I. Industry Coordinates: Semi-Solid-State Gets Into Vehicles First, All-Solid-State Enters Pilot Production

The industrialization of solid-state batteries is not happening in one leap; it is unfolding along two timelines. The first is semi-solid-state (hybrid solid-liquid) batteries. According to research institute EVTank, global solid-state battery shipments reached 5.3 GWh in 2024, up roughly 4.3x year on year, all of it semi-solid-state product and essentially all produced by Chinese companies; industry institutions expect China's domestic semi-solid-state battery shipments to exceed 10 GWh in 2025. By 2026, models carrying hybrid solid-liquid batteries such as the NIO ET9 and SAIC MG4 are entering volume delivery, with this batch of vehicle-installed products concentrated in the 350–400 Wh/kg energy-density range. The second timeline is all-solid-state batteries. From the second half of 2025 onward, leading battery makers' sulfide all-solid-state pilot lines have been landing in clusters; automakers including Geely and Chery have locked their all-solid-state vehicle demonstration milestones to 2027. According to public reports, the major all-solid-state battery R&D program led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology carries funding of roughly RMB 6 billion, with a cadence set at lab-scale trials in 2025, pilot production in 2026, and small-scale mass production in 2027.

For upstream suppliers, the two timelines correspond to two kinds of business: the semi-solid-state ramp-up brings recurring procurement on the materials side, while all-solid-state pilot production brings one-off capital expenditure on the equipment side. This article follows the materials and equipment tracks to map the capacity expansion and procurement happening along this supply chain as of mid-2026.

II. Materials Track One: Sulfide Electrolytes, Bottlenecked at Lithium Sulfide

Sulfide electrolytes offer the highest ionic conductivity and are the mainstream choice for the all-solid-state route among China's leading battery makers — and currently the highest-certainty line on the materials side. First, the battery makers' pilot progress:

  • CATL: according to public reports, its sulfide all-solid-state R&D team has expanded to roughly 1,200 people, its 20 Ah samples have reached an energy density of 450 Wh/kg, and the company plans small-scale mass production in 2027;
  • Farasis Energy: self-reported completion of a 0.2 GWh sulfide all-solid-state pilot line by end-2025, delivering 60 Ah cells to strategic customers, with plans to expand capacity to GWh scale in 2026;
  • Gotion High-Tech: self-reported that its "Gemstone" battery reaches an energy density of 350 Wh/kg, its 0.2 GWh pilot line runs on 100% domestically made core equipment, and the product has begun on-vehicle road testing;
  • BYD: plans to start batch demonstration vehicle installation of all-solid-state batteries around 2027, with large-scale volume placed after 2030.

A pilot line does not consume much material by itself, but it determines who gets positioned in material qualification. The real bottleneck of the sulfide route lies in the raw material lithium sulfide: according to China Merchants Securities estimates, lithium sulfide currently trades at over RMB 3 million per tonne; under the reckoning of institutions such as Shanghai Metals Market (SMM), the cost of traditional process routes is even higher. Tinci Materials disclosed in investor communications that under the mainstream process, each tonne of sulfide solid electrolyte requires roughly 400 kilograms of lithium sulfide. Industry estimates put global lithium sulfide demand at about 1,000 tonnes in 2027, potentially approaching 10,000 tonnes by 2030 — from hundreds of tonnes to 10,000 tonnes, a textbook raw-material curve of pilot production moving toward mass production.

Capacity construction around lithium sulfide is already scheduled through the second half of 2026, and nearly all of it is greenfield:

  • Wanbang Shenghui: built a 200-tonne-per-year high-purity lithium sulfide demonstration line in Meishan, Sichuan in 2025, with formal production start in early 2026 (company self-reported);
  • The Grinm-affiliated group: a 200-tonne lithium sulfide line in Hebei is planned to start production in Q3 2026;
  • Tianqi Lithium: a 50-tonne-per-year lithium sulfide pilot project has broken ground, expected to be completed in the second half of 2026;
  • Tinci Materials: a hundred-tonne-scale lithium sulfide and sulfide electrolyte pilot line is expected to complete construction in the second half of 2026.

For upstream suppliers, the procurement list of these new lines is quite specific: lithium sulfide synthesis and post-processing must be isolated from water and oxygen throughout, so inert-atmosphere gloveboxes, hydrogen-sulfide-corrosion-resistant reactors and pipe fittings and valves, low-dew-point dry rooms, and high-purity sulfur and lithium sources are all things that liquid-electrolyte battery material plants previously bought rarely or not at all. Whoever is building lines is placing orders.

III. Materials Track Two: Oxide Electrolytes and Lithium Metal Anodes

Oxide electrolytes take a different path: their ionic conductivity is lower than sulfides', but they offer good air stability and a lower mass-production threshold, making them the workhorse electrolyte for semi-solid-state batteries. With semi-solid-state batteries installed in vehicles at GWh scale since 2024, oxide electrolytes have gone straight from laboratory material to tonne-scale commodity — Shanghai Safbon self-reported achieving tonne-scale mass production of LLZO (lithium lanthanum zirconium oxide) and plans to expand capacity to 2,000 tonnes per year. Demand-side deployment is spreading as well: WeLion New Energy self-reported that its semi-solid-state capacity has reached 5.6 GWh, with orders concentrated in three areas — energy storage, commercial vehicles, and low-altitude aviation propulsion; QingTao Energy's 314 Ah large-capacity semi-solid-state cells have been applied in the Three Gorges energy storage project and in telecom base stations. Semi-solid-state demand extends beyond passenger vehicles: energy storage and low-altitude applications are providing a second growth curve.

