Investing 4.1 billion yuan indirectly in Zhongheng Technology, what's the game plan of "Ningwang"?
"Ningwang" (a nickname for CATL) invests a whopping 4.1 billion yuan to strongly boost the layout of computing - power synergy.
On April 8th, Zhongheng Electric released an announcement stating that Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) intends to strategically invest in Zhongheng Technology Investment, the controlling shareholder of Zhongheng Electric, through a combination of "equity + cash".
After the proposed capital increase is completed, CATL will acquire 49% of the equity of Zhongheng Technology Investment at one go, thus becoming an indirect shareholder of Zhongheng Electric.
It is reported that Zhongheng Electric, selected by "Ningwang" this time, is a digital energy company focusing on the construction of a zero - carbon intelligent society. It has in - depth strategic cooperation relationships with leading customers in various fields such as Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, China Mobile, State Grid, and Sinopec.
Some analysts believe that CATL's heavy investment in Zhongheng Technology Investment is aimed at Zhongheng Electric's leading position in fields such as high - voltage direct - current (HVDC) power supply for data centers.
However, behind the glory, Zhongheng Electric faced the performance dilemma of "increasing revenue but not increasing profit" in the first three quarters of last year. In addition, Zhongheng Electric also faces challenges such as a decline in gross profit margin and an increase in asset - liability ratio.
It is worth mentioning that in the "Hurun Global Rich List 2026" announced in March this year, Zhu Guoding, the founder of Zhongheng Electric, and his wife Bao Xiaoru made it onto the list with a fortune of 7.5 billion yuan.
At the end of last year, however, Zhu Guoding was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for four years, and fined 1 million yuan for the crime of manipulating the securities market.
Investing 4.1 billion yuan, "Ningwang" boosts the layout of computing - power synergy
On the evening of April 8th, Zhongheng Electric, a listed company on the A - share market, released a major announcement. Zhongheng Technology Investment, its controlling shareholder, and its shareholders Zhu Guoding and Bao Xiaoru signed a "Strategic Investment Cooperation Framework Agreement" with CATL on the same day.
According to the agreement, CATL intends to subscribe for about 14.41 million yuan of the newly - increased registered capital of Zhongheng Technology Investment with about 4.1 billion yuan, with the investment method being currency and equity.
Among them, CATL intends to value its 99.7% equity in Times Tianyuan at 1.196 billion yuan, and the remaining amount will be paid in cash.
According to Tianyancha, Times Tianyuan was established in 2018 and is a holding company of CATL. It is committed to building the technical capabilities and product center of energy - storage power electronics to empower the development of CATL's zero - carbon business.
As a leading provider of energy - storage converters (PCS) and AC - side system integration solutions in the industry, Times Tianyuan has long been focusing on the R & D and application of power electronics technology. Its products cover centralized energy - storage converters, string - type energy - storage converters, converter - step - up integrated machines, etc.
Before this proposed capital increase, the registered capital of Zhongheng Technology Investment was 15 million yuan, and Zhu Guoding and Bao Xiaoru held 70% and 30% of the equity respectively.
After the proposed capital increase is completed, the registered capital of Zhongheng Technology Investment will be changed to about 29.41 million yuan, and the equity structure will also change accordingly. Zhu Guoding, Bao Xiaoru, and CATL will hold 35.7%, 15.3%, and 49% of the equity respectively.
However, before and after the proposed capital increase, the controlling shareholder and the actual controller of Zhongheng Technology Investment remain unchanged, still being Zhu Guoding, and the actual controller of the listed company Zhongheng Electric also remains unchanged.
As of the date of the announcement, Zhu Guoding controls a total of 40.12% of the shares of Zhongheng Electric directly and through controlling Zhongheng Technology Investment. He is the actual controller of Zhongheng Electric, and Zhu Guoding and his person acting in concert, Bao Xiaoru, jointly control 41.4% of the shares of Zhongheng Electric.
Although the controlling shareholder and the actual controller of Zhongheng Electric will not change, CATL will participate in the governance of the listed company.
According to the agreement, Zhu Guoding and Zhongheng Technology Investment will promote a director candidate recommended by CATL to serve as a director of the listed company through the exercise of shareholder rights and other means.
