This boss from Jiangsu Province has equipped nearly half of the world with lithium batteries.

In 2011, Legend Capital, a subsidiary of Lenovo, was optimistic about the prospects of the new energy sector and decided to invest in potential companies in this field. When their investment manager, Ge Xinyu, discovered a company called Lead Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. and sincerely expressed their intention to invest, the company's founder, Wang Yanqing, directly told him:

"We have no plans for financing."

01

Lead Intelligent Equipment was Ge Xinyu's first investment project in his career.

After transitioning from the market leader of Huawei's Pakistan Representative Office to an investment manager at Legend Capital, Ge Xinyu started a meticulous "market search" like a real - estate agent.

His focus was on the Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou regions, which had long been major manufacturing hubs in China and also had a good industrial foundation in the new energy field. More importantly, it was his hometown, and he was familiar with everything here.

Lead Intelligent Equipment was screened out by Ge Xinyu from nearly a hundred companies. He was optimistic about the company's boss and its business prospects.

In 1999, Wang Yanqing, a key employee at Wuxi County No. 2 Radio Factory, borrowed 80,000 yuan, rented an old warehouse, hired two retired workers, and established a factory: Wuxi Lead Capacitor Equipment Factory.

Wang Yanqing was a rural boy from Wuxi. In 1982, at the age of 16, he was admitted to Changzhou Radio Industry School with the highest score in his school, majoring in mold design and manufacturing. After graduation, he was assigned to Wuxi County No. 2 Radio Factory.

During his 13 - year tenure as an equipment engineer, many senior engineers and workers became his mentors. During this period, he paid particular attention to capacitors, a widely used component. There were often scattered films, aluminum foils, and pole pieces on the table in his dormitory. Disassembling and assembling capacitors was both his hobby and his self - study.

Because he was very familiar with capacitors, he could accurately identify opportunities. The multi - scenario and multi - purpose characteristics of capacitors, combined with the booming Chinese industry, quickly turned into a considerable market. Seeing the opportunity, Wang Yanqing decided to resign and start his own business. However, instead of producing capacitors, he chose to manufacture capacitor equipment - If many people make capacitors, many people will need capacitor equipment.

Following the logic of "When others pan for gold, sell them shovels," Wang Yanqing's capacitor equipment factory was on its way. In the early days when there were few employees and limited funds, Wang Yanqing was the boss, the chief expert, the salesperson, and the after - sales engineer.

It is said that to build the world's fastest plane, American industrialist Howard Hughes locked himself in the workshop for a week, surviving only on milk. Wang Yanqing not only often worked hard in the workshop, using cardboard boxes as his bed, but also partitioned a large warehouse. The front part was the factory workshop, and the back part was the home for his family of three. They lived there for four years.

In this way, Lead Factory successively produced a series of capacitor production equipment such as winding machines, slitting machines, sorting machines, coating machines, and welding and assembly machines. Coinciding with China's industrial explosion, the products were continuously in high demand. Even when the factory expanded to a scale of a hundred people, it still had to decline many orders.

Compared with its peers, Lead also had a significant advantage: Cost.

The characteristic of the equipment manufacturing industry is "custom - made according to orders and produced on demand." Therefore, in the procurement of components and materials, manufacturers usually follow the requirements precisely. However, Wang Yanqing did not play by the rules - he would lock in suppliers with large and long - term orders to obtain preferential procurement prices.

The cost savings were both Lead's profit and its competitiveness.

Despite having obvious advantages, a more comprehensive product line, and sufficient orders, Wang Yanqing was not entirely satisfied.

At that time, domestic manufacturers like Lead were mainly competing in the low - end market. High - end capacitor equipment was mainly monopolized by American and Italian brands. Therefore, Wang Yanqing was determined: To produce high - end products, to reach the world's highest standards, and to serve the largest customers.

In 2001, Lead got the opportunity to "serve the largest customer" - Panasonic from Japan approached and hoped that Lead could produce a winding machine that could produce 30 capacitor cores per minute.

The winding machine is used to wind films, aluminum foils, and pole pieces into cores according to the design and is a key piece of equipment in the manufacturing of film capacitors. Panasonic's own equipment could only produce 20 cores per minute.

Wang Yanqing gritted his teeth and took on this difficult task and managed to complete it successfully and excellently.

This was a qualitative leap for Lead.

With the Panasonic case as a technical endorsement, Lead's brand became well - known overnight, and its development became even more rapid - buying land, building factories, expanding production, and then further improving technology and exporting. Over the years, the positive cycle of technology and market made Wang Yanqing more and more confident in "reaching the world's highest standards."

By 2011 when Ge Xinyu found Wang Yanqing, Lead had become the number one in China and among the top three in the world in the capacitor equipment field.

