What enables Guidant, the company that has achieved mass production of PEEK flat wires, to thaw the "capital ice"?
In today's era when intelligent manufacturing has become a global trend, there are numerous investment tracks for capital, ranging from hardware products to solutions. However, it's not that easy to "impress" capital with new materials.
For example, the once - popular PEEK concept has been exciting the secondary market for several years due to PEEK materials. The application of this "super plastic" in fields such as aerospace and new energy is no longer new.
For a company focusing on the research and application of PEEK materials, to obtain continuous capital investment, it cannot solely rely on revenue and customer volume. Instead, it must first showcase its advanced technology and make breakthrough improvements in key areas.
In the field of motor flat wires, Wellascent (hereinafter referred to as "Wellascent") is such a company.
Established in 2006, Wellascent has continuously received investments from several well - known VCs since it started market - oriented financing. In the past few months, it has also attracted intensive research from capital.
This company may not often appear in the public eye, but it has occupied a crucial position in the global intelligent manufacturing industry chain and become an "invisible small giant". It has dispelled the industry's doubts about whether PEEK flat wires can be mass - produced and shattered the myth that "it's difficult for domestic enterprises to have global influence in the high - end manufacturing field".
Currently, Wellascent's PEEK flat wire business is growing at an annual rate of 90%. It has become the first domestic supplier capable of mass - producing full - size flat electromagnetic wires. It holds global orders from over 2,000 customers and ranks among the top in the domestic market share of micro and medium - sized flat wires, with a market share of over 60% in some segmented fields.
PEEK Flat Wires
Besides achieving large - scale production of PEEK flat wires, what else has Wellascent done right to stand out from this capital - quiet track and become the focus?
Global Production Capacity: The "Certainty" of Growth
When the capital market is optimistic about an enterprise, it values both the certainty and uncertainty it possesses.
The certainty lies in its stable foundation, that is, the irreplaceability of its technological position and market positioning. The "uncertainty" refers to the future potential that may lead to explosive growth, namely the potential of its cutting - edge technology layout and application tracks.
As the "blood vessels" of motors, flat wires have long been in the hidden corner of the industrial chain. The long technology iteration cycle and fixed profit margins in the industry have led many to believe that the fundamental reason this industry rarely attracts capital attention is the lack of imagination.
However, in reality, few domestic enterprises have truly achieved the best in terms of the moat effect of technology and market.
In the field of flat wire motor manufacturing, although domestic enterprises have achieved stable production in mature segmented tracks, in the deep - water area of special materials such as high - voltage PEEK flat wires and precision processes, technological innovation has long been dominated by European, American, and Japanese enterprises. There are very few domestic leading enterprises with scarce independent technologies, and it is almost unrealistic to solve the "bottleneck" problem in technological innovation at once.
Meanwhile, the flat wire motor industry is a highly globalized industry, mainly manifested in the following aspects:
Firstly, the performance of high - end materials is directly restricted by hard indicators such as temperature resistance and insulation strength. The IEC international standards and the technical specifications set by leading automobile manufacturers have formed a global access threshold. Enterprises that fail to meet the global standards, even if they can obtain domestic orders now, can basically only meet the "low - end needs" within the region and are difficult to participate in the growth of automobile manufacturers and the competition of future materials.
The same is true in terms of profit margins. Global orders are highly sensitive to material quality and less sensitive to price. Therefore, Wellascent can avoid the "price war" in the domestic new energy market and ensure a healthy profit margin.
Secondly, after about half a century of development, the supply chain in the flat wire field has formed an inevitable cross - continental cooperation. The production of top - level flat wires requires the integration of a global procurement network including raw materials, precision control equipment, material synthesis, and mass production. Each link has its most suitable countries and enterprises. Otherwise, it will increase costs and reduce quality.
Thirdly, the customer system is "naturally" borderless. As the most important customers of flat wire motors at present, automobile manufacturers have a deeply globalized supply chain themselves. The production capacity of a single region cannot meet the needs of automobile manufacturers for "multi - location production with unified standards". China is an important part of the supply chain because Chinese enterprises have remarkable mass - production capabilities.
PEEK Flat Wire Motor
These three points also reflect the practical requirements brought by the capital logic: on the one hand, the global production capacity layout of flat wire enterprises is directly related to the construction of their technological barriers and the improvement of their market influence. On the other hand, although the domestic new energy market is developing rapidly, if domestic enterprises cannot smoothly integrate into the global supply chain and obtain international orders, their long - term market space will also be limited to a certain extent.
The importance of the "delivery radius" has made capital always look for industrial chain leaders with "global irreplaceability" in China. Therefore, when understanding Wellascent's global position, it can be found that the favor of capital is not without reason.
After nearly 20 years of establishment, Wellascent, which has focused on flat wire R & D, global production capacity, and sales since its inception, has now become one of the first domestic suppliers capable of mass - producing full - size flat wires. While ranking among the top in the domestic market share of micro and medium - sized flat wires, it has served over 2,000 customers globally, including ASML, BMW, and Taiyo Yuden.