Bao Xiaoru, the chairperson of Zhongheng Electric, will also promote a deputy general manager candidate recommended by CATL to serve as the deputy general manager of the listed company.
However, Zhu Guoding and Bao Xiaoru do not constitute a relationship of acting in concert or joint control with CATL at the level of Zhongheng Technology Investment and/or the listed company.
It is reported that after this cooperation is reached, CATL and Zhongheng Electric will carry out business and strategic cooperation in fields such as green ICT infrastructure, transportation electrification, and new power systems (computing - power synergy) to integrate resource endowments and empower the development of the companies.
After the release of the aforementioned announcement, the capital market quickly responded positively, and the stock price of Zhongheng Electric hit the daily limit for two consecutive days.
As of the close on April 10th, Zhongheng Electric was quoted at 35.12 yuan per share, and its total market value was approaching the 20 - billion - yuan mark. Since the beginning of this year, the cumulative increase in the stock price of Zhongheng Electric has exceeded 30%.
What does "Ningwang" intend by partnering with Zhongheng Electric?
Public information shows that Zhongheng Electric, which has established a relationship with "Ningwang" this time, was established in 1996. It is a digital energy company focusing on the construction of a zero - carbon intelligent society and was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in March 2010.
Leida Finance learned that Zhongheng Electric has its headquarters in the Hangzhou High - tech Industrial Development Zone. The company has established scientific and technological innovation platforms such as a "National Post - doctoral Research Workstation" and has R & D centers in Hangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and other places.
After years of in - depth development, Zhongheng Electric has successfully developed a series of products such as HVDC direct - current power supply and distribution systems for data centers, Panama power modules, 5G station power supplies, charging piles, and power digital solutions, and has led or participated in the formulation of a series of national and industry standards.
In terms of customer expansion, with 30 years of industry experience, Zhongheng Electric has established stable strategic cooperation relationships with leading customers in many fields, including well - known enterprises such as China Mobile, China Tower, China Telecom, Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Pinduoduo, State Grid, China Southern Power Grid, and Hello Bike.
It is worth mentioning that in mid - August last year, Zhongheng Electric released an announcement on abnormal fluctuations in stock trading.
At that time, Zhongheng Electric stated that it had noticed that the information spread online recently about the company's OEM, product sales, and prices of data - center power supplies with well - known overseas cloud providers such as NVIDIA, Meta, and Google were all false rumors.
Zhongheng Electric clearly stated that as of the date of the announcement, the company had not signed cooperation agreements or sales contracts with the above - mentioned overseas cloud providers, but it emphasized that the company was actively promoting the expansion of the overseas market.
From the perspective of the business structure, the main business of Zhongheng Electric covers communication power supply systems, data - center power supplies, power operation power supply systems, software development, sales, and services.
In 2024, data - center power supplies, power operation power supply systems, and communication power supply systems contributed 34.06%, 24.4%, and 15.57% of the company's revenue respectively.
In the first half of 2025, the revenue share of the data - center power supply segment further increased to 45.66%, firmly remaining the company's largest source of income.
It is worth mentioning that in fields such as high - voltage direct - current (HVDC) power supply for data centers and pre - fabricated power modules, Zhongheng Electric is in a leading position in the industry and has led the formulation of HVDC national standards.
According to OFweek Lithium Grid, Zhongheng Electric is the only domestic enterprise that simultaneously masters HVDC and Panama power supply technologies, with a market share of over 30% in the HVDC sub - market and has ranked first for many consecutive years.
In fact, at present when the demand for AI computing power is exploding exponentially, energy efficiency has become the core bottleneck restricting technological development.
According to the forecast of QYResearch, in 2029, the global HVDC market scale will exceed 15.68 billion US dollars, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.9%. Technology giants such as Microsoft, Google, and NVIDIA have also clearly identified HVDC as a "must - have option" for the energy architecture of data centers.
Jiang Li, the secretary of the board of CATL, once said at the performance conference call in the third quarter of 2025 that the rapid expansion of data centers will bring very considerable demand for energy - storage batteries.
