House China Committee Urges Bank of America, JPMorgan to Withdraw From CATL IPO

Potential initial public offering of Chinese electric vehicle battery maker could be one of the year’s biggest.

CATL, a Chinese electric battery maker, displays its wares at the 2019 IAA Frankfurt Auto Show in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on Sept. 11, 2019. Sean Gallup/Getty Images

The chairman of the House panel on the Chinese Communist Party urged two U.S. banks to withdraw from working on a first-time share sale of a Chinese electric vehicle battery titan, saying they could face “significant regulatory, financial, and reputational risks” by underwriting its listing.

Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, urged Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase on April 17 to halt further work on Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd.’s (CATL) initial public offering.

In letters to Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Moolenaar emphasized that the Department of Defense (DoD) designated CATL as a “Chinese military company” in January. While this does not restrict the company’s operations, it can stigmatize the brand and affect business and investment relationships.

The world’s largest battery maker is also alleged to have links to a paramilitary group that operates forced labor camps for the Uyghur minority in China’s Xinjiang region.

“If JPMorgan and Bank of America proceed with this IPO, they risk complicity in underwriting genocide, undermining American industry, and endangering U.S. service members,” Moolenaar wrote.

Moolenaar added that he is assessing banks’ relationships with firms tied to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“The House Select Committee on China is actively examining these relationships, and we urge JPMorgan and Bank of America to prioritize national security and human rights in their decision-making,” he said.

The letters also pointed to President Donald Trump’s America First Investment Policy memo that attempts to discourage Wall Street from persuading U.S. investors to fund CATL’s stock listing.

“CATL’s IPO represents precisely the type of investment this policy seeks to deter,” Moolenaar said.

CATL, a significant supplier of lithium iron phosphate batteries to Tesla Motors’ Shanghai Factory, has denied these claims and called the Pentagon’s designation a “mistake.”

“CATL has never engaged in any military-related business or activities, so this designation by the Department of Defense is a mistake,” the company said in a Jan. 7 statement.

“It does not restrict CATL from conducting business with entities other than DoD and is expected to have no substantially adverse impact on our business. We will proactively engage with DoD to address the false designation, including legal action if necessary, to protect the interests of our company and shareholders as a whole.”

The United States is a sizable market for CATL’s operations, accounting for 35 percent of its electric storage system batteries in 2023.

U.S. companies have come under pressure from lawmakers to dismantle their working relationships with CATL.

In February 2024, Duke Energy decommissioned and phased out the use of CATL’s energy storage batteries amid heightened security concerns. The decision received applause from the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase for comment.

DeepSeek and Nvidia Also in Spotlight

This comes as the House select committee recommended that the federal government investigate threats that Chinese artificial intelligence models pose to the United States.

Lawmakers published an April 16 report titled “DeepSeek Unmasked: Exposing the CCP’s Latest Tool For Spying, Stealing and Subverting U.S. Export Control Restrictions.” They determined that DeepSeek, a startup that rocked the AI industry earlier this year, is “a weapon in the Chinese Communist Party’s arsenal.”

The icons for the smartphone apps DeepSeek and ChatGPT on a smartphone screen in Beijing on Jan. 28, 2025. Andy Wong/AP Photo

The report noted that the large language model funnels account data to the Chinese regime and produces security vulnerabilities for users.

“DeepSeek represents a profound threat to our nation’s security,” the report’s executive summary stated.

U.S. officials also say it is equally troubling that DeepSeek was constructed “using stolen U.S. technology” and has connections to military research and strategic labs.

Specifically, the report alluded to the AI model powered by advanced chips created by semiconductor juggernaut Nvidia. The House select committee requested that Nvidia provide information on its sales of chips to the foreign company.

In a statement posted on social media platform X, Nvidia said it follows the U.S. government’s protocol on what and where it can sell.

“The technology industry supports America when it exports to well-known companies worldwide — if the government felt otherwise, it would instruct us,” the statement said. “Our reported Singapore revenue indicates the billing address, often for subsidiaries of our U.S. customers. The associated products are shipped to other locations, including the United States and Taiwan, not to China.”

The Chinese upstart captured Wall Street’s attention in January after the DeepSeek AI emulated or outperformed its U.S. counterparts at a fraction of the cost and resources.