In terms of the global supply chain, Wellascent built overseas production bases in Dallas, USA, Stuttgart, Germany, and Chonburi Province, Thailand last year, achieving capacity expansion in four major manufacturing bases in China, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and significantly enhancing its production capacity resilience. According to public information, the production capacity order schedule of Wellascent's core products has been planned until 2030, mainly with global orders. After the third - phase production base in Ganzhou, Jiangxi is put into operation, the annual output value is expected to exceed 2 billion yuan.
That is to say, Wellascent is one of the few Chinese enterprises in the flat wire field that "meet the requirements" for the "certainty" growth valued by capital.
Wellascent's Global Strategy
Advanced Technological Positioning: Not a Follower
Currently, global production capacity represents a "capital entry ticket" to the future. Now, let's look at the technological potential: Wellascent's development history can be regarded as a textbook on driving the market through technological layout.
In the new energy vehicle field, which is the most important for flat wires, range anxiety and charging efficiency are still the key pain points with great improvement value at present. Currently, the entire three - electric system of batteries, motors, and electronic controls is in a rapid iteration process, and the industry has quickly shifted the focus of innovation to super - fast charging. This requires the improvement of the high - voltage platform architecture of the whole vehicle.
In 2018, when the entire industry was still focusing on 400V platform technology, Wellascent observed the technological trend of high - voltage in global cooperation, targeted the 800V high - voltage platform technology, and predicted that it would become the core solution to range anxiety in the short term.
One year later, Porsche launched the Taycan. As the first mass - produced electric vehicle equipped with an 800V high - voltage system, it opened the prelude of "high - voltage" for global new energy vehicle manufacturers. During this period, Wellascent also quickly followed up and became one of the first global and the first domestic enterprises to provide motor wires for the 800V architecture.
Later, BMW launched its sixth - generation eDrive electric drive technology, which increased the charging speed by 30%, achieving a charging performance of adding 300 kilometers of range in just 10 minutes, relying on the 800V high - voltage platform.
It can be said that Wellascent's decision - making cycle was nearly two years ahead of the outbreak of the mainstream technological route in the industry.
The 800V is a structural iteration of the 400V and is still the mainstream technological direction in the industry today. However, in the process of popularizing the 800V, the technology has higher requirements for the insulation performance, electromagnetic design, and heat dissipation structure of motors. Traditional PI enameled wires cannot meet the corona resistance problem caused by the improvement of the voltage platform. Thus, the new energy industry has promoted the flat wire into the era of PEEK flat wires.
BMW eDrive
As early as 2016, when the new energy vehicle industry was still in its infancy, Wellascent keenly captured the trend of electric vehicles and noticed the future prospects of its core material, PEEK flat wires.
Known as the "king of plastics", PEEK materials have long - term high - temperature heat resistance, high dielectric strength, and a molecular - level inert barrier that can resist high - voltage breakdown, high - temperature degradation, and chemical corrosion. It is called the "hexagonal warrior" in the flat wire industry and has become the core material for solving the insulation problem of 800V high - voltage motors.
As a representative of high - performance flat wires, PEEK flat wires not only perform better but also are almost the relatively mature "optimal solution" under the trends of lightweight, high - voltage, and high - efficiency fast charging in the new energy vehicle field. Wellascent's predicted technological direction is highly consistent with these trends.
Of course, technological prediction alone is not enough. At that time, in the eyes of global automotive practitioners, the application space brought by the high performance of PEEK far exceeded its initial application in the aerospace field, and it was only a matter of time before it was widely applied in the automotive field. However, the reality was that the global consumption of PEEK materials, which were developed in 1978, was only more than 7,300 tons in 2021, which was one - ten - thousandth of other mainstream engineering plastics.
Especially in the automotive - grade application field, PEEK flat wires face the "valley of death" problem. One is the price, and the other is the processing technology. These two factors have led to extremely high technological barriers for industrialization and also challenged the market acceptance to a certain extent. In addition, the precision problem after processing caused by its own characteristics has greatly limited large - scale application.
Under such high - profile expectations, Wellascent reached a strategic cooperation with Victrex, the inventor of PEEK materials, to customize and develop automotive - grade applications from the source of materials. After four years of research and development, it achieved large - scale industrial production and commercialization of PEEK flat wires ahead of others. Currently, according to Wellascent, it is the third company globally and the only domestic enterprise capable of mass - producing PEEK flat wires, and it is also Victrex's only global strategic partner in the field of motor flat wires.
Strategic Cooperation
Riding on the "east wind" of PEEK flat wires, Wellascent has won more global automobile manufacturers as customers and partners, including BMW, Audi, Volkswagen, Daimler, and Volvo.
After completing the integrated layout of materials, processes, and equipment, Wellascent has formed a certain first - mover advantage in China. Other domestic manufacturers need to not only seize the technological window of the 800V platform but also break through the technological barriers of large - scale mass production of PEEK wires to catch up. It is expected that Wellascent will still have a considerable time window to carry out the next - step R & D layout and expand its advantage. This snowball effect is also highly valued by capital.
Running ahead before the trend arrives and achieving industrialization globally ahead of others, and transforming technological prediction into an irreversible generational gap has become Wellascent's corporate inertia and determination. Currently, Wellascent's PEEK flat wire business is growing at an annual rate of 90%, providing a stable cash flow and a "safety margin" for the future.
PEEK + TPI: Unleashing Future Imagination
After the new energy industry fired the "first shot", the application scope of PEEK flat wires is still expanding.
For example, in