Following a series of major expansion announcements in 2021, China’s cathode industry is moving closer to having its first producer with a capacity of one million tonnes per annum (tpa), according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

With battery cell producers worldwide undertaking massive expansion plans and with battery capacity in the pipeline for 2030 reaching 4,100.1 GWh in Benchmark’s August Lithium ion Battery Megafactory Assessment, the supply chain’s midstream is having to enact its own expansions to meet this growing demand.

Nowhere else is this more keenly felt than in China’s cathode industry, said Benchmark, where incumbents and new developers alike have set out expansion plans with unprecedented scale.

This has seen the cathode capacity pipeline—existing, under construction and planned capacity—increase by 49% between December 2020 and July 2020 as shown by Benchmark’s Cathode Market Assessment.

The full report is available to Benchmark Membership subscribers.