rock Chassis, it only needs to develop and adapt the body, and it supports the simultaneous development of multiple models, greatly shortening the new car development cycle. The mass production time of a whole vehicle can be shortened from the traditional 36 months to 12 - 18 months.

In simple terms, the Rock Chassis lowers the threshold and cost of car - making, allowing automobile manufacturers to build cars just by changing the shell. Therefore, some industry insiders joked that the Rock Chassis is like the "prepared dishes" that CATL has prepared for the car - making industry.

The data provided by CATL is also quite attractive. When using the Rock Chassis to build cars, the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can save 60% - 70% of the development costs, and the BOM cost can be reduced by about 5%.

Yang Hanbing, the managing director of Times Intelligent, once served as the president of the Automotive Technology Division in Greater China at Schaeffler, an automotive parts giant. In January 2023, Times Intelligent signed an agreement with the Management Committee of Yichun Economic and Technological Development Zone in Jiangxi Province to build its first skateboard chassis production base in Yichun. The factory was put into production last year.

The main target customers of Times Intelligent are new forces in cross - border car - making and traditional automobile manufacturers that need to quickly introduce products. At the end of last year, Times Intelligent held a press conference. On the same day, Avita announced that it had signed a "Supplementary Agreement on Deepening Strategic Cooperation" with CATL. The agreement shows that the Rock Chassis will be first applied to Avita products.

02 How Many OEMs Will Pay the Bill?

Car - making is a tough job. Data from the Passenger Car Association shows that in the first half of 2025, the profit margin of the automotive industry was 4.8%. During the same period, CATL's profit margin was 17%, far higher than the industry average. Since CATL has a very profitable power battery business, why does it also reach into the chassis segment of automobile manufacturing?

"CATL wants to strengthen its ties with automobile manufacturers and make more money," Li Fan, a former employee of CATL, told CBN Weekly. In the field of electric vehicles, the most important part of the chassis is the battery. The layout of the battery pack affects many aspects such as the body stiffness and interior space. Once the layout of the battery pack is determined, 80% of the chassis of an electric vehicle is already completed. The remaining steering system, shock - absorbing system, braking system, etc., all need to be adjusted around the battery pack.

Li Fan said that most new forces initially pieced together products from various suppliers to build a car chassis. But if they use the Rock Chassis, it won't be so troublesome, and the chassis doesn't need to be tuned. They only need one supplier, which simplifies management a lot. Theoretically, the business model of the skateboard chassis is viable.

The question is, will the OEMs pay the bill?

Wu Kai, the chief scientist of CATL, once made such an analogy: "The car body is the brain of the car, a smart space. The lower chassis is the cerebellum, the carrier of energy and motion units."

Now, many OEMs have already handed over the "soul" of the car, intelligent assisted driving, to suppliers. If they also hand over the "cerebellum", the chassis, to suppliers, won't the OEMs completely become contract manufacturers? Moreover, how can consumers trust a car company that doesn't even have its own chassis?

A ready - made example is that the US new force Rivian once became a favorite in the capital market with the concept of the skateboard chassis and was once a popular supplier in the US automotive industry. Even established OEMs like Ford planned to cooperate with Rivian to develop electric vehicles. However, their cooperation ended soon. "We also have our own chassis development capabilities. In a sense, we don't really need to use their skateboard chassis," Ford explained.

In China, the new forces have already passed the initial stage of entrepreneurship and basically have their own car - making platforms. At the same time, R & D personnel from some car companies said that whether it is platform - based or frame - based car - making, the development of the upper body takes up more of the development cycle. Even if the skateboard chassis can improve the development efficiency of the lower body, the overall efficiency advantage is not obvious.

In addition, the core logic of OEMs in developing new cars is to meet market demands, rather than building cars faster. Especially for OEMs that emphasize user thinking, a standardized product cannot meet the personalized needs of users.

Moreover, Times Intelligent has missed the window period for the concentrated promotion of new technologies. In August last year, the pure - electric CIIC 800V version of the Nezha S Shooting Brake started pre - sales. This car was the first to be equipped with CATL's CIIC integrated intelligent chassis. Unfortunately, Nezha Automobile has not yet emerged from its difficulties, and the skateboard chassis has not had the opportunity to be verified by the market.

Of course, the skateboard chassis is not without opportunities.

To achieve decoupling between the upper and lower bodies of the skateboard chassis, wire - control technology and in - wheel motor technology are required. Although these two technologies are not new concepts, due to technical and cost issues, neither has been mass - produced and applied in the field of passenger cars.

Overall, as the above - mentioned technologies mature and autonomous driving technology becomes more popular, the skateboard chassis can start from B - end operation scenarios, such as logistics and Robotaxi. Media reports say that the funds obtained from this financing will also be used to accelerate the R & D of new technologies, especially for the development of innovative application scenarios such as "RoboX" (unmanned intelligent vehicles). In addition, the company is also planning overseas projects, which may break into the passenger car field.

In the view of industry insiders, the business model of such companies depends on operational efficiency rather than terminal sales, and the skateboard chassis has the opportunity to be applied on a large scale here. It is understood that the current partners of Times Intelligent include BAIC New Energy, Jianghuai Automobile, Avita, Hello Bike, T3 Mobility, Baidu, Dongfeng Nissan, Changan Mazda, etc.

(The interviewees in this article are pseudonyms)

This article is from the WeChat public account "CBN Weekly", author: Dong Xue, editor: Tian Meng. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.