On October 2, South Korean research firm SNE Research released global power battery installation statistics for January to August 2026, showing cumulative global installations reached 844.2GWh, up 19.7% year-on-year, with August alone recording 116.8GWh, up 14.3% year-on-year, a slowdown from July's 23.3% growth rate.

The global power battery sector continues to expand overall, but uneven performance across different regional markets has become the most visible feature of this data set.

China's power battery installations for the first eight months reached 483.7GWh, up 16.9% year-on-year, below the global average growth rate, while Europe grew 29.2% year-on-year, Asia excluding China surged 76.0%, and South America led all major regions with a 179.9% year-on-year increase.

North America was the sole market to contract, with installations falling to 73.1GWh, down 23.7% year-on-year, making it the only major market to post negative growth.

In terms of corporate rankings, the global top ten power battery installation list in order comprises CATL, BYD, LG Energy Solution, CALB, Gotion High-tech, Panasonic, EVE Energy, SK On, SVOLT Energy, and REPT BATTERO.

Seven of the top ten are Chinese battery companies, collectively capturing 73.3% of the global market share, continuing to climb from 72.8% in the first half and up 3.6 percentage points from 69.7% a year earlier, showing that Chinese battery manufacturers' overall global share is on a sustained upward trajectory.

CATL held the global number one position with 333GWh in installations, up 25.2% year-on-year, with market share rising from 37.7% to 39.4%.

BYD ranked second with 127.9GWh, up 6.2% year-on-year, growing slower than the overall market average, with its market share declining to 15.1%.

The two leading companies together accounted for 54.6% market share, essentially flat compared to 54.8% a year earlier.

Beyond the two leaders, other domestic second-tier battery companies showed more outstanding growth performance.

CALB installed 44.4GWh, up 32.6% year-on-year, Gotion High-tech installed 41.5GWh, up 47.1%, EVE Energy installed 29.5GWh, up 53.9%, SVOLT Energy installed 22GWh, up 39.3%, and REPT BATTERO installed 20.3GWh with a year-on-year growth rate of 126.3%, making it the fastest-growing company among the global top ten.

REPT BATTERO's rapid ascent is closely tied to the explosive growth of its energy storage business.

In the first half of 2026, the company shipped 27.2GWh of energy storage batteries, up approximately 43.9% year-on-year, ranking first globally in residential energy storage cell shipments for consecutive periods and second globally in commercial and industrial energy storage cell shipments.

In contrast, Japanese and South Korean battery companies generally underperformed the broader global market.

LG Energy Solution ranked third globally with 68.3GWh in installations, achieving only 0.9% year-on-year growth, with market share dropping to 8.1%.

SK On installed 24.9GWh, down 14.5% year-on-year, with market share narrowing to 2.9%.

Panasonic ranked sixth with 29.7GWh, growing just 1.8% year-on-year, with its share reaching 3.5%.

Panasonic's automotive battery business remains highly dependent on Tesla's North American market orders.

Facing weakening domestic electric vehicle demand, the company, in addition to advancing capacity ramp-up at its Kansas plant, has been studying the possibility of redirecting some existing capacity to the data center battery segment, hoping to use new business areas to offset growth pressure in its automotive battery operations.

This data also reflects the real changes taking place in the industry.

The global power battery market has already reached a high base, and whether the industry can continue to sustain growth levels near twenty percent going forward remains subject to considerable uncertainty.

In the past, industry competition focused more on the speed of capacity expansion, but the criteria for evaluating market competition are now shifting.

SNE Research noted in its report that future gaps between industry players will be determined by the actual operational efficiency of overseas factory production, the ability to expand channels for non-automotive businesses such as energy storage, and the capability to deploy products across multiple technology routes including lithium iron phosphate.

The enormous differences in regional market demand will also force battery companies to re-examine their resource allocation.

The shrinking demand in the North American market and the rapid rise of emerging markets in South America and Southeast Asia will all become external variables shaping each company's future performance.

For domestic Chinese battery manufacturers, although their overall share continues to rise, growth rates among the top two companies have diverged, second-tier players have widened their growth gaps, and Japanese and Korean rivals are also attempting to find new room for survival through business transformation.

The competitive landscape of the global power battery market remains in a process of dynamic adjustment.