Lithium metal anodes are the direction of second-generation all-solid-state batteries, with greater upside. Ganfeng Lithium self-reported showcasing a 500 Wh/kg-class all-solid-state sample paired with a sulfide electrolyte and a lithium metal anode, with 10 Ah-class samples already in small-batch production; its lithium metal capacity in Yichun and Fengxin, Jiangxi totals 2,150 tonnes, its 1,000-tonne-per-year project in Qinghai has partially entered trial production; its ultra-thin lithium strip has achieved mass production at 300 mm width, and the lithium foil in its copper-lithium composite strip can be made as thin as 3 micrometers. Tianqi Lithium has 600 tonnes of existing lithium metal capacity and 1,000 tonnes under construction. Per Sina Finance reporting, global lithium metal shipments are set to exceed 10,000 tonnes. The processing of lithium strip and copper-lithium composite strip will drive accompanying procurement of precision calendering equipment, ultra-thin copper foil, and anti-oxidation packaging materials.

IV. Equipment Track: Dry-Process Electrodes, Stacking, and Isostatic Pressing — a Production Line Two to Three Times More Expensive

The process differences between all-solid-state and liquid-electrolyte production lines concentrate in four steps: dry-process electrodes replace wet coating and drying, isostatic pressing replaces conventional calendering to densify solid-solid interfaces, stacking precision requirements rise a full grade, and formation and grading shift to high-pressure fixture formation. The first two are entirely new equipment categories; the latter two are heavy upgrades of existing equipment.

On investment intensity, estimates differ widely across institutions, so they are listed separately:

  • Industry deep-dive report reckoning: liquid-electrolyte lines at roughly RMB 200–220 million per GWh, semi-solid-state at roughly RMB 280 million per GWh, all-solid-state at roughly RMB 400–600 million per GWh, with dry-process electrode, isostatic pressing, and other front- and mid-stage equipment accounting for roughly 80% of the value;
  • Another brokerage estimate gives a lower range of RMB 120 million for liquid, RMB 150 million for semi-solid-state, and RMB 250 million per GWh for all-solid-state;
  • China Merchants Securities forecasts that by 2030, all-solid-state equipment investment per GWh will fall back to RMB 200–300 million.

The two sets of absolute figures differ by nearly a factor of two, but the direction is consistent: all-solid-state equipment investment per unit of capacity is 2–3x that of liquid-electrolyte lines, and the premium is concentrated in the new equipment categories. This is exactly why equipment makers are racing ahead. Lead Intelligent self-reported having developed a 600 MPa large-capacity warm isostatic pressing machine (maximum working temperature 150°C) and a production-grade solid-state stacking machine, with its dry-process electrode, electrolyte membrane, high-speed stacking, and isostatic pressing equipment already delivered in multiple countries and regions, serving customers spanning leading battery makers and automakers.

On cadence: from January to April 2025, publicly announced solid-state battery capacity expansion exceeded 50 GWh, with total planned capacity exceeding 450 GWh (OFweek statistical reckoning, which includes semi-solid-state and planned capacity and differs substantially from actual commissioned capacity — a caveat when citing); some institutions judge that the wave of GWh-scale all-solid-state line construction may unfold in 2027. Working backward, 2026–2027 is precisely the dense period for equipment tendering and prototype validation: pilot-line equipment has already been delivered, and tenders for the first batch of mass-production lines are being launched. High-pressure vessels and seals for isostatic pressing machines, fiberization and precision calendering components for dry-process electrode equipment, dehumidification units and dry-room engineering for line-wide low-dew-point environments, plus second- and third-tier supporting categories like sheet metal, vacuum, specialty gases, and sensors — the orders are all cascading down from the equipment prime contractors.

V. Conclusion: Translating the Industry Timetable Into an Order Timetable

Converting the industry cadence above into action windows for upstream suppliers yields roughly three layers:

  • Now through end-2026: semi-solid-state ramps up; oxide electrolytes and their raw materials, lithium salts, composite current collectors, and similar materials enter a recurring procurement phase that tracks shipment volume;
  • 2026–2027: all-solid-state moves from pilot to small-batch production; lithium sulfide line construction, lithium strip supply, equipment prototype validation, and tenders for the first mass-production lines happen in concentration — a one-off but high-value window;
  • After 2027: if the wave of GWh-scale line construction unfolds on schedule, standardized equipment, plant dry-room engineering, and specialty gas supply shift into volume phase.

For B2B salespeople who supply factories, the way to use this timetable is direct: new equipment categories and new materials mean the incumbent supplier rosters have not yet solidified, and the cost of getting onto qualification lists is at its lowest right now. The hard part is not judging the direction, but finding the specific factories that are building lines and issuing tenders. On Tianxia Gongchang AI — Tianxia Gongchang (tianxiagongchang.com), a B2B platform covering 4.8 million Chinese factories — you can conversationally search this supply chain's real, in-production factories directly by category and region, across its library of 4.8 million real, operating factories.

Data Sources

All data in this article come from public channels: shipment figures and market forecasts are cited from public releases by EVTank and the Gaogong Industry Institute (GGII) and from industry media reports by 21st Century Business Herald, Cailian Press, and OFweek Battery; lithium sulfide prices and equipment investment estimates are cited from public research reports by China Merchants Securities, Soochow Securities, and other brokerages, and from reports by CBEA (Battery China) and Shanghai Metals Market (SMM); corporate capacity, pilot-line, and product-parameter figures all come from company announcements, investor communication disclosures, or public reports, marked in the text case by case as "self-reported" or "according to public reports". Where multiple statistical reckonings exist for the same indicator (such as equipment investment per GWh, or solid-state battery shipment forecasts), the article lists the reckonings separately without adjudicating between them; planned capacity and actually commissioned capacity differ substantially in scope, and the distinction has been drawn where cited. Data as of July 2026.