Robin Zeng

Robin Zeng is the founder and chairman of CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology), China's dominant power battery manufacturer . He established the company in 2011 by spinning out the power battery team from ATL, the world's then-largest polymer lithium-ion battery maker where he had previously built his career . Under his leadership, CATL grew into a strategic investor with its own corporate venture capital arm—its 2023 acquisition of Sichuan Snowway Mining for RMB 6.4 billion, a 73.9% premium over the company's prior valuation, was executed by his assistant Qu Tao who heads the investment unit . Zeng himself briefly topped China's wealth rankings in 2021, trading the title with Nongfu Spring's Zhong Shanshan in a rivalry that, as one investor noted, reflected the broader economic shift toward technology and new energy overtaking consumer sectors . By 2024, however, he had landed among the top ten billionaires by wealth decline, as intensifying competition in the EV battery market took its toll .