Cao Renxian is one of China’s wealthiest individuals and the founder of Sungrow Power Supply, a company that manufactures batteries for renewable energy sources. Until recently, virtually nothing was known about the 57-year-old billionaire, as he preferred to stay out of the spotlight.
However, Sungrow Power Supply is now emerging as a leader in the global energy transition. Over the past year, the company’s shares in Shenzhen have risen by approximately 112%, and Renxian’s fortune has doubled, reaching $15 billion according to Bloomberg Billionaires. Additionally, Sungrow Power Supply plans to list in Hong Kong this year.
Finam tells the story of how Cao Renxian founded Sungrow Power Supply and became one of China’s wealthiest individuals.
Humble Beginnings
Cao Renxian was born in 1968 in Hangzhou, China. It is unknown what his parents did for a living, but the family was poor and lived in a rural area. This shaped Zhenxian’s mindset; from a young age, he knew he could only count on himself. Despite all the hardships, he was dedicated to his studies and wanted to pursue higher education.
In the end, the young man’s efforts paid off. After high school, Renxian enrolled at Hefei University of Technology, where he studied engineering and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial automation. It was during his studies that the future billionaire acquired the technical knowledge and developed the innovative mindset that would become the foundation of his future success.
In 1993, Renxian began teaching at his alma mater. For four years, he taught students everything there was to know about renewable energy sources and came to realize their enormous potential. This led to a decision that changed his life.
The Success of Sungrow Power Supply
In 1997, Renxian founded Sungrow Power Supply with a capital of just 500,000 RMB (US$72,000). The company ventured into a niche area of the renewable energy sector—the production of industrial-scale batteries that enable power grids to handle large volumes of clean energy. It started by manufacturing inverters that enable solar panels to generate electricity for homes. It was a risky move, as solar energy was virtually nonexistent in China at the time.
As Renxian recalled in a 2023 interview, no one supported the young entrepreneur’s idea at the time; many believed he would go bankrupt because the company had no market prospects. Nevertheless, Renxian was convinced that the future lay in renewable energy and continued to develop the company. He turned out to be right. The AI boom led to explosive growth in battery production due to rising demand for electricity from AI-powered data centers.
Sungrow Power Supply is currently valued at nearly $50 billion. The company employs about 17,000 people, and its product range has expanded to include batteries, solar inverters, electric vehicle chargers, and hydrogen equipment.
However, not everything went smoothly. Yes, during the renewable energy boom, billionaires in China were popping up at an industrial pace. They included solar panel manufacturers, polysilicon processors, and equipment suppliers. Then, excess production capacity and price wars led to declining profits across the entire solar energy supply chain, which eroded the fortunes of company founders who were once among the country’s wealthiest people.
For instance, the net worth of Li Zhenguo, CEO of Longi Green Energy Technology Co., has fallen by nearly 80% compared to its 2021 peak. Liu Hanyuan, chairman of Tongwei Group, has lost more than half of his wealth since 2022. Other companies have dropped in the rankings due to declining profitability.
Sungrow Power Supply managed to avoid the worst effects of the crisis. In 2024, its growth slowed to a modest 17%. At the same time, its net profit more than doubled in 2023. According to analysts, timing saved the company—it was already involved in energy storage at the start of the AI boom, when demand for electricity in data centers surged and batteries became a necessity.
In the first half of 2025, Sungrow’s net profit rose again by nearly 56%. Battery storage surpassed solar inverters to become the company’s primary growth driver. Investors saw this as evidence of Renxian’s strategic foresight, which led Sungrow Power Supply to begin developing batteries in 2015.
“Timing is crucial,” Renxian shared the secret to success in a 2023 interview. “If you start too early, you may fail before dawn, and if you start too late, nothing may come of it at all. Choosing the right moment to launch a new business is a true test for a leader.”
What will the company gain from listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange?
Sungrow Power Supply’s IPO is expected as early as the first quarter of 2026. According to forecasts by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts, the initial public offering will enable the company to raise 15 billion Hong Kong dollars ($1.9 billion) and could position it as one of the global leaders in the renewable energy market.
However, Sungrow Power Supply’s Chinese competitors are not sitting idly by and are aggressively expanding their capacity, while Western utilities—having once suffered from reliance on the supply chain—are leaning toward localizing production.
Nevertheless, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, Sungrow Power Supply ranks second in market capitalization among all mainland Chinese companies seeking to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In November 2025, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Sungrow Power Supply’s stock rating to “outperform” and raised its earnings forecast through 2027. Among the company’s strengths, the analyst highlighted its valuation and interest from U.S. cloud service customers.
A Hong Kong listing will attract more attention to the company and shareholders from various countries, but it may also lead to tighter oversight of its management by Chinese authorities and closer scrutiny from foreign regulators. In addition, current U.S. tariffs on Chinese energy storage products, which total 48.4%, will also complicate Sungrow Power Supply’s operations abroad. However, according to analysts, the company has a significant margin of safety that will help it withstand Trump’s tariffs.
