Executive summary
Catena-X (CX), the world’s first production-grade automotive data ecosystem built on open, interoperable dataspace technology, and the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), representing OEMs and suppliers across the Chinese market, have launched a “China Automotive Industry Trusted Data Space” pilot to accelerate adoption of dataspaces for governed cross-company data exchange. The timing is critical: supply chain efficiency and resilience have become board-level priorities, and China, as the world’s largest auto market and a global hub for EV batteries and software-defined vehicle (SDV) capabilities, is pivotal for the industry’s next productivity wave. Launched in Q3 2025 and announced on stage at IAA Mobility in Munich (September 2025), the pilot applies the Catena-X Certificate Management use case to deliver immediate, measurable value by replacing email and spreadsheet handoffs with trusted, machine-readable, policy-controlled sharing on local Chinese infrastructure under joint CX and CAAM governance. An initial OEM and supplier cohort is already running production-like transactions, with success measured by shorter certificate cycle times, fewer resubmissions, audit-ready traceability, and a repeatable onboarding playbook that can scale to adjacent Catena-X use cases such as quality and sustainability.
Problem & business need
Manual certificate exchange via email and Excel causes delays, rework, audit risk, and line-stop exposure. The business goals are to shorten turnaround times, increase right-first-time rates, ensure on-demand compliance evidence, and reduce expediting effort. Another efficiency lever is standardizing customer interactions to avoid costly duplication by shifting from bespoke 1:1 setups to a more “one-fits-all,” 1:many model. Strategically, in a more disruptive geopolitical environment with ever-faster innovation, efficiency and resilience across multi-tier supply chains have become critical, with China playing a key role in EV battery and software supply stacks. Certificate Management is an ideal starting point because it is a high-frequency cross-company touchpoint, offers clear ROI and quick wins, and creates a foundation for adjacent applications such as quality notifications and PCF tracking based on primary scope-3 data.
Solution approach: Technology stack and MoU
System setup
The pilot uses Catena-X, the first globally trusted collaborative data ecosystem for the automotive industry. A data ecosystem can best be framed as three layers (Guggenberger et al. 2025):
- A decentralized dataspace network layer for peer-to-peer data transactions (industry-agnostic connectivity, identity and trust, participation management and registry, policy enforcement)
- Data products (templates for digital twins in Catena-X, domain semantics, syntax, metadata)
- Apps and super-apps (APIs, control flows for complete customer journeys)
The Catena-X Association is the governance body of this ecosystem, standardizing technology across these layers and certifying compliant solutions and providers. Core technology is available as open source in the Eclipse Tractus-X project. For the pilot, the dataspace network layer is provided by Cofinity-X, the first CX-certified operating entity including an app store. Other providers, such as T-Systems, deliver dataspace connectivity or “dataphones,” for example its Connect & Integrate (C&I) Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product. To comply with local rules in China, the pilot is restricted to local-to-local data flows, without cross-border transfers. Connectivity providers such as T-Systems needed to localize their C&I product, including Mandarin support, local or in-country hosting, and compliance with regulations such as domain registration and ICP licensing.
Organizational setup
Building a Catena-X presence in China began with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed at the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2025 by three parties: CAAM, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, a national industry body representing a network of over 3,300 Chinese automotive companies; VDA, the German Association of the Automotive Industry with more than 620 member companies across OEMs and major suppliers; and the Catena-X Association. The MoU confirms a joint commitment to collaborate on solutions that streamline operations and align with global regulations. It also commits the parties to launch pilot projects that demonstrate interoperable, trusted data collaboration across regions and to support ecosystem activation through seminars, conferences, and webinars. In addition, the MoU includes a pledge to jointly develop and promote harmonized standards that enable interoperability and data sharing between trusted automotive data spaces in Europe and China in line with local regulations. Harmonization and cross-border data sharing are long-term goals and are not part of the initial pilot scope.
Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems as Catena-X pioneer
T-Systems International (TSI) is actively supporting the “China Automotive Industry Trusted Data Space” pilot as a member of the pilot taskforce. Tim Hoettges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom (DT), was one of the pioneers behind the Catena-X Automotive Network initiative, and TSI has been a key contributor to the open-source Tractus-X software stack of the Catena-X ecosystem (“5-Stars” LinkedIn post; Schlueter Langdon 2024b). TSI is also a Catena-X pilot pioneer. At CES 2024 in Las Vegas, it launched the first cross-organizational data chain using Catena-X technology, with Ford Motor Company exchanging Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) data with tier 1 supplier Flex (CES 2024 Ford-Flex LinkedIn post; Schlueter Langdon 2024a). At that time, TSI provided the dataspace network layer via its Catena-X Sandbox, a Catena-X–certified version of its Build & Operate (B&O) Dataspace-as-a-Service (DaaS) product, plus a Connect & Integrate (C&I) “dataphone” each for Ford and Flex. For the pilot taskforce, TSI dispatched two engineers, Dr. Dandan Wang and Sebastian Wiemann, to support the taskforce locally in Shanghai and Beijing for three months (June–August). Dr. Wang, a Chinese native with global business experience in the U.S., Asia, and Europe, has been developing dataspace solutions at TSI since 2018. Wiemann is a product manager at TSI and was one of a dozen product owners in the Catena-X consortium that incubated the core reference software now hosted in the Eclipse Tractus-X project; he manages the full lifecycle delivery of Catena-X–based applications.
