Lithium battery copper foil in 2022 can be described as "ups and downs". First, the COVID-19 led to poor shipment, and then experienced the centralized release of production capacity. At the end of the year, the growth of power batteries slowed down due to the "retrogression" policy. But these factors have not stopped the growth of lithium battery copper foil production.
According to ICC Xinlun Lithium Battery sample statistics, the production of lithium copper foil in 2022 was about 380000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 63.68%.
The price of lithium battery copper foil has experienced a trend of first rising and then falling, mainly due to overcapacity and the decline in electrolytic copper prices. By the end of the year, the industry had returned to price and cost competition. The downstream power battery factories have a strong willingness to lower prices, and currently, the processing fee for 8-micron copper foil has dropped below 30000 yuan/ton. The demand for cost control and technology improvement in lithium battery copper foil enterprises is increasing day by day.
From the perspective of market structure, there is not much change in the overall market pattern of lithium battery copper foil in 2022, with a CR4 of 65%, which has improved compared to last year. This is mainly due to the rapid expansion of production capacity by leading lithium battery copper foil enterprises, which has widened the gap with the second and third tier. With the landing of new enterprise production capacity, traditional copper foil factories have successfully transformed, and the competition between the second and third tiers is becoming increasingly fierce.
In 2023, it is a challenge for lithium-ion copper foil, as it is inevitable that production capacity supply will slightly exceed demand. Xinlun Lithium believes that with the further upgrading of market competition, some small and medium-sized copper foil enterprises will be eliminated from the market, and leading enterprises will strive to enhance their copper foil competitiveness through acquisitions, mergers and acquisitions, overseas development, and other means.
In addition, the call for composite copper foil in 2022 has also received widespread attention from the industry. Currently, there is still a long way to go for composite copper foil to replace lithium battery copper foil. The instability and curling problems that occur during the production of composite copper foil still need some time to overcome these technical problems. At the same time, if battery manufacturers need to use composite copper foil, their own production lines also need to make certain adjustments.
The competitive landscape and production capacity distribution of lithium battery copper foil industry
At present, the concentration of the lithium battery copper foil market in China is relatively high, with the top 10 enterprises accounting for 86% of production. From the perspective of production capacity distribution regions, East China, Central China, Northwest China, and South China are the key areas for lithium battery copper foil enterprises to layout in China.
From the perspective of market competition, the concentration of China's lithium battery copper foil market is relatively high, and leading enterprises have established a strong market position with advantages in funding, technology, and customers. In 2022, the top 10 enterprises in the lithium battery copper foil industry accounted for 86% of their production.

The production capacity of lithium battery copper foil in China is mainly concentrated in the East China region, followed by central, southern, northwest and other regions. Multiple characteristic copper foil production bases have been established nationwide, including Fuzhou in Jiangxi, Meizhou in Guangdong, and Lanzhou in Gansu. The East China region is not only a gathering area for lithium-ion battery production capacity, but also a major terminal manufacturing and consumption area. Thanks to the high-quality upstream and downstream industrial structure, it has attracted lithium-ion copper foil enterprises to invest and layout here.
The market concentration of China's electronic circuit copper foil industry is relatively high, with the top 10 enterprises accounting for 82% of production. The production capacity of China's electronic circuit copper foil is mainly distributed in Jiangsu, Guangdong, Jiangxi and other regions.
In 2022, the market concentration of China's electronic circuit copper foil industry is relatively high, with the top 10 enterprises in the industry accounting for 82% of production.
The production capacity of copper foil for electronic circuits in China is mainly concentrated in Jiangsu, Guangdong, Jiangxi and other regions, accounting for more than 50% of the total. However, copper foil group level factories are scattered in many areas, and building factories in remote areas (such as Qinghai, Guangxi, Yunnan, Gansu, etc.) will become a new trend. This not only benefits local economic development, but also improves and enhances the regional industrial and supply chain (copper foil → copper-clad board → printed circuit board → complete machine, terminal products) of domestic copper-clad boards, providing better support.
Analysis of Changes in Copper Foil Thickness of Lithium Battery and Future Production of Lithium Battery
Future development of lithium battery copper foil lightweighting, 4.5 μ M and 6 μ The proportion of m has significantly increased, and it is expected that with the rapid development of industries such as new energy vehicles, energy storage, and consumer electronics in China, the market demand for lithium batteries will increase rapidly. In the future, China's lithium battery production will continue to grow, reaching 1363GWh by 2026
With the increasing demand for range for new energy vehicles, the trend is towards lightness and thinness. By reducing the thickness of the copper foil, more space can be released to increase the amount of active materials used and improve the energy density of the battery. However, similarly, the single GWH amount of copper foil will also significantly decrease.
In 2022, the market share of new energy vehicles increased by 94% year-on-year to 25.6%. The growth rate will slow down in 2023, and the basic sales volume is too large, making it more difficult to achieve high growth. Furthermore, subsidies are being reduced and consumption is being overdrawn.
However, the trend of car electrification remains unchanged, and the European new energy vehicle market continues to grow rapidly, driving the export scale of some leading domestic battery companies to increase; Against the backdrop of continuous growth in wind and photovoltaic installed capacity and accelerated construction of 5G base stations, the demand for energy storage lithium batteries will also grow rapidly. Therefore, it is expected that the total production of lithium batteries in China will continue to rise in the future, and it is expected that the total production of lithium batteries in China will reach 1363GWh by 2026.
Economic and safety advantages, composite copper foil is expected to replace traditional copper foil
As an important component of batteries, the current collector is a key element for converting chemical energy into electrical energy and outputting it externally. The current collector does not contribute to the actual battery capacity, and its mass accounts for about 12% of the total mass of lithium batteries, while its cost accounts for about 8% of the total cost of lithium batteries. Therefore, the reduction of the weight and thickness of the current collector in lithium batteries is not only beneficial for increasing the volume of the active material in the battery, thereby increasing the energy density of the battery, but also for reducing the current collector