More importantly, Lead Intelligent Equipment had achieved a series of world - class technological breakthroughs, such as the automation technology of winding machines - the entire process from raw material placement to the production of capacitor cores could be completed automatically. Based on these technologies, it entered the lithium - battery field, which also required winding processes and automation technologies. In 2008, Lead established its lithium - battery division, and after 2010, it successfully developed lithium - battery winding machines, welding machines, lamination and assembly machines, and vacuum automatic liquid injection machines.

▲Some winding machine products of Lead Intelligent Equipment's lithium - battery equipment business. Source: Mos Wealth

This was also why Ge Xinyu was optimistic about Lead Intelligent Equipment. In his view, the lithium - battery industry was a definite opportunity, and the lithium - battery equipment industry, which was like "selling shovels for lithium - battery production," would have the first - mover advantage. Moreover, at that time, Sony from Japan, the world's second - largest lithium - battery manufacturer, was already on Lead's customer list.

Both Lead's ability reserves and Wang Yanqing's personal characteristics of being focused, hard - working, and having a technical background made Ge Xinyu regard Lead as a precious find. He firmly believed that Lead was the company he wanted to invest in.

However, Wang Yanqing poured cold water on Ge Xinyu. He thought that the large - scale commercialization of lithium batteries was still a long way off:

Although 50 buses shined at the 2008 Olympics and there was a "Ten Cities, One Thousand Vehicles" demonstration project in 2009, power lithium batteries were still relatively unpopular. The popularization of electric passenger cars was still a long - term goal, and no one was certain about it.

Wang Yanqing's implication was that he was willing to pioneer the lithium - battery equipment field and did not care about short - term returns. He was willing to make long - term investments in this field. However, he did not want capital to enter the company, which would bring pressure and make the company less free and flexible.

02

Many years later, Ge Xinyu still remembered the words that he deliberately used to provoke Wang Yanqing and finally convinced him:

"There are many types of enterprises in China. If you are satisfied with an annual profit of thirty to forty million yuan and managing one or two hundred employees, it's also good. You are also fulfilling your social responsibility and contributing a lot of industrial value." He paused for a moment and then continued:

"If you have greater ambition and a stronger sense of enterprise and want to make Lead bigger, you can cooperate with us."

What really made Wang Yanqing determined was the possibility and path of making the company bigger that they outlined in the subsequent discussion: Even if the power - battery market did not explode, Lead's products could still find application scenarios in photovoltaic power generation, energy storage, and consumer lithium - electronic products. It would still be a company with great prospects.

In 2011, after accepting the investment from Legend Capital, Lead Intelligent Equipment began to fully transform into the lithium - battery equipment industry. Legend also introduced Suzhou Star Power, a power - battery company it had previously invested in, to Lead, and it became Lead's first domestic customer in the lithium - battery field.

Once a practical person is inspired by a greater dream, they will be indomitable and unstoppable.

From 2011 to 2013, Lead Intelligent Equipment made rapid progress. During this period, the company successfully developed a series of lithium - battery equipment such as automotive power lithium - battery winding machines, digital lithium - battery welding and winding integrated machines with both welding and winding functions, new TAB welding machines, motor dividing machines, diaphragm slitting machines, pole - piece die - cutting machines, and forming and assembly machines.

In the process, although Wang Yanqing no longer stayed in the workshop day and night, he still insisted on working on the front line and had even stricter requirements: Aiming only for the highest standards. Some people joked that he had turned the entire R & D team into another "Wang Yanqing."

To solve a micron - level deviation problem when winding pole pieces, an engineer team stayed by the equipment for 72 consecutive hours, recording thousands of sets of data. Finally, they solved the problem through a minor structural improvement...

Such perseverance and pursuit of excellence allowed Lead Intelligent Equipment to seize a crucial opportunity: To hitch a ride on CATL's development.

The relationship between Lead and CATL can be traced back to 2012. That year, Apple asked ATL, a lithium - battery manufacturer, to change the battery design. To meet this requirement, ATL needed to purchase equipment and change the production process. Considering the high prices of Japanese and Korean brands, they tried to inquire about prices from Lead Intelligent Equipment and were satisfied with the answer -

Lead's prices were nearly 50% lower than imported equipment, but its performance was no less than that of imported products.

When CATL became independent from ATL, this trust was maintained. In 2014, Lead Intelligent Equipment officially became CATL's equipment supplier and has since closely followed CATL's development.

When Taiwanese entrepreneur Terry Gou summarized the reasons for his success, he particularly emphasized the pressure and luck of encountering Apple and following its development. He said that truly first - class customers can not only give you orders beyond your imagination but also stimulate your growth and make you become first - class yourself. You have to be first - class.

