On 1 June 2026, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the Gurun Industrial Park in Kedah, Malaysia, for an integrated 50,000 tonnes-per-annum anode material plant – the first overseas production base built by Shanghai Putailai New Energy Technology (SHA: 603659), China’s second-largest anode producer, through its Zichen subsidiary. The civil works are being delivered by the China Northwest Company, and the ceremony drew more than 100 people.
Malaysia gives Chinese producers a non-China address while the supply chain behind it stays Chinese. The know-how, the equipment and the ownership don’t change, only the location does, which softens the impact of tariffs and rules-of-origin tests aimed at graphite coming straight from China.
The Project
The plant sits in the Gurun Industrial Park in Kedah State and covers a total building area of 82,158.53 square metres. Within the construction-drawing scope, the China Northwest Company is delivering the civil works, installation, and outdoor works for the plant’s three main process areas: raw-material crushing and granulation, graphitisation, and carbonisation. Once it is up and running, the plant will serve battery customers across Southeast Asia, using the region’s position to respond quickly to demand.
Groundbreaking ceremony, Gurun Industrial Park, Kedah, 1 June 2026. Source: China Northwest Company / WeChat.
Rather than shipping in ready-graphitised material, the facility brings crushing, granulation, graphitisation, and carbonisation under one roof. Graphitisation is by far the most energy-hungry and capital-intensive step in making anode, so building it offshore, rather than just a final coating or blending line, is what makes this a shift of capacity rather than a token finishing plant.
At the ceremony, project lead Wang Zhaorong thanked the design, supervision, and main-contractor teams for their work through the early stage, and set out three priorities for the build ahead:
- Holding firmly to the safety baseline across the whole construction process.
- Keeping tight control of build quality to deliver on time and to specification.
- Strengthening coordination between all parties so the project lands to a high standard.
Li Bo, Deputy General Manager of the China Northwest Company, described the project as a key vehicle for seizing high-quality Belt and Road opportunities, speeding up the company’s overseas footprint, and digging deeper into Southeast Asia’s new energy sector.
Why Malaysia
The choice of Kedah is no accident. Public information indicates that EVE Energy – one of Putailai’s major Chinese anode customers – has already invested in a plant in the same state, while Samsung SDI, a key overseas customer, runs a facility in nearby Negeri Sembilan. Building in Kedah places Putailai’s anode output right next to the cells it is destined for.
The regional backdrop is strong. Malaysia saw new energy vehicle sales grow by more than 50% in 2025, with Thailand and Indonesia also expanding quickly. Other Chinese battery-chain names – CATL, EVE Energy, and BTR among them – have already been building across Southeast Asia, and this plant slots Putailai into the same cluster logic: local supply, shorter logistics, and distance from the tariffs and trade measures increasingly aimed at material shipped directly from China. Notably, this is also the project Putailai turned to after shelving an earlier, larger plan for an integrated anode base in Sweden.
50,000 Tonnes, Putailai’s First Step Offshore
In tonnage terms, 50,000 tpa is modest set against Putailai’s wider footprint. The company ended last year with roughly 250,000 tpa of anode capacity and shipped 143,000 tonnes in 2025, up 8.1% on the year. Only about 6% of its revenue came from overseas markets. The Malaysia base is the first physical step in turning Putailai from a China-domestic supplier that exports into a genuinely multi-region manufacturer, the structural change its largest global customers increasingly demand.
The total investment runs to up to US$297 million (around RMB 2.05 billion), delivered through Putailai’s wholly owned overseas subsidiary structure. Construction is expected to take roughly 24 months, which would put first output somewhere around 2028, depending on build progress.
CNY/USD figures reflect Putailai’s project announcement (US$297M ≈ RMB 2.05 billion, per the March 2026 filing). For reference, the spot rate on 3 June 2026 was approximately 1 USD = 6.77 CNY.
Primary source (groundbreaking): China Northwest (Xibei) Company project release, “紫宸马来西亚年产5万吨负极材料一体化项目开工”, via WeChat, 1 June 2026.
Supporting references:
• Yicai Global, “China’s Putailai to Invest USD297 Million in New Lithium Battery Materials Plant in Malaysia”, 12 March 2026 (capacity, investment, Kedah/Gurun location, EVE Energy and Samsung SDI Malaysian plants, 250,000 tpa capacity, 143,000 t 2025 shipments, ~6% overseas revenue).
• Mysteel / SMM, Putailai 11 March 2026 disclosure on Zichen Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (US$297M / ~RMB 2.051bn total investment).
• ScandAsia, “Chinese Putailai ditches Sweden plans for Malaysia plant”, 18 March 2026 (Malaysia >50% NEV sales growth in 2025; Sweden cancellation context).
Disclosure: This is GraphiteHub analytical commentary. The groundbreaking account is translated and adapted from a Chinese-language project release published on WeChat; figures and context are supplemented with the referenced third-party sources. GraphiteHub does not guarantee the accuracy of translated or third-party material and accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions. This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.