BYD Company Limited or BYD ( zh, s=比亚迪, p=Bǐyàdí) is a Chinese multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in

Shenzhen, Guangdong Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

, China. It is a

vertically integrated In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration, also referred to as vertical consolidation, is an arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each ...

company with several major subsidiaries, including

BYD Auto BYD Auto Co., Ltd. ( zh, s=比亚迪汽车, p=Bǐyàdí Qìchē) is the Automotive industry, automotive subsidiary of BYD Company, a publicly listed Chinese multinational manufacturing company. It manufactures passenger battery electric vehicle ...

which produces

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

BYD Electronics BYD Company Limited or BYD ( zh, s=比亚迪, p=Bǐyàdí) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It is a vertically integrated com ...

which produces electronic parts and assembly, and

FinDreams BYD Company Limited or BYD ( zh, s=比亚迪, p=Bǐyàdí) is a Chinese multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It is a vertically integrated company with several major subsidiaries, including B ...

, a brand name of multiple companies that produce automotive components and

electric vehicle batteries An electric vehicle battery is a rechargeable battery used to power the electric motors of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) or hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). They are typically lithium-ion batteries that are designed for high power-to-weight r ...

. BYD was founded by

Wang Chuanfu Wang Chuanfu (; born 8 April 1966) is a Chinese chemist, billionaire entrepreneur, and the founder, chairman and CEO of the BYD Company. Wang was born in Anhui to a poor farmer family. He then studied metallurgy and earned a bachelor's degree a ...

in February 1995 as a

battery Battery or batterie most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source * Battery indicator, a device whic ...

manufacturing company. Its largest subsidiary, BYD Auto, was established in 2003 and has since become the world's largest manufacturer of

plug-in electric vehicles A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is any road vehicle that can utilize an external source of electricity (such as a wall socket that connects to the power grid) via an detachable power cable to store electrical energy within its onboard recharg ...

. Since 2009, BYD's automotive business has accounted for over 50% of its revenue, surpassing 80% by 2023. The company also produces rechargeable batteries (including

handset A handset is a component of a telephone that a user holds to the ear and mouth to receive audio through the receiver and speak to the remote party using the built-in transmitter. In earlier telephones, the transmitter was mounted directly on ...

batteries,

, and

energy storage Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time to reduce imbalances between energy demand and energy production. A device that stores energy is generally called an Accumulator (energy), accumulator or Batte ...

systems),

forklift A forklift (also called industrial truck, lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th c ...

solar panel A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

semiconductors A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping levels ...

, and

rail transit Urban rail transit is a wide term for various types of local rail systems providing passenger service within and around urban or suburban areas. The set of urban rail systems can be roughly subdivided into the following categories, which somet ...

systems. Through its subsidiary, FinDreams Battery, BYD was the world's second-largest electric vehicle battery producer in 2024, holding a 17% market share, behind only

CATL Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) is a Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company founded in 2011 that specializes in the manufacturing of lithium-ion battery, lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy st ...

. Since 2022, BYD has been China's largest

private-sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workforce ...

employer, ranking behind several

state-owned enterprises A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

. As of September 2024, the company employs 900,608 people, including 104,003 in

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

(R&D). It also leads in

patent filings A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for an invention described in the patent specification and a set of one or more claims stated in a formal document, including necessary official forms and rel ...

, having submitted over 13,000 patents between 2003 and 2023. BYD's stock is listed on the

Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (, SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. It is one of the largest stock exchanges in Asia and the List of major stock exchanges, 9th largest globally by market ...

(

H shares H shares () refer to the shares of companies incorporated in mainland China that are traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Many companies float their shares simultaneously on the Hong Kong market and one of the two mainland Chinese stock excha ...

) and the

Shenzhen Stock Exchange The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE; ) is a stock exchange based in the city of Shenzhen, in the People's Republic of China. It is one of three stock exchanges operating independently in Mainland China, the others being the Beijing Stock Excha ...

( A shares). The company ranked 143rd on the ''Fortune'' Global 500 in 2024.

Name

"BYD" is the

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

initials of the company's Chinese name ''Biyadi.'' The company was originally known as ''Yadi Electronics'' (亚迪电子), named after the Yadi Road in

Dapeng New District Dapeng New Area (大鹏新区; ) is an administrative area under the jurisdiction of Longgang, Shenzhen, Guangdong. It has a land area of , a coastline of and a total population of about 160,000. The district was created on 30December 2011 with ...

, where the company was once based. According to Wang Chuanfu, when the company was registered, the character "''Bi''" (比) was added to the name to prevent duplication, and to provide the company with an

alphabetical Alphabetical order is a system whereby character strings are placed in order based on the position of the characters in the conventional ordering of an alphabet. It is one of the methods of collation. In mathematics, a lexicographical order is ...

advantage in

trade show A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and ...

s. As the name "BYD" had no particular meaning, BYD started adopting a

backronym A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...

ic slogan "Build Your Dreams" when it participated at the 2008

North American International Auto Show The Detroit Auto Show, formerly known as the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), is an annual auto show held in Detroit, Michigan. Hosted at Huntington Place (formerly Cobo Center) since 1965, it is among the largest auto shows in ...

in the US.A Small Showing, but With Big Dreams
NICK BUNKLEY Published: 12 January 2009

History

Early years

On 18 November 1994,

gathered a team of 20 people and founded BYD in Buji Town, Longgang District,

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

. The company was formally founded on 10 February 1995 as Shenzhen BYD Battery Company Limited with

CN¥ The renminbi ( ; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB), also known as the Chinese yuan, is the official currency of the People's Republic of China. The renminbi is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of Chin ...

2.5 million of capital, with a focus on producing rechargeable nickel–cadmium (NiCd) batteries. Wang, at 29 years old, founded the company after noticing an opportunity presented by the shift in Japanese companies from NiCd to high-value nickel–metal hydride (NiMH) and

lithium-ion A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible Intercalation (chemistry), intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically Electrical conductor, conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are c ...