Although the situation was different, the essence of the relationship between Lead and CATL was the same: As CATL continuously seized opportunities and almost hit every industrial node correctly, sharing the overall progress of the industry and promoting its leap - forward development; Lead Intelligent Equipment not only received orders from CATL but also became a world - class player in the industry under its influence.

In 2017, when CATL surpassed Panasonic with an installed capacity of 11.84 GWH and became the global champion, Lead also almost simultaneously became the world's number one in the lithium - battery equipment field. Sony, Panasonic, LG Chem, as well as Volkswagen, BMW, Tesla, BYD, EVE Energy... These new and old giants in the new energy field all became its customers.

In 2014, Lead's annual revenue was only 306 million yuan. By 2018, this figure had soared to 3.89 billion yuan, showing almost double - digit growth every year.

In 2017, Wang Yanqing, who was once relatively conservative but now had a more entrepreneurial mindset and broader vision, made a rather radical decision at that time: Spend 1.35 billion yuan to acquire a three - year - old company, Titan New Energy.

This money was the savings that Lead had accumulated over the years. Many old employees and friends in society were worried about Wang Yanqing, but he was determined. He was optimistic about the value and development space that this acquisition would bring to the company as a whole.

The production process of lithium batteries can be divided into three stages: front - end, middle - end, and back - end, and the manufacturing equipment is also classified accordingly. Among them, the front - end equipment has a high degree of standardization and low gross profit margins, while the middle - and back - end equipment has a low degree of standardization, and customers are willing to pay a high premium for customized solutions.

Over the years, Lead Intelligent Equipment had covered the front - and middle - end equipment such as slitting, coating, and winding. Titan New Energy, which mainly engaged in the intelligent manufacturing production line for the back - end chemical formation and capacity grading of lithium batteries, was exactly the last piece of the puzzle to complete the back - end coverage.

Moreover, after the acquisition, Lead not only successfully entered the high - margin back - end market but also completely changed its positioning and status - becoming an overall solution provider for lithium - battery manufacturing with full - line coverage of the front, middle, and back ends.

From then on, Lead could basically cover and support all aspects of lithium - battery production and manufacturing. Whether it was producing battery cells, batteries, or conducting mold assembly, charge - discharge testing, or container energy storage, it could provide equipment support. It also provided services at various stages, including customized R & D, customized production, installation and commissioning, after - sales maintenance, and equipment updates.

The "cost - control strategy" that had been carried forward since the early days of entrepreneurship was not only continued but also further enhanced at Lead - in addition to large - scale centralized procurement of standard parts, Lead also achieved self - research and self - production of many core components, directly converting the premium part of the procurement cost into its own profit.

The awareness of cost and efficiency management even penetrated into Lead's R & D. Its technical team would jointly develop the next - generation production line with leading customers, making product planning more targeted, avoiding the waste of R & D resources, and fixing the production process into modules as much as possible to achieve maximum "plug - and - play" efficiency.

A legend in the capital market also began as Lead's industry developed.

In 2015, Lead was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. When it was listed, Wang Yanqing and his old friend Ge Xinyu boldly predicted that with the performance growth brought by the increasing product volume, Lead Intelligent Equipment's market value would exceed 20 billion yuan within five years.

However, the subsequent development showed that their prediction was still conservative - Lead reached a market value of 20 billion yuan in only two years.

▲Source: Lead Intelligent Equipment

In July 2017, Li Biwen, a reporter from China Entrepreneur, interviewed Ge Xinyu, who was already an executive director at Legend Capital. She recorded a detail:

"Ge Xinyu picked up his phone, refreshed the market quotes, and then looked up and said, 'Today is the historical high of Lead's market value.'"

In 2021, when electric vehicles began to compete with fuel - powered vehicles on an equal footing and the global lithium - battery market exploded, Lead Intelligent Equipment's market value exceeded 100 billion yuan, reaching a maximum of 130 billion yuan, becoming the world's largest lithium - battery equipment and manufacturing solution provider.

After that, although the growth of lithium - battery installation slowed down, Lead's growth rate declined, and its market value also decreased significantly, once shrinking to less than 30 billion yuan. However, Lead Intelligent Equipment continued to develop at a rapid pace and continuously increased its innovation level, leading industry changes.

For example, in 2023, Lead launched the intelligent factory dome series of product lines. By introducing artificial intelligence algorithms, it analyzed and optimized each process section of the lithium - battery production line, realizing a highly intelligent, efficient, and unmanned digital factory.

The company's leading position in the industry in China and globally has never been shaken, with market shares exceeding 30% and 20% respectively.

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