Although increasing studies have proved cell competition widely involved in the growth and homeostasis of multicellular organisms is closely linked to tumorigenesis and development, the mechanistic contributions between drug resistance and tumor cell competition remain ill-defined. In this paper, we applied MS of cell competition group to determine the dominant characteristics of lenvatinib resistance and its metabolic differences in cell competition. Our results showed a vital role of HSP90-IDH1 mediated lipid accumulation in maintaining the competitive outcome of HCC drug-resistant cells via regulating lipid metabolism. HSP90-IDH1 axis could be a promising target to overcome HCC drug resistance.