Regarding this strategic cooperation, Dong Yunfan, an analyst at Zhuochuang Information Fubao Lithium Battery, told Jiemian News that CATL's move is mainly due to its optimism about the development direction of intelligent computing centers. For CATL's business map of the "zero - carbon power grid", this capital increase means laying a chess piece in the field of computing power first.
Some other analyses point out that CATL's move aims to exchange funds for time and equity for the ecosystem. At present when the wave of AI computing power is surging, the electricity demand of data centers is growing exponentially. CATL's high - priced investment of 4.1 billion yuan this time is a "defensive investment" to make up for the short - board of the "computing - power synergy" strategy, which helps it gain an advantageous position in future market competition.
Revenue increases but profit doesn't, the actual controller was sentenced to "three - year imprisonment suspended for four years" last year
Although Zhongheng Electric occupies a leading position in the HVDC track, it is facing the performance challenge of "increasing revenue but not increasing profit".
The financial report shows that in the third quarter of 2025, Zhongheng Electric achieved a revenue of 527 million yuan, a year - on - year increase of 32.05%; the net profit attributable to the parent company for the single quarter was 25 million yuan, a year - on - year increase of 39.66%, and both indicators showed an upward trend.
However, if the scope is further extended to the first three quarters of 2025, Zhongheng Electric achieved a revenue of 1.418 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 20.29%; but the net profit attributable to the parent company was only 73 million yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 15.59%, and the profit and revenue growth were in opposite directions.
Data from Flush iFinD shows that in the first three quarters of last year, the gross profit margin of Zhongheng Electric declined from 26.35% in the same period of 2024 to 23.51%.
The net cash flow from operating activities of Zhongheng Electric decreased from 190 million yuan in the same period of 2024 to - 70 million yuan in the first three quarters of last year.
In response, Zhongheng Electric explained that this was mainly due to the year - on - year increase in cash paid for purchasing goods and receiving services this period.
In terms of debt, as of the end of the third quarter of last year, the total liabilities of Zhongheng Electric reached 1.454 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 42.53%.
Data from Flush iFinD shows that the asset - liability ratio of Zhongheng Electric has also been increasing in recent years. It first rose from 29.42% at the end of 2023 to 35.07% at the end of 2024, and further climbed to 37.26% at the end of the third quarter of last year.
In addition, according to the 2024 annual audit report of Zhongheng Electric, as of the end of 2024, the balance of accounts receivable of the company was about 1.2 billion yuan, and the amount of bad debt provisions was about 165 million yuan, with a relatively high book value.
The audit institution determined the measurement of expected credit losses of accounts receivable as a key audit matter, pointing out that if accounts receivable cannot be recovered on schedule or cannot be recovered and bad debts occur, it will have a relatively significant impact on the financial statements.
As of the end of the third quarter of last year, the proportion of accounts receivable of Zhongheng Electric to the net profit attributable to the parent company in the latest annual report exceeded 900%, and there is still a relatively high risk of collection.
In addition to the financial concerns, Zhongheng Electric has also been affected by the legal risks of its actual controller. At the end of last year, Zhu Guoding, the founder and actual controller of Zhongheng Electric, received a "Criminal Judgment" issued by the Intermediate People's Court of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province.
The "Criminal Judgment" shows that Zhu Guoding was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for four years, and fined 1 million yuan for the crime of manipulating the securities market.
It is reported that before being involved in the market - manipulation scandal, Zhu Guoding had long served as the chairperson of Zhongheng Electric and played a crucial role in the company's strategic decision - making and business management.
In August 2020, Zhu Guoding was investigated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for suspected stock - price manipulation. In October of the following year, Zhu Guoding received a "Decision on Obtaining a Guarantor Pending Trial" issued by the Hangzhou Public Security Bureau, deciding to grant him bail pending trial.
Subsequently, Zhu Guoding applied to resign from the position of chairperson for personal reasons. After Zhu Guoding's resignation, his wife Bao Xiaoru took over the position of chairperson.
Leida Finance will continue to follow up on the subsequent progress of this cooperation.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Leida Finance". The author is Peng Cheng, and the editor is Meng Shuai. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.