(Li-ion) batteries while he was working as a vice supervisor at the Beijing Nonferrous Research Institute. He moved to

with his cousin Lu Xiangyang and started the company in 1995 to capitalize on the opportunity. BYD Battery early product portfolio 01

BYD's business grew by implementing a redesigned

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

approach by incorporating more

manual labour Manual labour (in Commonwealth English, manual labor in American English) or manual work is physical work done by humans, in contrast to labour by machines and working animals. It is most literally work done with the hands (the word ''manual ...

, in contrast of the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

-intensive and highly automated processes in Japan. This manufacturing process, along with in-house production of key machinery, contributed to a reduction in unit costs compared to Japanese competitors by around five or six times lower. The company also developed advancements in battery technology, including foamed nickel roller welding, which improved

electrode An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit (e.g. a semiconductor, an electrolyte, a vacuum or a gas). In electrochemical cells, electrodes are essential parts that can consist of a varie ...

performance. BYD's cost-efficient production methods attracted major clients. In 1996, BYD secured an order from

Sanyo is a former Japanese electronics manufacturer founded in 1947 by Toshio Iue, the brother-in-law of Kōnosuke Matsushita, the founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial, now known as Panasonic. Iue left Matsushita Electric to start his own bu ...

, marking its entry into the global battery supply chain. By 1997, amid the

Asian financial crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide economic meltd ...

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

, and

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

became BYD's major clients. In 1998, BYD's first branch outside China, BYD Europe B.V., was opened in the Netherlands. It also established a branch in the United States called BYD America Corporation in 1999. BYD opens its first

industrial park An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office par ...

in Kuichong, Shenzhen in 2000. BYD started producing mobile phone components in the early 2000s. By July 2002, BYD became the world's leading NiCd battery manufacturer, surpassing Sanyo, accounting for 65% of global production. In September 2002, Sanyo filed a

patent infringement A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

lawsuit against BYD, alleging that BYD infringed on its patents related to the constitution of the bare cell of Li-ion batteries and the structure of Li-ion battery packs. In 2007, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer

Foxconn Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd. (), Trade name, doing business as Hon Hai Technology Group () in Taiwan, Foxconn Technology Group () in China, and Foxconn () internationally, is a Taiwanese multinational corporation, multinational electron ...

sued BYD for unfair competition and misappropriating confidential data. Lawsuits were filed in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, alleging BYD obtained

trade secrets A trade secret is a form of intellectual property (IP) comprising confidential information that is not generally known or readily ascertainable, derives economic value from its secrecy, and is protected by reasonable efforts to maintain its conf ...

from former Foxconn employees. Previously, BYD had faced unsuccessful patent infringement claims from

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

and Sanyo. In December 2007, the BYD Electronics division is listed on the

after multiple delays due to legal disputes with Foxconn.

Entry to automotive industry

On 31 July 2002, the company underwent an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO) on the

. The company announced its target to become the world's second-largest battery firm. Shortly after the IPO, BYD acquired a small automotive manufacturing company, Xi'an Qinchuan Automobile, from state-owned

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

company

Norinco China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, doing business internationally as Norinco Group (an abbreviation of "North Industries Corporation"), and known within China as China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited (), is a Chinese ...

in January 2003, which was met with disapproval from shareholders, as the plan was not disclosed in the prospectus. Qinchuan was acquired with the intention of developing battery-powered electric vehicles. BYD's first cars were conventional petrol vehicles such as the

BYD F3 The BYD F3 is a compact car that was produced by the Chinese car manufacturer BYD Auto, BYD between 2005 and 2021. The first BYD vehicle of their own design, production of the first generation model commenced in September 2005. A few variants we ...

, with production starting in April 2005. The model gained market share by offering a low price and was considered successful. The company produced its first

plug-in hybrid A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) or simply plug-in hybrid is a type of hybrid electric vehicle equipped with a rechargeable battery pack that can be directly replenished via a charging cable plugged into an external electric power so ...

vehicle, the BYD F3 DM in 2008, followed by its first production

battery electric vehicle A battery electric vehicle (BEV), pure electric vehicle, only-electric vehicle, fully electric vehicle or all-electric vehicle is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that uses electrical energy exclusively from an electric vehicle battery, on-boa ...

, the

BYD e6 The BYD e6 is a battery electric vehicle manufactured by BYD Auto from 2009. Field testing for the first generation model began in People's Republic of China, China in May 2010 with 40 units operating as taxis in the city of Shenzhen. Sales to th ...

in 2009. For eleven years, from 2009 to 2020, BYD's automobile business stagnated, with annual sales hovering between 400,000 and 500,000 vehicles, while other local manufacturers experienced growth. From 2020, BYD's sales have grown significantly, driven in part by the rapid increase in new energy vehicle sales in China. Since 2021, it started exporting passenger cars to key markets such as Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Australia.

Berkshire Hathaway investment

In September 2008, MidAmerican Energy Holdings, a subsidiary of

Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his investment success, Buffett is ...

Berkshire Hathaway Inc Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Originally a textile manufacturer, the company transitioned into a conglomerate starting in 1965 under the management of c ...

, invested about US$230 million for a 9.89%Car Designer Sees China’s Wheels Electric-powered
BYD Press Release, 12 May 2009 share of BYD at

HK$ The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of Hong Kong. It is divided into 100 cents. Historically, it was also divided into 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong an ...

8/ share. Buffett credited this investment to

Charlie Munger Charles Thomas Munger (January 1, 1924November 28, 2023) was an American businessman, investor, attorney and philanthropist. He was vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett, from 1978 until his death in ...

, Berkshire's vice chairman who saw the potential in the company. Since 2022, Berkshire had gradually reduced its shareholding in BYD after its share price increased significantly. , Berkshire held a 6.9% stake in BYD. In 2009, BYD purchased a Chinese solar panel manufacturer to enter the

industry. It began building a 100-megawatt solar power plant in Shangluo, Shaanxi, at a cost of CN¥ 500 million. By 2009, the company secured its position as the second-largest producer of NiMH batteries and the third-largest in Li-ion batteries. In 2012, BYD had captured more than half the world's mobile phone battery market and was the largest Chinese manufacturer (and in the top four globally) of all types of

rechargeable batteries A rechargeable battery, storage battery, or secondary cell (formally a type of energy accumulator), is a type of electrical battery which can be charged, discharged into a load, and recharged many times, as opposed to a disposable or prima ...

