Xiaomi is buying its way deeper into the battery business. The smartphone giant turned carmaker plans to put about $253 million into Sunwoda EVB, the electric vehicle battery arm of Sunwoda, for a 5.34% stake. That makes Xiaomi the battery maker’s third-largest shareholder, right behind Sunwoda itself and Li Auto, which bought in just two months ago.
The deal was disclosed in a Sunwoda filing on the evening of October 29. The capital increase agreement is already signed, but Sunwoda’s shareholders still have to approve it.
The deal in numbers
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Xiaomi investment | about $253 million |
| Xiaomi stake after the deal | 5.34% (third-largest shareholder) |
| Agreed pre-money value of Sunwoda EVB | about $4.49 billion |
| Sunwoda stake | 24.06% falls to 22.78% |
| Li Auto stake | 8.79% falls to 8.32% |
| Sunwoda EVB, first half of 2026 | revenue about $2.31 billion, net loss about $48 million |
Xiaomi is investing through its wholly owned fund Hanxing Venture Capital, subscribing to newly issued capital. According to the filing, the price matches the battery unit’s previous funding round.
Sunwoda gives up control
The bigger story is what happens to Sunwoda. After the new money comes in, Sunwoda EVB will elect a new board, and Sunwoda will hold no more than half of the seats. It stays the largest shareholder, but the battery unit will no longer be a consolidated subsidiary.
That has a nice side effect for the parent company’s books. Because the remaining stake will be revalued at fair value, Sunwoda expects a one-off boost of roughly $477 million to $670 million to its 2026 net profit, subject to audit. From then on it will only book its share of the unit’s earnings. Sunwoda says the move lets it focus on consumer batteries and energy storage while cutting its debt load.
On the same evening Sunwoda also dropped its plan to list H shares in Hong Kong, a listing that shareholders had approved back in July 2025. The company blamed market conditions and changes in its own development plans.
Why Xiaomi wants in
Xiaomi already relies on Sunwoda EVB. In September it launched its own branded battery, developed with CALB and Sunwoda EVB, and Sunwoda set up a dedicated production line for it with Xiaomi quality staff working on site. A shareholding gives Xiaomi more say over supply, capacity and joint development at a time when its car business is still scaling up fast.
Xiaomi is following a path Li Auto opened. On September 4, Sunwoda said Li Auto would invest about $395 million for a direct 8.79% stake, and the two companies already run a 50/50 joint venture making Li Auto’s in-house batteries. Xpeng and Sungrow are also on the shareholder list.
What it means
Chinese carmakers no longer want to be just customers of CATL and BYD. By taking stakes in second-tier suppliers like Sunwoda EVB, Xiaomi and Li Auto lock in capacity, get closer to cell development and gain leverage on price. For Sunwoda EVB, which is still losing money, having two fast-growing EV brands as shareholders is a strong vote of confidence and a steady source of orders.
