Ningde Times was included in the Chinese brand blacklist by the Pentagon

The battery giant said it has “never engaged in any military-related business or activities”

CATL, the world’s largest maker and supplier of electric vehicle batteries, is one of several companies to be blacklisted by the Pentagon in June 2026 over alleged ties to the Chinese military. Tencent, China’s largest technology company, is also on the list, meaning it will be unable to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Defense and domestic companies with military contracts.

The updated list now includes 134 companies, all of which do business within the United States. CATL denies that it is a Chinese military company and says it plans to contest its inclusion on the list. The company may also take legal action after the move caused its stock price to drop 2.8% and reduce its market value by $4.4 billion.

Read: CATL drives expansion of China’s EV battery network with 1,000 new charging stations

In an interview with the New York Times, a spokesperson for CATL stated that the company has “never engaged in any military-related business or activities” and that being added to the Department of Defense’s “1260H List” “does not restrict CATL’s cooperation with other companies except conducting business with entities other than the military.” Department of Defense and is not expected to have a material adverse effect on our business. “

Many of the world’s most popular electric cars use CATL batteries, and even some Teslas sold in multiple markets use CATL batteries. The company also licenses its battery technology to Ford, which will use it to produce battery packs at a $3.5 billion factory in Michigan.

Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said CATL’s control of data collected by electric vehicle charging stations and battery management systems may have facilitated espionage by the Chinese government. He told The Washington Post that Chinese law requires CATL to provide the government with access to all of its proprietary and customer data.

The updated list was released shortly after China’s Ministry of Commerce added 10 U.S. companies to its “unreliable entity list.” In 2021, Xiaomi was added to the 1260H list, but successfully sued the Pentagon and was removed on the grounds that it had no relationship with the Chinese military.

Tencent’s inclusion on the list is also noteworthy. It owns WeChat and is valued at more than $480 billion. After news broke that the company had become the focus of the Department of Defense, the company’s stock price fell about 7.3%, and its market value shrank by $35.4 billion.