. In June 2011, BYD was listed on the

at CN¥ 18 a share. It raised CN¥ 1.42 billion yuan (US$ 219 million) in the initial public offering, which was below expectations, amid weak investor sentiment and concerns over its performance. In 2016, BYD unveiled a working

monorail A monorail is a Rail transport, railway in which the track consists of a single rail or beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, the term refers to the style ...

prototype marketed as "Skyrail" ( zh, s=云轨, l=cloud rail) and announced they will enter the global

market. The first public Skyrail line opened as a long loop line in

Yinchuan Yinchuan is the capital of the Ningxia, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, and was the capital of the Tangut people, Tangut-led Western Xia, Western Xia dynasty. It has an area of and a total population of 2,859,074 according to the 2020 C ...

's flower expo in 2018. Between 2017 and 2019, due to several factors such as the slowdown of BYD Auto's sales, BYD saw its net profit has falling sharply for three consecutive years, especially in 2019 when it dropped to

1.6 billion. Wang Chuanfu described it as the "darkest moment", since at that time the company had only one goal, which was to survive. However, Wang insisted on investing CN¥ 8.4 billion in

. In 2020, BYD received the equivalent of €2.1 billion in Chinese state

subsidies A subsidy, subvention or government incentive is a type of government expenditure for individuals and households, as well as businesses with the aim of stabilizing the economy. It ensures that individuals and households are viable by having acce ...

Recent performance

In 2020, BYD established four automotive component manufacturers spun-off from BYD divisions branded

, with the intention of supplying parts to other automotive companies. In that year, it also introduced the

Blade battery The BYD blade battery is a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery for electric vehicles, designed and manufactured by FinDreams Battery, a subsidiary of Chinese manufacturing company BYD. The blade battery was officially launched by BYD in 2020 ...

, a

lithium iron phosphate Lithium iron phosphate or lithium ferro-phosphate (LFP) is an inorganic compound with the formula . It is a gray, red-grey, brown or black solid that is insoluble in water. The material has attracted attention as a component of lithium iron phosp ...

(LFP) battery for electric vehicles. While many battery manufacturers were shifting away from LFP due to concerns over energy density, BYD promoted the Blade as a safer alternative with competitive energy performance and

energy density In physics, energy density is the quotient between the amount of energy stored in a given system or contained in a given region of space and the volume of the system or region considered. Often only the ''useful'' or extractable energy is measure ...

. The battery was first used in the

BYD Han The BYD Han () is a series of full-size sedan (E-segment) manufactured by the Chinese manufacturer BYD Auto since 2020. It is a flagship model of BYD's Dynasty Series passenger vehicles, and was named after the Han Dynasty, the first golden age ...

, a battery electric sedan released in 2020, and later adopted in subsequent models. From 2020, BYD experienced a substantial surge in vehicle production and sales volume, partly attributed to the increasing popularity of new energy vehicles in China. It also initiated exports of electric vehicles to overseas markets since 2021, mainly to Europe, Southeast Asia, Oceania and Latin America. In March 2022, BYD ended the production of pure

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal comb ...

vehicles to focus on plug-in electric vehicles. In 2023, it introduced two new brands, which are

Yangwang Yangwang Auto () is a Chinese luxury car, luxury electric car brand owned by BYD Auto and marketed by Shenzhen Yangwang Auto Sales Co., Ltd. The brand was introduced in January 2023. In the Chinese market, Yangwang vehicles occupies the price ra ...

and

Fangchengbao Fangchengbao (), also spelled Fang Cheng Bao is a Chinese Luxury car, luxury electric car brand owned by BYD Auto and marketed by Shenzhen Fangchengbao Auto Sales Co., Ltd. BYD also owns trademarks for an English-language variant, Formula Bao. Th ...

. In November 2024, BYD hosted an event in Shenzhen to commemorate its 30th anniversary and the production of its 10 millionth new energy vehicle.

Subsidiaries and businesses

BYD Auto

BYD Auto was founded in January 2003 by BYD owner

, following BYD's acquisition of Xi'an Qinchuan Automobile. It manufactures passenger

s (BEVs) and

plug-in hybrid electric vehicles A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) or simply plug-in hybrid is a type of hybrid electric vehicle equipped with a rechargeable battery pack that can be directly replenished via a charging cable plugged into an external electric power so ...

(PHEVs), collectively known as new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China. It also produces

electric bus An electric bus is a bus that is propelled using electric motors, as opposed to a conventional internal combustion engine. Electric buses can store the needed electrical energy on board, or be fed mains electricity continuously from an external ...

es and

trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

. Aside from using the BYD main brand, BYD Auto also owns three other brands intended to capture the high-end market, which are

Denza Shenzhen Denza New Energy Co., Ltd., trading as Denza (), is an automobile manufacturing company and luxury plug-in electric vehicle brand owned by BYD Auto. Two other BYD subsidiary brands, Yangwang and Fangchengbao, are also rebadged and sol ...

and

. The

, the first car developed by BYD Auto, began production in 2005. The company launched its first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, the

BYD F3DM The BYD F3DM (Dual-mode) is a plug-in hybrid compact sedan (car), sedan manufactured by BYD Auto, BYD with an all-electric range of and a hybrid electric powertrain that can extend the range an additional . The F3DM is the world's first mass prod ...

in 2008, followed by the

, its first battery electric vehicle, in 2009. BYD Auto ended production of purely

d cars in March 2022. Since 2023, BYD Auto is the largest automobile manufacturer in China by annual sales. , BYD Auto has nine major vehicle production bases in China. In addition, it operates production bases in Uzbekistan and Thailand and is constructing new facilities in Indonesia, Brazil, Hungary, and Turkey. BYD's annual vehicle production capacity in China is 5.82 million vehicles . BYD's automotive business constitutes the majority of BYD's revenue. In 2024, BYD reported a revenue of around from automotive and related products, accounting for 79% of BYD's total revenue.