Pilot planning, IAA launch, participant onboarding
The “China Automotive Industry Trusted Data Space” pilot follows a phased roadmap focused on “local-for-local” data exchange under Chinese governance
- Spring–Summer 2025: Stakeholder alignment and preparation: This phase included the MoU signing at the Shanghai Auto Show 2025 between CAAM, VDA, and the Catena-X Association. The CAAM pilot workshop on July 15, 2025, in Shanghai brought together roughly 100 participants from about 50 Chinese firms and was hosted by CAAM. Figure 1 shows the large group of officials, taskforce members, and key stakeholders. Joint CAAM–VDA activation engaged Chinese OEMs, suppliers, and German joint ventures such as SAIC VW, Kolbenschmidt, and Flex to join the pilot. Support organizations including the Shanghai Data Service Provider Association and Tongji University acted as local facilitators and research partners.
- September 2025: Launch on stage at IAA Mobility in Munich: At IAA Mobility in Munich, a major global automotive and mobility show held in Munich, the capital of Bavaria in southern Germany and home of BMW, the “China Automotive Industry Trusted Data Space” pilot was officially announced on stage. Figure 2 shows the IAA Munich launch by Oliver Ganser, Chair of the Catena-X Association (VP BMW), and Frank Goeller, VP Internationalization of the Catena-X Association (Program Lead Catena-X Audi).
- Q4 2025: Pilot rollout and onboarding: In Q4 2025, pilot rollout began with onboarding of participants onto the Cofinity-X beta version of its Catena-X operating environment. Catena-X certified Enablement Service Providers were trained to support local suppliers. T-Systems’ Connect & Integrate (C&I) product was deployed on Chinese cloud infrastructure, compliant with local data and domain regulations. The first China-based data transactions were initiated within the Certificate Management use case.
Intermediate results & lessons learned
T-Systems successfully achieved local compliance for “China Automotive Industry Trusted Data Space” pilot by deploying the China-hosted Connect & Integrate (C&I) on compliant Chinese cloud infrastructure, including the required local domain and ICP registrations, so that all Certificate Management transactions are in line with Chinese regulation. As of December 2025, about ten Chinese firms were actively using the TSI setup, with additional candidates in the onboarding pipeline, and the first certificates were successfully exchanged China-to-China, replacing email and Excel handoffs with trusted, machine-readable exchanges and demonstrating both practical value and readiness for scale. The pilot has also underscored the importance of ecosystem activation: collaboration among CAAM, VDA China, QMC China, the Shanghai Data Service Provider Association, Tongji University, and industry partners such as SAIC VW, Huawei, Siemens, Flex has created a neutral, multi-stakeholder environment in which OEMs, suppliers, service providers, and operators can test Catena-X–based collaboration patterns under Chinese governance while staying aligned with the Catena-X standard. Looking ahead, the next steps are to continue expanding the pilot to a broader supplier base, to develop a scalable onboarding playbook that Enablement Service Providers can reuse to streamline supplier participation. Together, these steps will demonstrate that Catena-X works in China at production scale and set the stage for additional use cases such as Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) tracking with primary scope-3 data and the Digital Product Passport.
Resources
- What is Catena-X and role of Telekom in it? Overview and user manual
- What is the difference between a data ecosystem and a dataspace? A CEO-2-pager
- What is Connect & Integrate (C&I)? A product overview
References
Guggenberger, T. M., C. Schlueter Langdon, & B. Otto. 2025. Data Spaces as Meta-Organisations. European Journal of Information Systems (January): 1–21
Schlueter Langdon, C. 2024a. CES 2024: PCF pilot with Catena-X technology. Insights report (2024-01-23), Telekom Data Intelligence Hub, T-Systems International, Frankfurt.
Schlueter Langdon, C. 2024b. Delivered! 5 Stars! Catena-X: A 3-year, EUR 250 million software start-up success. Insights report (2024-06-24), Telekom Data Intelligence Hub, T-Systems International, Frankfurt.
