The city is now also the site of a battery factory, which would allow France to produce all parts of electric vehicles domestically. According to his calculations, 2024 was the first year Chinese EV and battery companies spent more money building factories outside of China than within. “We simply couldn’t.”So it’s perhaps no surprise that Chinese battery companies are dominant—and that the competition between them is fierce. When Apple built its technology empire on the backs of Chinese factories, the country had to reckon with whether it was benefiting from Apple’s victories or being exploited. As China’s battery technology takes over the world, Chinese companies are the ones now raising these questions—of who ultimately benefits and who is exploiting whom.