BYD Electronics

BYD Electronic (International) Company Limited or simply BYD Electronics manufactures handset components and assembles mobile phones for its customers as an OEM or ODM. Created as a subsidiary of BYD in 2002, it issued an

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

on the

in 2007 having been incorporated in Hong Kong on 14 June 2007. BYD Electronics operated several overseas factories, such as in

Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

; a factory in

Komárom Komárom (Hungarian: ; or ; , later ; ) is a city in Hungary on the south bank of the Danube in Komárom-Esztergom County. Komárom fortress played an important role in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and many contemporary English sources r ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

that was acquired through the February 2008 purchase of Mirae Hungary Industrial Manufacturer Ltd; and a factory in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, which was also completed in 2008. In addition, BYD Electronic has production bases in

Huizhou Huizhou ( zh, c= ) is a city in east-central Guangdong Province, China, forty-three miles north of Hong Kong. Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, Shaoguan to the north, Hey ...

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

, and at Baolong Industrial Park, Longgang District,

. As a "one-site mode supplier" especially for

mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

s, the company provides

product design Product design is the process of creating new Product (business), products for businesses to sell to their customers. It involves the generation and development of ideas through a systematic process that leads to the creation of innovative products ...

, testing, assembly and after sales services. By 2011, notable BYD Electronics customers include

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

, and

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

. According to Wang Chuanfu in 2021, the company manufactures most

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ("Huawei" sometimes stylized as "HUAWEI"; ; zh, c=华为, p= ) is a Chinese multinational corporationtechnology company in Longgang, Shenzhen, Longgang, Shenzhen, Guangdong. Its main product lines include teleco ...

mobile phones. Since 2020, BYD Electronics became one of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

. It also produces iPads in its factory in Vietnam, which went operational in July 2022. The Vietnamese factory is located at the Phu Ha industrial park in the

Phú Thọ Phú Thọ () is a district-level town in Phú Thọ Province, Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population o ...

province. The first phase of the facility has an annual capacity of 4.32 million tablets and 50 million optical prism products. Apple's plan to produce iPads with BYD in India were cancelled due to government regulations stemming from geopolitical concerns between India and China. In August 2023, BYD Electronics has agreed to buy several Chinese factories operated by

Jabil Jabil Inc. is an American multinational manufacturing company involved in the design, engineering, and manufacturing of electronic circuit board assemblies and systems, along with supply chain services, primarily serving original equipment manu ...

, a U.S. manufacturer that supplies major components to Apple. In May 2024, it was announced that BYD Electronics would be added to Hong Kong's

Hang Seng Index The Hang Seng Index (HSI) is a market-Capitalization-weighted index, capitalisation-weighted stock market index in Hong Kong adjusted for free float. It tracks and records daily changes in the largest stock listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exch ...

. In July 2024, BYD Electronics and Luxshare Precision joined the

iPhone 16 The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus are smartphones developed and marketed by Apple. They are the eighteenth-generation iPhones, succeeding the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. The devices were announced alongside the higher-priced iPhone 16 Pro ...

supply chain, following the relocation of some iPhone production from India back to China due to quality concerns. File:BYD_Electronics_product_portfolio_showcase_02.png,

MacBook MacBook is a type of Mac laptop computer that is developed and marketed by Apple that use Apple's macOS operating system since 2006. The MacBook brand replaced the PowerBook and iBook brands during the Mac transition to Intel processors, ann ...

trackpad and

iPod touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a po ...

File:BYD_Electronics_product_portfolio_showcase_03.png, Casings of various handsets, including smartphones, tablets and laptops File:BYD_Electronics_product_portfolio_showcase_01.png, Apple Magic Keyboard File:A_bag_of_face_masks_made_by_BYD,_2020-04-26.jpg, Single-use

medical masks Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

produced by BYD Electronics in 2020

BYD Semiconductor

BYD Semiconductor Co., Ltd. was established in 2020 as the successor to the BYD IC Design Department that was established in 2002. manufactures and distributes

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...

products such as

integrated circuits An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

insulated gate bipolar transistor An insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is a three-terminal power semiconductor device primarily forming an electronic switch. It was developed to combine high efficiency with fast switching. It consists of four alternating layers (NPNP) that ...

modules,

light emitting diodes A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of pho ...

, single chips, and other products. The company planned to issue an

(IPO) before cancelling it in November 2022 as the company chose to increase investments in

wafer A wafer is a crisp, often sweet, very thin, flat, light biscuit, often used to decorate ice cream, and also used as a garnish on some sweet dishes. They frequently have a waffle surface pattern but may also be patterned with insignia of the foo ...

production.

BYD Forklift

BYD Forklift was established in 2009 and headquartered in Zhenjiang, Shaoguan. It develops and produces electric

forklifts A forklift (also called industrial truck, lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th c ...

with an annual production capacity of 30,000 units. The company marketed its forklifts since 2014.

FinDreams

FinDreams ( zh, s=弗迪, t=, p=Fúdí, c=) is the brand name used by four automotive supplier companies owned by BYD. These companies were announced in March 2020 as spin-offs from BYD. The establishment of FinDreams companies was done to grow sales of components to other automotive companies. The companies include FinDreams Battery, FinDreams Powertrain, FinDreams Technology, FinDreams Vision (cancelled), and FinDreams Precision. Its Chinese name, 'Fudi' comes from a poem in the ''

Classic of Poetry The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, co ...

'', which means honesty, trustworthiness, steadfastness and diligence.

FinDreams Battery

FinDreams Battery Co., Ltd. was registered on 5 May 2019 as a successor to BYD Lithium Battery Co. Ltd., which was established in 1998. Its products include consumer batteries, electronic batteries, electric vehicle batteries and

batteries. It specializes in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, including

blade battery The BYD blade battery is a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery for electric vehicles, designed and manufactured by FinDreams Battery, a subsidiary of Chinese manufacturing company BYD. The blade battery was officially launched by BYD in 2020 ...

