21st century economic reporter, lin tsing, intern, shenzhen
The lithium copper industry is in a difficult position because of the high capacity of low- and middle-end production and the heat of price games, and devoted technologies (301511. Sz) has come to a profit trap。
It took seven years for devotech to transform itself from a traditional electronics copper business into the second-largest industry in the global lithium copper market. During this period, its copper aluminum capacity jumped from 26,000 tons to 150,000 tons, and the list of customers in the lithium electricity industry covered front-line battery manufacturers such as the ninder era, biadi and lges。
In recent days, during the organization of cibf 2025, the deputy director-general for technology of devoted technology, song tie feng, was interviewed on economic reporting for the twenty-first century on how to cross the cycle mist and highlight the crescent of the copper-rich red sea。
Song tie-fung said that german technology was driving the development of copper to thin, high-performance, and that the spread of thin copper to not only help customers but also to improve the profitability of copper companies to achieve win-win results. New products such as super-high copper beryllium, corrosive copper beryllium, fogged copper beryllium and core beryllium have been developed and produced to assist in the landing of downstream half/total solid battery products。
At the same time, he said that overcapacity could not be resolved quickly in the short term, that accelerated application of high-end products would speed up the winding up of industries and that head-of-the-art firms would rely on technological, size-based advantages to further concentrate market shares。
First to lose
In 2017, devon technology saw opportunities for new energy markets, with a second growth curve built on lithium copper. Despite the relatively low market for lithium copper in 2019 and 2020, companies have firmly opted for a reverse expansion。
Of these, the first phase of production in the kansuland region of devontech was 12,000 tons, the second phase was 18,000 tons, the third phase was 40,000 tons and the total capacity reached 70,000 tons。
Together with 55,000 tons of capacity and investment projects, and 25,000 tons of the amber plant, as of the end of 2024, dtp had built capacity of 150,000 tons per year, and another 25,000 tons per year were released by the company in 2025. It is expected that the company will have built capacity of 175,000 tons per year by the end of 2025, which is located in the head of a domestically owned copper company。
Not only is production expanded by the devereaux tech, but the copper industry association statistics show that in 2024 the country's total copper production capacity was about 185 tons, of which 62 per cent was lithium copper and 48 per cent electronic circuit copper. The annual production of copper is 1. 133 million tons, of which lithium copper is 647,000 tons, and in 2024 only 61. 2 per cent of the capacity of electrolytic copper is used, with a significant excess of capacity at the lower and middle end。
While capacity utilization has improved somewhat compared to 2023, overall start-up rates remain inadequate, market competition has intensified and prices have become hotter, resulting in overall industry-wide losses。
Dvt is one of the smaller declines in net profits, and song iron feng explains that last year, dvt remained as strong as possible at the product price floor, resulting in a loss of market share and a relatively low overall capacity utilization rate. “if the entire industry does not earn money, this will not last long enough, and ultimately clients will be able to analyse rationally, focus on long-term rather than short-term benefits, and build stable partnerships with supply chain enterprises.”
The 2024 newspaper shows a stable relationship of cooperation between devoted technologies and the ningde era, lges, byd, kushu koko, xinwanda and cain lithium power。
In the first quarter of 2025, devoft succeeded in making a gain of 1,820. 09 million net profits to the mother, which was the first copper company to present a single-quarter profit。
For this reason, song iron feng indicated that difeng technology had reached full production in the first quarter of this year, that the company's capacity utilization rate had increased and that there had been an increase in the māori rate for copper platinum products。
On the other hand, new products that are being developed by devoted technologies are constantly being marketed, which also increases the profitability of companies。
The improvement of the copper crop of electronic circuits, the reverse processing of copper snails by the rtf, the ultra-low profile copper slugs by the hvlp, the carrier copper slugs, and the blocking of products such as copper snails, have gradually been pushed to market growth, increasing overall average sales prices and market competitiveness. In the past, this type of copper is dominated by imports from japan and taiwan, china, and domestic copper manufacturers are gradually opening up。
It's too thin. It's too strong to fight the time of the bronze
Despite the overall overcapacity of the industry, the technological advancement of lithium copper is never stopped, and the iterative direction is mainly in the direction of thinning, high intensity, high extension, and semi-soft/total solid battery applications in the frontier areas of ultra-high-range new energy vehicles, drones, low-altitude vehicles, etc
Song iron feng indicated that the use of copper in the above-mentioned areas had yielded results. To date, devon technologies currently has the smallest product of up to 3 μm, and this year companies will continue to increase their share of very thin copper. Even thinner lithium copper beams can effectively reduce the material costs of batteries while increasing their energy intensity。
The current market share of very thin copper beams is about 15 per cent, and in downstream applications this year the penetration rate of very thin copper beams in batteries is expected to increase to 30 to 40 per cent by the end of 2025 and will continue to grow in the future。
“although the main product in the lithium copper industry is still 6 micrometres at present, devoted technology advocates market acquisition by increasing the value of products rather than relying solely on price competition. As the price of 6 μm copper is reduced to a low point, it is difficult to make a profit from the production of this specification.” song iron peak talks about it。
Revaluation of pre-merger night value
Although technological innovation can escape some of the “inner volume”, the problem of overcapacity remains inescapable。
Since this year, the copper industry has been at a turning point in its expansion and profitability. While the front-line enterprises are gradually making profits, the tail-line 2 and 3 companies continue to lose。
Since last april, m & as systems have been continuously optimized and market attention has gradually increased. With regulatory incentives, m & as markets have been “defunct”, and firms are likely to be more likely to undertake industrial m & as in line with their own development needs。
On 21 may, the devon science and technology bulletin stated that the company intended to acquire 100 per cent of the shares of an offshore electronic circuit copper company。
Song tie feng believes that the acquisition of assets during the industry's clean-up phase will contribute to a further concentration of market shares in the copper industry to the head, which will lead to a strong position. The whole industry remains fragmented, with market share of leading firms at only about 15 per cent, with the top five combined accounting for about 50 to 60 per cent。
With regard to demand in the copper industry, song iron feng expects that the global demand for lithium copper will continue to grow. Although the penetration rate of new energy vehicles is now over 50 per cent in china, it remains low in south-east asia, europe and the united states, where there is significant market potential. In addition, new energy cell applications are extensive, and other areas, such as energy storage, drones and others, still have greater market space in the future。
