New lithium-ion battery park goes into operation
2026-08-11 20:08:11
By Chen Si.
Cornex New Energy’s Phase II lithium-ion battery industrial park began operations on August 9. Located in Yiling District, the project has a total investment of 22 billion yuan (US$3.26 billion) and is designed with an annual production capacity of 80GWh.
Cornex New Energy’s Phase II lithium-ion battery industrial park began operations on August 9. Located in Yiling District, the project has a total investment of 22 billion yuan (US$3.26 billion) and is designed with an annual production capacity of 80GWh.
Cornex New Energy’s Phase II lithium-ion battery industrial park. Photo by Huang Xiang
Cornex New Energy signed an investment cooperation agreement with Yichang in 2022. Phase II took only 10 months from groundbreaking to the start of operations, two months ahead of schedule.
Inside the smart, dust-free Plant 5, copper foil moves steadily through coating machines. Vacuum injection nozzles precisely fill electrolytes within milliseconds, while high-speed robotic arms complete cell packaging with millimeter-level accuracy. Each cell is inspected by an AI visual detection system before moving to the next stage of production.
“Compared with Phase I, Phase II has increased production efficiency per production line by more than 60 percent. At full capacity, more than 800,000 cells will be produced daily. Once fully operational, the Yichang base will become one of the world’s leading lithium-ion battery manufacturing hubs,” said Dai Deming, chairman of Cornex New Energy.
Once fully operational, the project is expected to generate an annual output value exceeding 22 billion yuan, contribute around 1 billion yuan in annual tax revenue, and create 6,000 direct jobs.
Yichang’s new energy and new materials industries have developed a complete ecosystem covering the full life cycle of new energy batteries, attracting nearly 100 upstream and downstream companies. Local suppliers of components such as battery trays and structural parts help reduce logistics costs and shorten delivery times.
“In the first half of this year, our Yichang plant achieved an output value of more than 7.5 billion yuan, with shipments increasing 222 percent year on year. Its products are exported to many countries across Europe and Asia,” said Jiao Linsen, deputy general manager of Cornex’s Yichang plant.