. , the company has established 15 major production bases in more than 10 cities across China. , FinDreams Battery is the world's second largest producer of

below

. Manufacturers that have been using LFP batteries produced by FinDreams Battery include

Tesla Tesla most commonly refers to: * Nikola Tesla (1856–1943), a Serbian-American electrical engineer and inventor * Tesla, Inc., an American electric vehicle and clean energy company, formerly Tesla Motors, Inc. * Tesla (unit) (symbol: T), the SI-d ...

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

Kia Kia Corporation (, formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry (京城精密工業) and Kia Motors Corporation) is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second larges ...

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

Suzuki is a Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka. It manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a va ...

KG Mobility The KG Mobility Corporation (, ), abbreviated as KGM, is a South Korean automobile manufacturer. It traces its origins back to Dong-A Motor, a manufacturer established in 1954. The company was named SsangYong Motor Company in 1988, following i ...

Chery Chery Automobile Co. Ltd., Doing business as, trading as Chery (), is a Chinese automobile manufacturer owned by Chery Holding Group Co., Ltd. Founded in 1997, it is currently the fourth largest automobile manufacturer group in China, with 2,6 ...

Xiaomi Xiaomi (; ) is a Chinese multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Beijing, China. It is best known for consumer electronics software electric vehicles. It is the second-largest manufacturer of smartphones in the worl ...

XPeng Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors Technology Co., Ltd., Trade name, trading as XPeng Motors ( zh, c=小鹏汽车, p=Xiǎopéng Qìchē), commonly known as XPeng, is a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer. The company is headquartered in Guangzhou, Guan ...

Nio Nio or NIO may refer to: * NI Opera, Opera company * Nio (Buddhism), guardians of the Buddha * Nio Inc., a Chinese electric automobile manufacturer * Nicaraguan córdoba, currency by ISO 4217 currency code * National Institute of Oceanography (d ...

, FAW, JAC,

Dongfeng Nissan Dongfeng Motor Company Limited (abb. DFL), most commonly known in English-language sources as Dongfeng Nissan,In Chinese sources, () most commonly refers to Dongfeng Nissan Passenger Vehicle Company, a DFL subsidiary. is a Chinese automobile man ...

, Hozon/Neta, and others. In early 2022, the company started construction of a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

plant with

FAW Group China FAW Group Corp., Ltd. (First Automotive Works) is a Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Changchun, Jilin.Changchun, Jilin, the plant was designed with a total capacity of 45

GWh A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a commo ...

. The first battery pack rolled off the plant in July 2023, and the plant went operational in September 2023. In June 2023, FinDreams Battery established a joint venture with Huaihai Holding Group, which is best known for electric tricycles and

electric scooters Electric motorcycles and scooters are plug-in electric vehicles with two or three wheels. Power is supplied by a rechargeable battery that drives one or more electric motors. Electric scooters are distinguished from motorcycles by having a s ...

, intending to establish the world's largest supplier of

sodium-ion batteries A Sodium-ion battery (NIB, SIB, or Na-ion batty) is a rechargeable batteries, rechargeable battery that uses sodium ions (Na+) as Electric charge, charge carriers. In some cases, its Lithium-ion battery#Electrochemistry, working principle and Lit ...

. In January 2024, construction of the sodium-ion manufacturing plant started. The CN¥10 billion (US$1.4 billion) plant will have a 30

annual production capacity. In February 2024, the company signed an 8-year agreement with American automotive supply company,

BorgWarner BorgWarner Inc. is an American automotive and Electric vehicle, e-mobility supplier headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. As of 2023, the company maintains production facilities and sites at 92 locations in 24 countries, and generates revenu ...

. FinDreams Battery will supply BorgWarner with blade cells for manufacturing LFP battery packs in Europe, the Americas and several Asia Pacific regions. BorgWarner will also secure an

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

license to use FinDreams battery pack design and manufacturing process. In March 2024, FinDreams Battery became a cell supplier to

's energy storage manufacturing in China which operates at the newly built Shanghai Megafactory. It will start supplying 20 percent of the cells needed to produce Tesla's

Megapack The Tesla Megapack is a large-scale rechargeable lithium-ion battery stationary energy storage product, intended for use at battery storage power stations, manufactured by Tesla Energy, the energy subsidiary of Tesla, Inc. Launched in 2019, a ...

starting from the first quarter of 2025.

= BYD Energy Storage

= FinDreams Battery also owns Shenzhen BYD Energy Storage Co., Ltd., (previously Shenzhen Pingshan FinDreams Battery Co., Ltd.) that produces

products. It produces the BYD Home Energy System, simplified as BYD HES, an integrated product combining

solar panels A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

inverter A power inverter, inverter, or invertor is a power electronic device or circuitry that changes direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). The resulting AC frequency obtained depends on the particular device employed. Inverters do the op ...

, etc. This system generated electricity from

solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

, and then stored it. In February 2025, BYD Energy Storage announced a contract with

Saudi Electricity Company Saudi Electricity Company (; SEC) is the Saudi Electric utility, electric energy company. It enjoys a near monopoly on the generation, transmission and distribution of electric power in Saudi Arabia through 45 power generation plants in the coun ...

to provide 12.5 GWh of energy storage.

FinDreams Powertrain

FinDreams Powertrain Co., Ltd. develops and produces engines and powertrain-related parts such as transmissions, axles, electric car platforms and

systems.

FinDreams Technology

FinDreams Technology Co., Ltd. develops and produces automotive electronics and

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

-related parts that are used in passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and rail transit. It has ten major products such as vehicle thermal management, vehicle wiring harness, smart cockpit, advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS), passive safety components,

braking A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction. Background ...

system,

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Car suspension * Cell suspension or suspension culture, in biology * Guarded suspension, a software design pattern in concurrent programming suspending a method call and the calling ...

and

exhaust Exhaust, exhaustive, or exhaustion may refer to: Law * Exhaustion of intellectual property rights, limits to intellectual property rights in patent and copyright law ** Exhaustion doctrine, in patent law ** Exhaustion doctrine under U.S. law, i ...

