Investors See Battery and Chipmakers as Safer Than Tesla and Nio
They don’t have the superhigh valuations EV makers carry, and their competition isn’t as fierce.
Workers check products at a lithium battery factory in Tangshan, China.
Photographer: Yang Shiyao/Xinhua/Zuma Press
Shares in RAC Electric Vehicles Inc., an electric-bus maker in Taiwan that has lost money for the past seven years, spiked 27% on Jan. 12. The jump was the latest example of the recent stock market mania surrounding the EV industry.
It’s anybody’s guess which vehicle makers will be around long enough to compete with the likes of Toyota Motor Corp. or Ford Motor Co. That’s one reason an increasing number of investors are instead turning their gaze to electric-vehicle suppliers, especially battery and chipmakers. In fact, many investors say they’re even more drawn to companies that aren’t soaring at the levels of Tesla Inc. and Nio Inc.