China's battery makers now hold 7 of the top 10 global spots as Korean, Japanese rivals retreat

China is the world's largest EV market, and it is now the dominant force in the batteries powering those cars. Chinese suppliers accounted for more than 70 percent of global battery installations in the first half of 2026, a share that keeps widening.

South Korea's SNE Research released figures on August 5 showing global EV battery installations totaled 608.5 GWh between January and June, up 20 percent year over year.

Seven Chinese companies claimed 72.4 percent of that market, up 1.5 percentage points from a year earlier. In the top five, four of five spots belong to Chinese firms. Only LG Energy Solution, in third place, remains from outside China.

CATL stays the undisputed leader with 242.7 GWh installed, up 25.3 percent. Its share rose from 38.2 percent to 39.9 percent, closing in on 40 percent. That is roughly 2.8 times the volume of second-placed BYD, and the gap keeps widening.

BYD took second with 87.7 GWh, though its share slipped from 17.0 percent to 14.4 percent as its own vehicle sales growth cooled. Most BYD batteries go into BYD cars, so the equivalent of 14.4 percent of global installations ended up in its own brand.

LG Energy Solution ranked third with 52.6 GWh, up 8.4 percent, but its share fell from 9.6 percent to 8.6 percent.

All seven Chinese makers in the top 10 posted year-over-year growth, and five grew by more than 20 percent. The three Japanese and Korean players in the ranking, LG Energy Solution, Panasonic and SK On, all lost share.

Total installations rose from 507.1 GWh to 608.5 GWh, a gain of 101.4 GWh. CATL alone contributed 49 GWh of that increase, nearly half of the global growth.

Backed by cost advantages, fast technology iteration and scale, Chinese firms are eating into Korean and Japanese share at an accelerating pace. The center of gravity in EV batteries has shifted, and there is little sign of it shifting back.