What happened
EHang Holdings (EH 0.28%), an ambitious Chinese company that's developing autonomous flying taxis, had a winning Wednesday on the stock market. Investors cheered news of a fresh acquisition, sending the share price skyward by 1.4% on a day when the S&P 500 index landed in negative territory, closing almost 1% lower.
So what
Before market open, EHang announced that it has made a strategic investment in Shenzhen Inx Technology. This business, also based in China, develops solid-state lithium batteries. As part of the investment, the two companies aim to cooperate on the research, development, and manufacture of power products for EHang's autonomous aircraft.
While EHang waxed enthusiastic about its latest investment, it did not provide any financial details.
Inx is a privately held company founded in 2020 that aims to develop batteries using lithium and solid-state electrolytes to produce power. According to EHang, this results in a notable gain in energy density and safety over more traditional batteries.
Now what
In the press release trumpeting its move, EHang quoted CEO Huazhi Hu as saying, "Our strategic investment in Inx aligns seamlessly with our pursuit for greener, low-carbon technologies, and is also part of EHang's efforts to deploy and enhance our upstream battery supply chain."
EHang also did not give any estimates as to how its involvement with Inx might affect its financials.
