In the first half of 2025, the "rising waves" of electrification and intelligence have given rise to more new trends in the auto parts industry. These trends are not only reshaping the industry's development pattern but also reconstructing the industrial chain ecosystem.

At the start of this year, the sensation caused by DeepSeek has made AI a hot topic once again. The penetration of AI technology in the auto parts industry is deepening—shifting from partial application to full-domain expansion—and has become a new driving force for the industry's development. The application of large AI models has also led to the restructuring of the industry's competitive focus. Unlike the early-stage partial AI that was limited to smart cockpits or intelligent driving, many automakers have begun to build AI bases to provide underlying support for upper-level systems. The reliability of AI operating systems also affects the controllability of full-domain AI. AI-driven R&D is also emerging as one of the breakthroughs in lithium battery technology innovation. AI is transforming the paradigm of material R&D, which will significantly accelerate the development of all-solid-state batteries.

Currently, DeepSeek is mainly applied in two core automotive business segments: intelligent driving and smart cockpits. With its open-source nature, low-cost advantages, and efficient model optimization technology, it is exerting a profound impact on core fields such as automotive chips, lidar, and operating systems. It is also accelerating the evolution of segmented scenarios like intelligent driving and human-machine interaction, helping enterprises reduce R&D costs and improve product performance.

Meanwhile, cases of auto parts enterprises expanding into the eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) and humanoid robot fields have become common, as they encounter unexpected opportunities for a "second growth curve." In the eVTOL sector, the small-batch production of high-energy-density solid-state batteries and pouch lithium-ion batteries is more aligned with eVTOL needs. New layouts and market development in this area are expected to accelerate the mass production and application of solid-state batteries, opening a new market "outlet" for power battery manufacturers. It is reported that Funeng Technology's semi-solid-state batteries for eVTOL have entered the industrialization stage: they have completed design verification and PV (Process Validation) product testing, and samples have been delivered to leading customers in the low-altitude economy sector. Lishen Battery delivered 10,000 pouch polymer eVTOL cells with an energy density of 325Wh/kg in 2024, which can meet the requirements of high safety, over 1,000 charge-discharge cycles, and take-off/landing of 2-ton-class heavy-duty aircraft. In addition, traditional lithium battery manufacturers such as CATL, CALB, Gotion High-Tech, Sunwoda, and BAK Battery, as well as new entrants in the solid-state battery field including Shanghai Xiba, Xinjie Energy, and Jinyu Xinneng, have all launched higher-performance battery products tailored for eVTOL or low-altitude flight scenarios.

Compared with new energy vehicles (NEVs), eVTOL has higher requirements for battery energy density and power, which has prompted enterprises to increase R&D investment in solid-state batteries. The application of solid-state batteries in the eVTOL field not only accelerates their own mass production process but also is expected to "feed back" the NEV sector, improving the overall level of battery technology.

The humanoid robot field has also attracted many auto parts enterprises to enter. From bionic joints and precision reducers to dedicated bearings and actuators, enterprises are leveraging their strengths to layout core components. This strategic transformation stems not only from the broad market prospects of humanoid robots but also from the solid industrial foundation of auto parts enterprises in fields such as precision manufacturing and mechatronics. Auto parts enterprises have unique advantages in entering the humanoid robot field. Firstly, both humanoid robots and auto parts belong to the high-end precision manufacturing category, with high similarity in core technologies such as materials, processes, transmission systems, and precision machining. The technologies accumulated in auto parts manufacturing—such as precision machining and automated control—can be smoothly transferred to the humanoid robot manufacturing field. Auto parts enterprises also have extensive experience in mechanical design, sensor application, and control algorithms, which can be applied to the R&D and production of humanoid robots. Additionally, these enterprises have long been deeply involved in the automotive industrial chain, with rich experience in high-precision manufacturing, large-scale production, and cost control, as well as a mature supply chain system. At the same time, the development of new technologies such as intelligent driving has turned automobiles into "embodied intelligent terminals." By integrating hardware and software, auto parts enterprises incorporate embodied intelligence technology into the automotive industry, forming an industrial synergy effect.

However, there is also a phenomenon of "overheating" in the humanoid robot field. Some enterprises are only participating in this sector to chase trends, and their products are still far from commercialization.