The thinner the lithium battery current collector, the lower its tensile and compressive deformation resistance, and the greater the possibility of fracture or cracking on the foil surface, which can easily lead to uncontrolled heating. At the same time, traditional collectors are prone to producing burrs when subjected to external collision, which can lead to safety hazards such as short circuits. Therefore, composite collectors with advantages such as safety are expected to become the future development trend.
In traditional lithium copper foil, the direct material cost accounts for a relatively large proportion of the total cost of lithium copper foil, reaching 83%. Therefore, the total cost of traditional lithium copper foil is highly sensitive to changes in cathode copper prices. In recent years, lithium copper foil has become extremely thin, which increases the energy density of batteries by compressing the volume, bringing opportunities for lightweight PET copper foil. At present, PET copper foil is in the industrialization stage, and the equipment cost required in its production process is relatively high, accounting for a large proportion of the total cost. Due to the fact that the price of PET is much lower than that of cathode copper, with the improvement of equipment yield, after the mass production of PET copper foil, it will have a cost advantage. According to calculations, under current technological conditions, PET copper foil can reduce raw material costs by 65% compared to traditional copper foil.
In the entire cost of lithium batteries, the cost of copper foil also accounts for a relatively high proportion.
The safety performance of power batteries is the cornerstone of the sustainable development of the new energy vehicle industry. Under the trend of high nickel battery materials, safety anxiety remains the number one obstacle that cannot be overcome. Among the various causes of thermal runaway in batteries, internal short circuit is a common link, and the occurrence of internal short circuit has a high degree of concealment. How to overcome internal short circuits in batteries is a global challenge.
Due to the difficulty in balancing the relationships between various properties of mainstream materials, safety, energy density, and cycle life form an impossible triangle in theory. This limits the space for selecting protective paths for short circuits within the battery, and also increases the difficulty and cost of implementing thermal control. Therefore, any new technological route for materials/structures that is expected to break the impossible triangle will become a focus of attention for the academic community, industry, and capital.
When ordinary collector materials are punctured, large-sized burrs will be generated, causing internal short circuits and causing thermal runaway, which is a direct factor in the explosion and fire of new energy vehicle batteries. Traditional technology only has a delaying effect on internal short circuits and comes at the cost of sacrificing battery energy density. The polymer substrate in the middle of the composite current collector has flame-retardant properties, and its metal conductive layer is relatively thin. When short circuited, it will melt like a fuse, quickly melting before thermal runaway. Battery damage is limited to the puncture site, forming a "point circuit". The burr size generated by the composite fluid collector is small, and the circuit breaking effect caused by the heating of the polymer material layer can greatly reduce the short-circuit current in a short period of time, and effectively prevent thermal runaway caused by lithium dendrites penetrating the diaphragm.

Introducing composite copper foil instead of traditional lithium battery copper foil is considered by the industry as one of the effective ways to solve the safety issues of power batteries.
Composite copper foil competes for dominance, starting the first year of commercialization in 2023
The composite copper foil industry currently has a large number of players entering, and the industry is showing a competitive trend. On the industrial chain, 1) upstream are raw material and equipment manufacturers, mainly including polymer film material manufacturers, target material manufacturers, vacuum coating equipment manufacturers, and water electroplating equipment manufacturers. 2) The midstream is the copper foil manufacturing sector, with new and old enterprises actively entering. In addition to independent research and development manufacturers, it also includes: ① upstream material factories and equipment factories entering vertically; ② Downstream battery factory checkpoint track, integrated copper foil production, welding, and battery manufacturing; ③ Traditional copper foil manufacturers rely on the advantage of copper plating technology to take advantage of the trend and layout; ④ Manufacturers of optoelectronic films, electromagnetic shielding films, and other functional films actively expand their product matrix based on their technological advantages. 3) The downstream mainly focuses on battery application, mainly applied to lithium batteries, including power, energy storage, and consumer battery manufacturers.
From the perspective of development process, the development of composite copper foil is still in the growth stage of the industry life cycle, and it is in the early stage of growth. 2023 is expected to become the first year of commercialization of composite copper foil, and there have been multiple enterprise layouts before。