, body control,

steering Steering is the control of the direction of motion or the components that enable its control. Steering is achieved through various arrangements, among them ailerons for airplanes, rudders for boats, cylic tilting of rotors for helicopters, ...

system, and body accessories.

FinDreams Precision

FinDreams Precision Co., Ltd. (previously FinDreams Molding) operates moulding manufacturing and research and development.

Guided transit

SkyRail monorail

BYD constructed monorail systems around the world, including the

Guang'an Metro Guang'an Metro or Guang'an Rail Transit () or Guang'an SkyRail is a light metro monorail system using BYD SkyRail monorail technology in Guang'an, Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tib ...

and the Guilin Metro in China, Line 17 in São Paulo and the SkyRail Bahia, both in Brazil. BYD is also part of a

consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

that was awarded a pre-development contract to build a monorail from the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

LAX A lax is a salmon. LAX as an acronym most commonly refers to Los Angeles International Airport in Southern California, United States. LAX or Lax may also refer to: Places Within Los Angeles * Union Station (Los Angeles), Los Angeles' main tr ...

via the

Sepulveda Pass Sepulveda Pass (elevation ) is a low mountain pass through the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles. It is named after the Sepúlveda family of California, a prominent Californio family that owned the land where the pass lies. It connects ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

SkyShuttle

BYD also offers another

Automated guideway transit An automated guideway transit (AGT) or automated fixed-guideway transit or automatic guideway transit system is a type of fixed guideway transit infrastructure with a riding or suspension track that supports and physically guides one or more dri ...

(AGT) system, known as "SkyShuttle" ( zh, s=云巴, l=cloud bus). SkyShuttle trains are autonomous and battery powered. They run like monorails on beams, with one difference: the guiding wheels of a monorail train embrace the single beam while the SkyShuttle's guiding wheels are located between two beams of the track. Essentially the SkyShuttle acts like a monorail, but with two "rails". In-house development took 7 years an costed over 1.5 billion USD. The

Bishan SkyShuttle The Bishan rubber-tyred metro (), or Bishan SkyShuttle (), is an elevated rubber-tyred metro line in Bishan District, Chongqing, China. The long line has 15 stations. It runs from north to south, starting at Bishan station on Line 1 of Chongqi ...

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

is operational.

Operations

Workforce

In 2021, BYD had 288,000 employees. BYD workforce reached 570,000 employees in 2022, after the company hired 280,000 employees in a single year. At that year, BYD became the

private enterprise A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...

company with the largest workforce in China, and only below several state-owned companies such as

China National Petroleum Corporation The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) () is a major national oil and gas corporation of China and one of the largest integrated energy groups in the world. Its headquarters are in Dongcheng District, Beijing, Dongcheng District, Beij ...

State Grid Corporation of China The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), commonly known as the State Grid, is a Chinese state-owned electric utility corporation. It is the largest utility company in the world. , State Grid is the world's third largest company overall by re ...

and

China Post China Post, officially the China Post Group Corporation, is the national postal service corporation of the China, People's Republic of China. It is incorporated as a state-owned enterprise. China Post shares its office with the sub-ministry- ...

. By the end of 2023, the company had 704,000 employees, with 133,000 new hires that year. This workforce count is nearly double that of

, which has 375,000 employees. In 2024, BYD hired close to 200,000 new employees in car manufacturing and components. In December 2024, the company has 968,900 employees.

2021 employee sudden death

On 5 November 2021, a 36-year-old employee of BYD was reported dead in his rented home. According to his relatives, his sudden death was due to high-intensity overtime work. No autopsy was conducted, so the cause of death remains unclear. BYD agreed to pay the deceased employee's family a lump sum of in compensation.

Research and development

BYD heavily invested in core component development, with a substantial

(R&D) budget and personnel. Founder Securities data reveals that BYD's R&D investment reached in 2021 with a 12.9% rise in R&D personnel, totaling 40,382 employees in 2021. The company also increased its

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

filing by 19.7% year-on-year in 2020, with 29,777 patents. In 2022, BYD invested in R&D, more than double than its 2021 budget. In 2023, BYD spent on R&D, which is 6% of its operating income. In that year, the company also recruited 33,000 new R&D personnel, increasing the total number to 102,000. Among these R&D employees, 60% are under the age of 30. Additionally, BYD disclosed in its financial report that the average annual salary for R&D personnel is around .

Manufacturing

Supply chain

BaByliss for Men T47 - battery BYD Rechargeable AAA-92292

BYD is characterized by its vertical supply chain system, originating as a battery company in 1995 before venturing into cars (via

) in 2003. At the same time, BYD also leverages China's low labour costs, transforming production lines for power batteries from capital-intensive to labour-intensive, ensuring a competitive edge through a robust supply chain system and reduced production costs. The company has been recognized for innovation; for example it has developed technologies that allow mobile phone batteries to be made at room temperature rather than in expensive, heated dry rooms.break all the rules: A special report on innovation in emerging markets; The charms of frugal innovation
economist.com, 15 April 2010 When BYD entered the automobile industry, it built a fully integrated automotive supply chain. The company achieved this by

reverse engineering Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompl ...

competitor products and supplier parts. The company had also achieved proficiency in producing key components for electric vehicles, such as batteries,

motors An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

, and electronic control. This vertical integration model strengthened its industrial chain and mitigates challenges such as the global

chip shortage A chip shortage, also referred to as semiconductor shortage or chip famine, is a phenomenon in the integrated circuit (chip) industry when demand for silicon chips outstrips supply. Introduction A chip shortage typically occurs when there is s ...

. BYD diversified into research and development of

by establishing BYD Semiconductor in 2020. Core components, including automotive

chips ''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. After the final first-run telecast on NBC in May 1983, the series went into reruns on Sundays fr ...

and the

DiLink BYD Auto Co., Ltd. ( zh, s=比亚迪汽车, p=Bǐyàdí Qìchē) is the automotive subsidiary of BYD Company, a publicly listed Chinese multinational manufacturing company. It manufactures passenger battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in ...

automotive intelligent system, were independently developed. The establishment of FinDreams companies from December 2019 focused on power batteries,

automotive lighting Automotive lighting is functional exterior lighting in vehicles. A motor vehicle has lighting and signaling devices mounted to or integrated into its front, rear, sides, and, in some cases, top. Various devices have the dual function of illumin ...

