Hithium has announced that it was the world’s second-largest supplier of battery energy storage cells during the first half of 2026, retaining its position behind market leader CATL. This has been corroborated by shipment data published by several research organisations.
InfoLink Consulting ranked the five largest suppliers as CATL, Hithium, EVE Energy, BYD Energy Storage and CALB. Together, they accounted for 56.5% of global energy storage cell shipments.
InfoLink estimated that worldwide shipments reached 467.84 GWh during the six months, an increase of 94.8% from the corresponding period of 2025.
CATL and Hithium retain the top two spots
Separate figures from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence also placed CATL first and Hithium second. Benchmark estimated that CATL held 22.0% of the market, more than twice Hithium’s 10.2% share. EVE Energy followed with 9.0%.
Hithium’s announcement described the company as being among the global “top two”, but did not identify CATL as the market leader or disclose its own shipment volume or market share.
The rankings refer to BESS cell shipments rather than deliveries of complete energy storage systems. Benchmark’s system-integrator ranking was led by BYD Energy Storage with a 9.1% share, followed by Sungrow with 8.8% and CATL with 8.0%.
Hithium said it had retained second place for a second consecutive year. The company attributed its position to an integrated supply chain covering materials development, cell manufacturing, system integration and lifecycle services.
Its current product strategy includes lithium iron phosphate systems designed for discharge durations of four to eight hours. Hithium said its products have been deployed in more than 40 countries.
The manufacturer is expanding production in China and overseas. BESTmag reported in August that production had begun at Hithium’s $1.8 billion long-duration energy storage manufacturing park in Heze, Shandong province.
Hithium said production ramp-up had also begun at its Texas facility, while construction was continuing on its planned Spanish battery plant.
InfoLink said the ten largest cell manufacturers’ combined market share fell from 91.2% in the first half of 2025 to 82.3% a year later as additional suppliers secured orders in a capacity-constrained market.
