Chinese auto giant Chery has recently become a shareholder in a Nio subsidiary focused on emerging energy technology, according to a corporate registration change disclosed through the Tianyancha business registry.
Weiju Technology (Anhui) Co., Ltd. added Chery and Hefei Metalforming Intelligent Manufacturing Co., Ltd. among its shareholders, while its registered capital rose from 373.15 million yuan ($55.4 million) to 725 million yuan ($107.5 million) — an increase of about 94%.
Nio Holding Co., Ltd., which previously held 100% of the entity, retained a controlling stake of 50.0156%.
Chery‘s stake stands at 10%, representing a subscription of 72.5 million yuan ($10.8 million), according to Qichacha corporate records.
Nio’s own subscription fell by 10.54 million yuan, from 373.15 million to 362.61 million, even as registered capital nearly doubled.
Paid-in capital stands at 362.61 million yuan — exactly Nio’s contribution. None of the six new shareholders has yet paid in the 362.39 million yuan they subscribed.
The investment adds a capital tie to a relationship that has until now been defined by technology-sharing agreements and a stalled battery swap partnership.
Weiju Technology
Weiju Technology (Anhui) Co., Ltd. was established in April 2023.
Qu (Stanley) Yu, Nio‘s Chief Financial Officer and Head of Nio Power, is named as its legal representative.
The subsidiary’s business scope covers “emerging energy technology R&D and new materials technology R&D”, along with industrial engineering design services.
The entity reported zero employees as of its 2025 annual filing, suggesting it functions as an investment holding vehicle rather than an operating unit.
Hefei-Backed Investors
Beyond Chery, the registration records include four Hefei-based state-linked entities that together account for roughly 30% of the restructured company.
Anhui Wanneng Capital Investment Co., Ltd., a wholly state-owned entity linked to Anhui Provincial Energy Group, took the largest new position at 15% with a subscription of 108.75 million yuan ($16.1 million).
Hefei Metalforming Intelligent Manufacturing (SHA: 603011), a Shanghai-listed manufacturer of hydraulic presses and metal forming equipment founded in 1951, acquired 9.9844% for 72.39 million yuan ($10.7 million).
Three Hefei municipal government-backed funds round out the roster: Hefei Science & Technology Innovation Investment Fund at 6.8966% for 50 million yuan ($7.4 million), Hefei S&T Innovation Investment Fund Phase II at 5.3448% for 38.75 million yuan ($5.7 million), and Hefei Angel Investment Fund Phase II at 2.7586% for 20 million yuan ($3.0 million).
All three are classified as wholly state-owned.
The subscription dates for every new investor are listed as March 15, though the shareholdings were formally registered on August 13.
The concentration of Hefei-linked capital reflects Nio‘s deep operational ties to the Anhui provincial capital, where the company operates three electric vehicle assembly plants.
Hefei’s municipal government played a decisive role in Nio‘s survival, injecting 7 billion yuan in 2020 through strategic investors when the company was near collapse.
Since then, the city has remained the center of Nio‘s manufacturing and subsidiary formation, and local state-backed funds have continued to co-invest alongside the parent company at the subsidiary level.
Chery and Battery Swap
Chery and Nio signed a battery swap strategic cooperation agreement in Hefei in January 2024, covering battery standards, swap technology and service network construction.
In January 2025, vehicles from Chery‘s Exeed sub-brand became the first from any alliance partner to be spotted testing Nio‘s battery swap technology at a station in China.
An SUV and a sedan were photographed and filmed undergoing swap tests, with Nio‘s VP — and now Onvo brand chief — Shen Fei indirectly confirming the footage on Weibo.
Exeed had initially targeted the third quarter of 2025 to launch its first swap-compatible models.
However, no battery-swappable vehicle from any of Nio‘s eight alliance partners — including Changan, Geely, JAC, Lotus, GAC and FAW Group — has reached the market so far.
Nio‘s founder and CEO William Li publicly downgraded the alliance’s strategic priority at a media roundtable earlier this year, stating that third-party adoption of the swap network was no longer a near-term focus.
The equity investment in Weiju Technology marks a different channel of cooperation.
In January, Nio, Chery and JAC Motors signed an agreement to co-build an “automotive innovation platform,” reuniting Nio with its former contract manufacturer alongside Anhui’s largest automaker.
Fusion New Energy
Weiju Technology also holds a stake in Fusion New Energy (Anhui) Co., Ltd., established in May 2023 as the sole technology-transfer platform for magnetic confinement fusion research from the Institute of Plasma Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Hefei Institutes of Physical Science.
Nio was the project’s angel investor. Wanneng Power, a Shenzhen-listed shareholder, disclosed that Fusion New Energy launched with 5 billion yuan of registered capital under state leadership, with the Nio group holding 30%.
Registered capital rose to 14.5 billion yuan in mid-2024 when China National Petroleum Corp.’s Kunlun Capital and Hefei Science Island joined. Kunlun subscribed 2.9 billion yuan for 20%, while Hefei Science Island and the Hefei Chantou New Energy Technology Partnership each subscribed 2.972 billion yuan for 20.5%.
Anhui provincial and Hefei municipal state-asset commissions control the other principal holders through the Wanneng Fenghe Fusion Technology Partnership and the Hefei Chantou vehicle respectively.
The company is the main vehicle behind the Compact Fusion Energy Experimental Device known as BEST.
Engineering assembly began in Hefei in May 2026, two months ahead of schedule, with four 52-metre, 400-tonne crane beams arriving on site. BEST is expected to be completed in 2027.
Weiju Technology is registered in Hefei’s Economic and Technological Development Zone, the same district as Nio’s manufacturing base.
