Huang Shilin
Chinese businessman; co-founder and former vice chairman of the battery maker CATL
| Huang Shilin
| |
|---|---|
| Born | 1967 (Forbes) |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Residence | Dongguan, Guangdong, China (2025 exchange filing); Forbes gives Ningde, China |
| Occupation | Businessman, investor |
| Known for | Co-founder of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) |
| Education | Hefei University of Technology (Forbes) |
Huang Shilin (黄世霖; born 1967) is a Chinese businessman who co-founded Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), one of the world's largest makers of batteries for electric vehicles, with Robin Zeng in 2011.[1][2] He was vice chairman and deputy general manager until August 2022, when he resigned from all his posts. He remains one of CATL's largest shareholders and has since put money into energy-storage businesses.[1][3] On 10 November 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Huang Shilin 134th in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$19.9 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as batteries.[2][4] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Huang Shilin 105th, at US$24.4 billion.[5] In November 2025 he sold 1 per cent of CATL for about 17.2 billion yuan, citing his own funding needs.[6][7]
Early life and education
Forbes lists Huang as a graduate of Hefei University of Technology.[2] He and Robin Zeng come from the same home area of Ningde, Fujian, and were classmates at high school. In 1991, at Zeng's invitation, Huang joined the Dongguan magnetic-electronics maker Xinke (东莞市新科磁电厂), and the two later founded CATL together.[8][1]
CATL
Huang and Zeng founded CATL in 2011.[1] At CATL Huang was successively director of research and development, general manager, vice chairman and deputy general manager, and for a long time he led the company's energy-storage strategy.[8] He said in a speech that CATL had picked two lines of business at the start: power batteries and energy-storage batteries.[1] Forbes notes that CATL is listed in Shenzhen and Hong Kong and supplies carmakers including BMW, Geely and Tesla.[2] Huang resigned as vice chairman, director and deputy general manager with effect from 1 August 2022, for what the company called personal career reasons, and took no further role at CATL. CnEVPost then described him as CATL's second-largest shareholder, with 10.69 per cent including persons acting in concert.[1]
Later business interests
After leaving CATL, Huang said he would look for opportunities in solar, energy storage and charging.[1] Yicai Global reported in 2025, citing the corporate database Tianyancha, that he was a shareholder in more than ten companies and controlled Contemporary Nebula Technology Energy (CNTE), which supplies energy-storage equipment.[3]
In November 2025 Huang announced that he would sell 45.63 million CATL shares, 1 per cent of the company, to institutional investors through an inquiry-based transfer on the Shenzhen exchange. Before the sale he held 10.21 per cent directly.[8] The filing gives his reason as his own funding needs, and describes six private securities funds of which he is the sole investor as persons acting in concert with him.[7] The shares were sold at 376.12 yuan each, for 17.163 billion yuan, which cut his and his concert parties' holding from 10.29 per cent to 9.29 per cent.[6]
Wealth
Forbes lists his source of wealth as batteries and classes him as self-made.[2]
Wealth history
Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 9 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2018. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list.[5][2]
| Year | World's Billionaires rank | Net worth (US$ bn) |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 1999 | 1.1 |
| 2019 | 667 | 3.3 |
| 2020 | 383 | 4.5 |
| 2021 | 166 | 12.9 |
| 2022 | 79 | 20.3 |
| 2023 | 115 | 15.2 |
| 2024 | 203 | 10.6 |
| 2025 | 115 | 17.4 |
| 2026 | 105 | 24.4 |
Philanthropy
No major philanthropic gifts were documented in the sources checked.
Political activity
No political donations or official political posts were documented in the sources checked.
International and political links
This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."
Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements)
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Jewish communal charities
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Gulf states
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
China
Huang is a Chinese national and says in his 2025 exchange filing that he has no right of residence in any other country or territory.[7]
Russia
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
India
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Palestinian or Arab causes
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Home government
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Other international links
Company level: in January 2025, after Huang had left the board, the US Department of Defense added CATL to its Section 1260H list of companies it says work with China's military. Inclusion does not trigger immediate sanctions.[9] CATL called the designation "a mistake" and said it had never engaged in military-related business.[10] Forbes notes that a Ford battery factory in Michigan that licenses CATL technology was completed in June 2026.[2]
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Phate Zhang, CATL sees management reshuffle with departure of co-founder CnEVPost, 2 August 2022, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Forbes, Forbes profile record for Huang Shilin (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/huang-shilin/) Forbes, live record, read 10 November 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Yicai Global, CATL Drops After Revealing Major Shareholder to Pare Stake in Chinese Battery Giant Yicai Global, November 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Forbes, Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed Forbes, live; downloaded 10 November 2026 13:47 UTC, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Forbes, Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read) Forbes, annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Guandian (观点网), 黄世霖减持宁德时代4563.24万股股份 交易金额达171.63亿元 (Huang Shilin sells 45.6324 million CATL shares for 17.163 billion yuan) Guandian, 24 November 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (filing by Huang Shilin), 宁德时代新能源科技股份有限公司简式权益变动报告书 (Simplified report on changes in equity interests) Shenzhen Stock Exchange disclosure, November 2025 (published 24 November 2025), accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Huang Xinxu, 太突然，宁德时代联合创始人黄世霖，将减持市值约184亿元股票！公告披露：因自身资金需求 (CATL co-founder Huang Shilin to sell shares worth about 18.4 billion yuan, citing his own funding needs) National Business Daily (每日经济新闻), 15 November 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Juliana Liu, Tencent, CATL added to US Department of Defense's list of companies working with China's military CNN Business, 7 January 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ CATL, CATL Statement on US "Chinese Military Company" List Inclusion CATL, 7 January 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.