BYD Company

BYD Company Limited or BYD is a publicly listed Chinese multinational conglomerate manufacturing company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It is a vertically integrated company that has several major subsidiaries, including BYD Auto which produces automobiles, BYD Electronics which produces electronic parts and assembly, and FinDreams, a brand name of multiple companies that produces automotive components and electric vehicle batteries.

The company was founded by Wang Chuanfu in February 1995 as a battery manufacturing company. BYD's largest subsidiary, BYD Auto, was founded in 2003 and has grown to become the world's largest manufacturer of plug-in electric vehicles. Since 2009, BYD's automotive business has contributed over 50% of its revenue. By 2023, it contributed over 80% of the company's total revenue.

BYD also produces rechargeable batteries (handset batteries, electric vehicle batteries and bulk storage), forklifts, solar panels, semiconductors, and rail transit network. Through its subsidiary FinDreams Battery, BYD was the second largest electric vehicle battery producer globally in 2023 after CATL, by producing 15.8% of the world's output.

BYD's stock listing is on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The company was ranked 212th on the Fortune Global 500 in 2023.

BYD has been the privately owned company with the largest workforce in China since 2022, ranking only below several state-owned companies. , BYD employs 704,000 people, of which 102,000 are research and development (R&D) employees. It also leads by patent applications, by filing over 13,000 patents between 2003 and 2023.

Name
"BYD" is the 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, 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 advantage in trade shows. As the name "BYD" had no particular meaning, BYD started adopting a backronymic slogan "Build Your Dreams" when it participated at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in the US.

History
BYD was founded on 10 February 1995 as Shenzhen BYD Battery Company Limited, with a focus on rechargeable nickel–cadmium (NiCd) batteries. While working as a vice supervisor at the Beijing Nonferrous Research Institute, BYD's founder, Wang Chuanfu, noticed an opportunity presented by the shift in Japanese companies from NiCd to high-value nickel–metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. He moved to Shenzhen with his cousin Lu Xiangyang and founded the company in 1995 to capitalize on the opportunity. Wang started his business in the back alleys of Buji, a neighbourhood in Shenzhen. Having achieved little success, in 1997 Wang moved his business, also consisting of a battery research institute to Longgang in Shenzhen, where BYD started receiving orders from multinational companies.

BYD grew its business in its early days by implementing a redesigned manufacturing approach by incorporating more manual labour, in contrast of the capital-intensive and highly automated processes in Japan. This manufacturing process, along with in-house production of key machinery, contributed to a substantial reduction in unit costs compared to Japanese competitors by around five or six times lower. BYD quickly became the world's leading NiCd battery manufacturer by July 2002, accounting for 65% of global production. Within seven years, the company secured its position as the second-largest producer of NiMH batteries and the third-largest in Li-ion batteries. By 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.

BYD started producing mobile phone components in the early 2000s. Its electronic business was spun off in 2007 as BYD Electronics.

On 31 July 2002, the company underwent an initial public offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. 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 company Norinco 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. However, BYD's first cars were conventional petrol vehicle such as the BYD F3, with production starting in April 2005. The company produced its first plug-in hybrid vehicle, the BYD F3 DM in 2008, followed by its first production battery electric vehicle, the BYD e6 in 2009. In March 2022, BYD ended the production of pure internal combustion engine vehicles to focus on plug-in electric vehicles.

In September 2008, MidAmerican Energy Holdings, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, invested about US$230 million for a 9.89% share of BYD at HK$8/share. Buffett credited this investment to Charlie Munger, 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 2016, BYD unveiled a working monorail prototype marketed as "Skyrail"   and announced they will enter the global rail transit market. The first public Skyrail line opened as a 9.7 km long loop line in Yinchuan'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 CN¥ 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 research and development. In 2020, BYD received the equivalent of €2.1 billion in Chinese state subsidies.

In 2020, BYD established four automotive component manufacturers spun-off from BYD divisions branded FinDreams, with the intention of supplying parts to other automotive companies.

BYD Auto
BYD Auto was founded in January 2003 by BYD owner Wang Chuanfu, following BYD's acquisition of Xi'an Qinchuan Automobile. It manufactures passenger battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), collectively known as new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China. It also produces electric buses and trucks. BYD ended production of purely internal combustion engined cars in March 2022.

