Japanese and Korean Firms Cornered! Chinese Companies Hold 7 of Top 10 Spots in Global Battery Installation Ranking for January-July

On September 8, South Korean research firm SNE Research released its global EV battery installation statistics for January-July 2026. Total global installations reached 725.2 GWh, a 20.4% increase year-over-year. Chinese companies occupied 7 of the top 10 spots, while Japanese and Korean firms held only 3, all with declining market share.

CATL continued to widen its lead with 289.6 GWh installed, up 26.6%, raising its market share from 38.0% to 39.9%. One company capturing nearly 40% of the global market is a level of concentration rarely seen in any manufacturing segment.

BYD ranked second with 106.7 GWh, up just 4.7%, but its market share actually dropped from 16.9% to 14.7%, making it one of the few companies in the top 10 to lose share. Its growth rate also fell well below the industry average.

Chinese companies ranked 4th through 10th delivered even more striking performances. CALB installed 37.3 GWh, up 34.3%, raising its share from 4.6% to 5.1%. Gotion posted 34.0 GWh, up 44.2%, ranking 5th.

EVE Energy reached 25.0 GWh, up 53.1%, in 7th place. SVOLT installed 18.9 GWh, up 39.1%, in 9th. REPT delivered 16.9 GWh, surging 118.5% year-over-year to claim the 10th spot.

The seven Chinese companies combined for approximately 528.4 GWh, accounting for 72.8% of the global total. Six of them grew faster than 26%, and four — REPT, EVE, Gotion, and SVOLT — all exceeded 38% growth, well above the industry average of 20.4%. This growth gap means Chinese market share will keep expanding.

On the Japanese and Korean side, LG Energy Solution ranked 3rd with 60.3 GWh, up 4.5%, but its market share slipped from 9.6% to 8.3%. Panasonic ranked 6th with 26.2 GWh, up 7.6%, with share declining from 4.0% to 3.6%.

SK on was the only company in the top 10 to post negative growth, with installations falling 9.8% to 22.3 GWh, and its share dropped from 4.1% to 3.1%, pushing its ranking down from 6th to 8th.

The three Japanese and Korean companies saw their combined market share shrink from 17.7% to 15.0%, a decline of 2.7 percentage points. CATL alone holds nearly 25 percentage points more share than all three combined.

Korea’s big three battery makers have been losing share for months. Back in January, their combined global share had already fallen to 12.0%, down 4.3 percentage points year-over-year.

Installation figures reflect batteries actually deployed in vehicles, not company shipments or production capacity. Some companies may see discrepancies between installations and actual shipments due to customer mix changes or inventory cycles. But the trend is clear.

Chinese battery makers are shifting from sheer scale advantage to growth-rate dominance. Six of the seven Chinese companies in the top 10 grew faster than 26%, while the three Japanese and Korean companies peaked at 7.6%, and SK on contracted by nearly 10%. At this pace, the room left for Japanese and Korean players will only keep shrinking.