Wan Biao, former vice chairman of Honor, joins leading battery manufacturer | Exclusive from 36Kr

Text | Su Jianxun

36Kr has exclusively learned that Wan Biao, the former vice chairman of Honor, quietly joined AESC, a leading domestic battery company, recently, serving as the Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He also serves as an executive director and Chief Technology Officer of Envision Group. According to 36Kr, AESC officially announced this news in an internal letter on September 22.

"I am deeply honored to join AESC and take on the role of CEO... I look forward to working hand in hand with the global team to seize the new round of growth opportunities in the new energy industry, continuously provide customers with safe and high - performance solutions, further consolidate AESC's position in the clean energy technology field, and contribute to the global zero - carbon transformation," Wan Biao said in the internal letter.

Wan Biao, Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AESC, Executive Director and Chief Technology Officer of Envision Group

As a veteran of Huawei's two pillar businesses - wireless products and terminal business, Wan Biao joined Huawei in 1996 and has held various positions such as President of the Wireless Product Line, President of the Terminal Company, President of the Russia Region, President of the Mobile Broadband and Home Product Line of the Consumer Business, and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Consumer Business, accumulating rich experience in product development, supply chain management, and global operations.

After Honor became independent from Huawei in 2020, Wan Biao was appointed the first chairman in a crisis. In a short period, he helped Honor restore its supply chain, rebuild its channels, and make breakthroughs in international cooperation, enabling Honor to quickly return to the right track in the market.

In November 2023, Wu Hui (former chairman of Shenzhen Water (Group) Co., Ltd.) took over his position, and Wan Biao was appointed vice chairman of Honor.

In September 2024, Honor confirmed that Wan Biao resigned from his positions such as vice chairman for personal reasons, and his relevant work was taken over by Wu Hui. Since then, there have been many speculations about Wan Biao's whereabouts until the release of AESC's internal letter.

Wan Biao was one of the core leaders who promoted Huawei's wireless and terminal businesses to the top globally. He was also an important driving force in exploring the European and global markets and played a key role in Huawei's terminal business moving towards a high - end self - owned brand. These experiences are highly consistent with AESC's current goal of global expansion.

AESC is a battery technology company led by Envision Group. Founded in 2007, it is one of the world's earliest companies to achieve large - scale mass production of power batteries. Its customers include global leading automakers and energy storage integrators such as BMW, Mercedes - Benz, Nissan, Renault, and Fluence. It has also established multiple battery gigafactories in China, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Spain.

Regarding Wan Biao's joining, Zhang Lei, the chairman of Envision Group, said that this is a crucial step in the company's strategic upgrade and global expansion. "Wan Biao's profound strategic insights, excellent product development and implementation capabilities, and rich international management experience will lead AESC to further enhance its product competitiveness and achieve sustainable growth in all core global markets," Zhang Lei said.

It is worth noting that Wan Biao will also concurrently serve as an executive director and chief technology officer of Envision Group. Envision Group's business covers multiple fields such as wind power generation, energy storage, hydrogen energy, the Internet of Things, and zero - carbon industrial parks and has a global layout. With this group - level position, Wan Biao will be able to coordinate and integrate resources from a higher perspective, promote in - depth collaboration between AESC and relevant business segments, accelerate the effective integration of technology and the market, and thus provide stronger support for the power business.

Public information shows that in the past year, AESC has made intensive progress in global production capacity. Gigafactories in Cangzhou, China, Ibaraki, Japan, and Douai, France have been put into operation one after another. In the first half of this year, the first - phase 10GWh production capacity of AESC's Douai factory in France was put into operation. The Renault R5 model equipped with its batteries became the best - selling model in the European B - class electric vehicle market. At the same time, the 46 - series large - cylindrical battery products produced at the company's factory in Jiangyin, Wuxi have begun to be supplied to BMW's global electric platform.

AESC's Gigafactory in Douai, France

In the energy storage field, in April this year, AESC's factory in Tennessee, the United States, put into operation the first lithium - iron - phosphate energy storage cell production line in North America. In August, AESC received orders for more than 40GWh of cells from more than a dozen leading domestic energy storage integrators. According to statistics from Shanghai Metals Market (SMM), AESC ranked among the top three in the global overseas energy storage cell shipments in 2024.

In addition, AESC's gigafactories in Sunderland, the United Kingdom, and Extremadura, Spain, are expected to be put into operation in the next few years, and the company plans to build a new energy storage cell factory in China in 2025.

According to 36Kr, this series of global production capacity expansions and order delivery tasks pose higher requirements for the company's supply chain coordination, cross - regional operation, and market exploration capabilities. Wan Biao's rich experience at Huawei and Honor is highly consistent with AESC's current critical development stage, and his joining is regarded as an important signal for the company to further enhance its global competitiveness and strengthen strategic implementation.