BYD's automotive business constitutes the majority of BYD's revenue. In 2023, BYD reported a revenue of around CN¥483.4 billion from automotive and related products, a year-on-year increase of 48.9% and accounted for 80.27% 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 on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2007 having been incorporated in Hong Kong on 14 June 2007.

BYD Electronics operated several overseas factories, such as in Cluj, Romania; a factory in Komárom, Hungary that was acquired through the February 2008 purchase of Mirae Hungary Industrial Manufacturer Ltd; and a factory in Chennai, India, which was also completed in 2008. In addition, BYD Electronic has production bases in Huizhou, Tianjin, and at Baolong Industrial Park, Longgang District, Shenzhen.

Since 2020, BYD Electronics became one of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of Apple's iPad. 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 province. The first phase of the facility has an annual capacity of 4.32 million tablets and 50 million optical prism products.

In August 2023, BYD Electronics has agreed to buy several Chinese factories operated by Jabil, 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.

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 products such as integrated circuits, insulated gate bipolar transistor modules, light emitting diodes, single chips, and other products. The company planned to issue an initial public offering (IPO) before cancelling it in November 2022 as the company chose to increase investments in wafer production.

BYD Forklift
BYD Forklift was established in 2009 and headquartered in Zhenjiang, Shaoguan. It develops and produces electric forklifts with an annual production capacity of 30,000 units. The company marketed its forklifts since 2014.

FinDreams
FinDreams 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, 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 energy storage batteries. It specializes in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, including blade battery. , the company has established 15 major production bases in more than 10 cities across China. The subsidiary also owns Shenzhen BYD Energy Storage Co., Ltd., (previously Shenzhen Pingshan FinDreams Battery Co., Ltd.) that produces energy storage products. It produces the BYD Home Energy System, simplified as BYD HES, an integrated product combining solar panels, battery, inverter, etc. This system generated electricity from solar power, and then stored it. , FinDreams Battery is the world's second largest producer of electric vehicle batteries below CATL.

In early 2022, the company started construction of a joint venture plant with FAW Group called FAW-FinDreams to produce battery packs. BYD held 51% of the shares, while FAW held the rest. Located in Changchun, Jilin, the plant was designed with a total capacity of 45 GWh. 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, intending to establish the world's largest supplier of sodium-ion batteries. In January 2024, construction of the sodium-ion manufacturing plant was started. The CN¥10 billion (US$1.4 billion) plant will have a 30 GWh annual production capacity.

In February 2024, the company signed an 8-year agreement with American automotive supply company, BorgWarner. 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 license to use FinDreams battery pack design and manufacturing process.

In March 2024, FinDreams Battery became a cell supplier to Tesla'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 starting from the first quarter of 2025.

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

FinDreams Technology
FinDreams Technology Co., Ltd. develops and produces automotive electronics and chassis-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, braking system, suspension and exhaust, body control, steering system, and body accessories.

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

SkyRail monorail
BYD constructed monorail systems around the world, including the Guang'an Metro 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 that was awarded a pre-development contract to build a monorail from the San Fernando Valley to LAX via the Sepulveda Pass in Los Angeles.

SkyShuttle tram
BYD also offers a rubber-tyred tram product, known as "SkyShuttle". Bishan rubber-tyred tram in Chongqing is operational.

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 privately owned company with the largest workforce in China, and only below several state-owned companies such as China National Petroleum Corporation, State Grid Corporation of China and China Post. 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 Toyota, which has 375,000 employees.

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 CN¥200,000 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 CN¥7.99 billion in 2021 with a 12.9% rise in R&D personnel, totaling 40,382 employees in 2021. The company also increased its patent filing by 19.7% year-on-year in 2020, with 29,777 patents.

In 2022, BYD invested CN¥18.65 billion in R&D, more than double than its 2021 budget. In 2023, BYD spent CN¥39.91 billion 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 CN¥212,000.

Supply chain
BYD is characterized by its vertical supply chain system, originating as a battery company in 1995 before venturing into cars (via BYD Auto) in 2003. At the 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. Post-entry into the automobile industry, BYD developed the entire automotive industry chain, emphasizing core technology research and development. Proficiency in key components, such as batteries, motors, and electronic control was achieved, marked by a large-scale, fully automated production line for batteries. This vertical integration model strengthened its industrial chain and mitigates challenges such as the global chip shortage.