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

powertrain In a motor vehicle, the powertrain comprises the main components that generate engine power, power and deliver that power to the road surface, water, or air. This includes the internal combustion engine, engine, transmission (mechanics), trans ...

, and moulding. In early 2020, BYD transitioned its parts and components division into subsidiary companies, collectively known as FinDreams. It enabled independent operations for these companies, making component supply to other automotive companies easier.

Facilities

BYD has many production bases, including three locations in

BYD Co Ltd Company Brochure
BYD Auto Official Site (one of which is on the 'BYD Road' ( zh, s=比亚迪路, t=比亞迪路, p=Bǐyàdí Lù) in Pingshan District,

), as well as sites in

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

,Company Profile
BYD Official Site and

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. The first plant of the company in India was opened in

. BYD's automotive business operates an extensive network of vehicle manufacturing facilities across China, encompassing both wholly owned plants and subsidiaries. Its major production centers include the Xi’an plant in Xi'an, Shaanxi with a capacity of 900,000 vehicles annually and the Hefei plant in Changfeng, Hefei, Anhui with 1.32 million vehicles per year. Additional large-scale facilities are located in Changsha, Hunan;

; Changzhou, Jiangsu, Zhengzhou, Henan, and Jinan, Shandong, contributing to the production of passenger vehicles, and additionally key components such as engines, traction motors, and battery systems. BYD also runs specialized branches focused on electric buses in various cities including Dalian, Guilin, and Wuhan, and produces special-purpose electric vehicles and commercial trucks at other dedicated sites. , BYD's annual vehicle production capacity in China has reached 5.82 million vehicles. Additionally, BYD has expanded its automotive manufacturing footprint beyond China, such as in Thailand, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Brazil, Hungary, and Turkey. The company also operates

photovoltaic module Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commerciall ...

(solar panel) Bloomberg New Energy Finance Tier 1 manufacturing plant in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, an R&D center and nascent automobile assembly line in Shenzhen, and an R&D center in Shanghai.Company Profile
BYD Auto Official Site In 2020, BYD built a new facility in

Chongqing, China Chongqing Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the Central People's Government, along with Beijing, Shanghai ...

for producing its

, which are considered to be the safest EV batteries. In Brazil, it opened its first facility 2015 for the production of electric buses. In April 2017, it inaugurated its second plant for photovoltaic modules. In 2020, BYD opened its third manufacturing plant in the country in Manaus, specifically for lithium iron phosphate batteries, for use in electric buses. It is developing facilities in

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in São Paulo (state), São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's popul ...

and

Camaçari Camaçari is a city in Bahia, Brazil. It is located at . It is part of the Salvador, Bahia, Salvador Metropolitan Region (''Região Metropolitana de Salvador''), being the industrial city of the metropolis. Camaçari covers , and had an estimate ...

, the latter slated to begin producing 150,000 passenger vehicles annually from 2025. In Southeast Asia, BYD is setting up production lines in Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand, with capacities ranging from 10,000 to 150,000 vehicles per year. In Europe, BYD has two electric bus assembly facilities in Europe in Komarom, Hungary and Beauvais, France. It plans to open a passenger vehicle plant in

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

, Hungary by 2026, as well as another in

Manisa Manisa () is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province, lying approximately 40 km northeast of the major city of İzmir. The city forms the urban part of the districts Şehzadeler and Yunusemre, with ...

, Turkey. BYD also operates an electric bus manufacturing plant in

Lancaster, California Lancaster is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, in the Antelope Valley of the western Mojave Desert in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the popul ...

, near Los Angeles, since 2014. In 2019, a bus plant opened in

Newmarket, Ontario Newmarket (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 87,942) is a town and regional seat of the Regional Municipality of York in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. It is part of Greater Toronto Area, Greater Toron ...

to handle orders in Canada.

Corporate affairs

Business trends

The key trends of BYD are (as at the financial year ending 31 December):

Management

Notable members of the senior management of the company are as follows: Wang Chuanfu IAA 2023 1X7A0154

Executive director *

, also chairman and president Non-executive directors * Lu Xiangyang, co-founder, also vice chairman * Xia Zuoquan Independent non-executive directors * Cai Hongping * Zhang Min * Yu Ling Supervisory Board * Li Yongzhao * Zhu Aiyun * Wang Zhen * Huang Jiangfeng * Tang Mei Senior management * Li Ke (Stella Li), executive vice president, president of BYD in America * He Zhiqi, executive vice president, COO of BYD Passenger Car Division, director of Shenzhen Denza New Energy Automotive * He Long, executive vice president, chairman of

FinDreams Battery BYD Company Limited or BYD ( zh, s=比亚迪, p=Bǐyàdí) is a Chinese multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It is a vertically integrated company with several major subsidiaries, including B ...

* Luo Hongbin, senior vice president, chairman of Shenzhen BYD Auto Industrial Co., Ltd. and FinDreams Powertrain * Zhou Yalin, senior vice president, CFO, also CFO of BYD Electronic (International), director of

BYD Semiconductor BYD or Byd may refer to: Companies * BYD Company, an automobile and rechargeable battery producer in China ** BYD Auto, a subsidiary automobile manufacturer in China * Boyd Gaming, a gaming and hospitality company (NYSE ticker symbol: BYD) Other ...

