Taiwan's ProLogium Aims to Beat Chinese Battery Giants with Solid-State Technology

ProLogium founder and CEO Vincent Yang believes his company can challenge Chinese giants BYD and CATL, which currently control most of the lithium battery market. ProLogium focuses on next-generation solid-state batteries, which replace liquid electrolytes with solid ones, promising greater safety, power, and cold resistance. While solid-state batteries have been created in labs, mass production remains expensive and difficult.

Yang says ProLogium recently introduced its fourth-generation solid-state battery, claiming it is cheap and easy to mass-produce. The company is expanding rapidly: in February, it broke ground on a gigafactory in Dunkirk, France, after receiving a €1.5 billion local government grant. In May, ProLogium announced a merger with TDAC, a US blank-check company, to go public on Nasdaq at a $3.8 billion valuation.

One of ProLogium’s advantages is that it has no factory in China. Due to geopolitical tensions, customers increasingly seek non-Chinese suppliers. Yang notes that protectionism sometimes benefits his company. For example, ProLogium recently signed a deal with a state-backed Asian infrastructure company that specifically required a supplier from outside mainland China.

Although cars are the primary target market, solid-state batteries are still expensive and could significantly raise EV prices. Therefore, Yang predicts initial applications will be in robots, AI data centers, and drones, where safety outweighs cost. For instance, VinFast, the Vietnamese EV maker that has invested in ProLogium since 2022, is now pivoting from using solid-state batteries in cars to using them in AI data centers.

In the long run, ProLogium expects 60% of its batteries to go into cars by 2032, but revenue may come mainly from emerging markets. Mass production in France could begin by late 2028, and the company is also exploring opportunities in the US.