BYD diversified into research and development of semiconductor by establishing BYD Semiconductor in 2020. Core components, including automotive chips and the DiLink automotive intelligent system, were independently developed. The establishment of FinDreams companies from December 2019 focused on power batteries, automotive lighting, electronics, powertrain, and moulding.

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

Facilities
BYD has many production bases, including three locations in Shenzhen (one of which is on the self-titled 'BYD Road' in Pingshan District, Shenzhen), as well as sites in Huizhou, Shanxi, and Shanghai.

Auto production bases include an automobile assembly line in Xi'an, a K9 electric bus manufacturing plant in Dalian, a photovoltaic module (solar panel) Bloomberg New Energy Finance Tier 1 manufacturing plant in Beijing, an R&D center and nascent automobile assembly line in Shenzhen, and an R&D center in Shanghai.

US operations can be found in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, and San Francisco, California. BYD also acquired a site for a future North American headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, and has built and operates a manufacturing plant in Lancaster, California, near Los Angeles.

In 2019 a bus plant opened in Newmarket, Ontario to handle orders in Canada. BYD has three factories in Brazil, the first of which opened in 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. BYD has two electric bus assembly facilities in Europe in Komarom, Hungary and Beauvais, France. BYD built a new facility in Chongqing, China for producing its blade battery, which are considered to be the safest EV batteries. The first plant of the company in India was opened in Chennai.

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

Management
Notable members of the senior management of the company are as follows:

Executive director


 * Wang Chuanfu, also chairman and president

Non-executive directors


 * Lu Xiangyang, 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, executive vice president, president of BYD in America
 * Luo Hongbin, senior vice president, chairman of Shenzhen BYD Auto Industrial Co., Ltd.
 * He Zhiqi, senior vice president, COO of BYD Passenger Car Division, director of Shenzhen Denza New Energy Automotive
 * He Long, senior vice president, chairman of FinDreams Battery
 * Liu Huanming, vice president
 * Wang Chuanfang, vice president
 * Ren Lin, vice president
 * Wang Jie, vice president
 * Zhou Yalin, vice president, CFO of BYD Electronic (International), director of BYD Semiconductor, chairman of BYD Auto Finance
 * Yang Dongsheng, vice president
 * Zhao Jianping, vice president
 * Li Qian, company secretary, secretary to the Board, director of BYD Semiconductor

Recognition
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. In 2010, BYD topped the Bloomberg Businessweek 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.

In the United States
On 27 April 2020, BYD hired attorney Charles Harder and filed a federal civil complaint in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, against Vice Media alleging defamation for a story about BYD using forced Uyghur labour in its supply chain which was published on 11 April 2020. BYD's case was dismissed with prejudice in March 2021.

In November 2020, BYD in the U.S. filed a lawsuit against the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), a non-profit lobbying group that advocated for a ban on using the federal tax budget to purchase rail cars or buses from foreign state-owned or controlled companies such like BYD, which has an electric bus factory in California, U.S. The rule was signed into law as the Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act (TIVSA). BYD alleges that AAM has engaged in a "malicious, fraudulent, outrageous, and reckless campaign" that damages BYD's reputation. The Supreme Court of the United States rejected BYD's suit in August 2022.

In 2022, the United States Department of Commerce 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 proposed the prohibition of US defense funding for BYD batteries on security grounds.

Foxconn disputes
In addition to patent litigation Foxconn sued BYD in Hong Kong and Illinois in 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 were brought before BYD Electronic was spun off by BYD later in 2007, delaying the public listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange by half a year.

Foxconn also opened proceedings in the district where BYD is headquartered, at the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, which referred the case to the Supreme People's Court, which in turn commissioned an appraisal by the Beijing JZSC Intellectual Property Forensic Center into files in BYD's possession which were alleged to belong to Foxconn. Eventually the Shenzhen court made the final judgment: BYD's files contained non-public information originating from Foxconn, which could bring economic benefits to the holders, thereby, BYD was found guilty of infringing Foxconn's trade secrets.

Afterwards, Foxconn withdrew the civil proceedings against BYD in mainland China, and sought criminal prosecution instead. 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.

BYD issued a counterclaim to Foxconn in Hong Kong court, alleging defamation and bribery of Chinese officials as well as intimidation on Foxconn's part.