, chairman of BYD Auto Finance, chairman of Shenzhen BYD Property Insurance * Yang Dongsheng, senior vice president * Liu Huanming, vice president * Wang Chuanfang, vice president * Ren Lin, vice president * Zhao Jianping, vice president * Luo Zhongliang, vice president, chairman of FinDreams Technology * Li Wei, officer of the President's Office * Li Qian, company secretary, secretary to the Board, director of

Recognition

In 2010, BYD topped the

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

Tech 100 that listed fast-growing tech companies. In that year, BusinessWeek ranked BYD the eighth most innovative company in the world and that same year saw Fast Company ranking BYD as the 16th most innovative. In 2016, BYD won the Zayed Future Energy Prize award for Large Corporations for their development of robust rechargeable batteries. In 2017, PV Magazine awarded BYD the top category of innovation on its newly launched battery storage system that advances progress in three categories: modularity, charging and discharging capacity, and efficiency.

Lawsuits and disputes

2006–2012 Foxconn disputes

In June 2006, Shenzhen Futaihong Precision Industry Company and Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., affiliates of Foxconn Technology Group, filed a

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

against BYD in the Shenzhen

intermediate people's court An intermediate people's court () is the second-lowest local people's court in China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, i ...

. Foxconn alleged that former employees Liu and Si, who had joined BYD's mobile phone design department, had stolen

. The plaintiff sought 5 million yuan in compensation. During the trial, the Shenzhen intermediate people's court referred the case to the

Supreme People's Court The Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China (SPC) is the highest court of the People's Republic of China. It hears appeals of cases from the high people's courts and is the trial court for cases about matters of national ...

, which appointed the Beijing JZSC Intellectual Property Forensic Center to conduct an appraisal. The forensic analysis examined files found at BYD, to determine whether the information was common knowledge. The initial appraisal identified 68 out of 116 Foxconn files as non-public knowledge. Foxconn argued that these files contained critical production, assembly, and testing processes, making them proprietary trade secrets. The company also highlighted that over 400 former employees had moved from Foxconn to BYD, including senior technicians and managers trained in Europe with Foxconn's funding. The rapid growth of BYD's mobile manufacturing business coincided with this employee migration and Foxconn’s alleged trade secret leakage. In addition to patent litigation,

sued BYD in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and Illinois, U.S. in June 2007, alleging BYD poached 50 Foxconn employees and was complicit in the stealing of trade secrets to set up a competing cell phone manufacturing operation. Court proceedings disrupted the planned public listing of BYD Electronics in

. BYD's initial listing application expired, leading to a second attempt on September 2007, which was again met with legal action from Foxconn, delaying the listing for another six months. In 2008, the Shenzhen Baoan People’s Court ruled that the files in question contained non-public information with economic value, finding BYD guilty of trade secret infringement. Afterwards, Foxconn withdrew the civil proceedings against BYD in mainland China, and sought

criminal prosecution In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

, as the case was deemed to involve criminal activity. On 20 March 2008, the former executive director and Vice President of BYD was arrested. Then on 24 and 31 March 2008, two former employees of Foxconn were arrested and sentenced to 1 year and 4 months, and 4 years in prison respectively. In October 2009, BYD issued a

counterclaim In a court of law, a party's claim is a counterclaim if one party asserts claims in response to the claims of another. In other words, if a plaintiff initiates a lawsuit and a defendant responds to the lawsuit with claims of their own against t ...

to Foxconn in Hong Kong court, alleging

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

and bribery of Chinese officials as well as intimidation on Foxconn's part. In 2012, the Hong Kong High Court rejected Foxconn's appeals against BYD, while also questioning BYD's counterclaims of

and misuse of legal proceedings. BYD denied Foxconn's allegations of trade secret theft and accused Foxconn of coercing former employees into making false confessions and tampering with evidence.

In the United States

On 27 April 2020, BYD hired attorney

Charles Harder Charles John Harder (born November 9, 1969) is an American lawyer at the law firm Harder LLP based in Los Angeles, California. Early career and education Harder graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a bachelor's degre ...

and filed a federal civil complaint in

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

Southern District of New York The Southern District of New York is a federal judicial district that encompasses the counties of New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. Federal offices or agencies operating in the distri ...

, against

Vice Media Vice Media Group LLC is a Canadian-American digital media and broadcasting company. Vice Media encompasses four main business areas: Vice Studios Group (film and TV production); Vice TV (a joint venture with A&E Networks, also known as Vicelan ...

alleging defamation for a story about BYD being associated with companies alleged to be using forced

Uyghur Uyghur may refer to: * Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia (West China) ** Uyghur language, a Turkic language spoken primarily by the Uyghurs *** Old Uyghur language, a different Turkic language spoken in the Uyghur K ...

labor in its

supply chain A supply chain is a complex logistics system that consists of facilities that convert raw materials into finished products and distribute them to end consumers or end customers, while supply chain management deals with the flow of goods in distri ...

which was published on 11 April 2020. BYD's case was dismissed

with prejudice ''Prejudice'' is a legal term with different meanings, which depend on whether it is used in criminal, civil, or common law. In legal context, ''prejudice'' differs from the more common use of the word and so the term has specific technical mea ...

in March 2021. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal. The

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

denied BYD’s petition for review. In November 2020, BYD filed a

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

lawsuit against

and the non-profit Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) and some of its employees for calling BYD an arm of the Chinese state and linking it to Uyghur forced labor. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that BYD failed to establish that AAM's statements were defamatory, and dismissed the lawsuit. The

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. courts of appeals, ...

affirmed the dismissal. The Supreme Court of the United States rejected BYD's suit in August 2022. In 2022, the

United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing econ ...

found that BYD had circumvented tariffs on solar panels by routing its operations through Southeast Asian countries. In August 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued final determination on BYD, determining they circumvented tariffs. The

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (NDAA 2024) is a United States federal law which specifies the budget, expenditures, and policies of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for fiscal year 2024. Background The National ...

proposed the prohibition of US defense funding for BYD batteries on security grounds.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Companies in the CSI 100 Index Companies in the FTSE China A50 Index Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1995 Chinese companies established in 1995 Electronics companies of China Auto parts suppliers of China Civilian-run enterprises of China Berkshire Hathaway H shares Electric vehicle battery manufacturers Battery manufacturers Mobile phone manufacturers Conglomerate companies of China Multinational companies headquartered in China Chinese brands 1995 in Shenzhen Cross-listed companies