$50M graphite-free silicon battery plant to break 93% China import dominance for EVs

Emerging battery-tech company Coreshell Technologies will use a $50 million U.S. Department of Energy award to expand domestic battery manufacturing and build what it says will be the first U.S. gigafactory dedicated to lithium-ion cells with anodes made entirely from metallurgical silicon. The San Leandro, California-based company says the project will replace graphite with metallurgical-grade silicon (MGS), a material that can be sourced domestically. Graphite remains a major vulnerability in the battery supply chain, with more than 93% of global supply concentrated in China, according to Coreshell. The award will support about 2 gigawatt-hours of electrode manufacturing capacity and 1.5 GWh of cell assembly capacity. The project is also expected to create more than 100 jobs across production, technical and administrative roles as construction and equipment installation progress. Coreshell is combining its silicon-anode technology with a dry-coating process from Massachusetts-based AM Batteries. The approach is aimed at removing graphite from the anode while cutting the equipment and energy requirements associated with conventional wet electrode manufacturing. Silicon targets battery bottlenecks Coreshell’s technology uses metallurgical silicon as the active anode material rather than relying on processed graphite. The company says U.S. producers already manufacture more than 100,000 tons of MGS annually, providing a domestic feedstock for the planned battery production. That could give battery manufacturers another route around a supply chain heavily dependent on China. Coreshell says the cells will be designed to meet National Defense Authorization Act requirements and support both electric vehicles and specialized military applications. “This award is about more than building a factory. It’s about liberating the batteries that power America from a supply chain we don’t control,” said Jonathan Tan, CEO and co-founder of Coreshell. “By proving that domestically sourced metallurgical silicon can replace that graphite at scale, we’re giving the U.S. automotive and defense industries a path to energy storage that isn’t hostage to a foreign supply chain.” The manufacturing project will also use AM Batteries’ Powder-to-Electrode process for cathodes. Unlike conventional wet coating, the dry process eliminates solvents and the need for energy-intensive drying and solvent-recovery infrastructure. That could lower capital and operating costs while reducing safety risks during production. AM Batteries says the technology is designed to simplify one of the most resource-intensive stages of conventional battery manufacturing. Domestic cells target Asia The two companies are targeting batteries that can be produced entirely in the U.S., from domestically sourced anode material through cell assembly. The goal is to reduce exposure to overseas battery supply chains while developing cells that can compete on cost and performance. “This project is about proving that a 100% domestically produced high-performance battery cell can be cost-competitive with mass-market cells from Asia,” said Hieu Duong, CTO of AM Batteries. “By combining AMB’s platform with Coreshell’s MGS anode technology, we can lower cost, improve performance, and help build a globally competitive battery industry in the West.” The project will scale production alongside construction and equipment ramp-up, with hiring phased accordingly. If successful, it could provide U.S. automakers and defense manufacturers with a domestic alternative to battery cells dependent on Chinese graphite. The $50 million award comes under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act through the DOE’s Manufacturing Deployment Office. Get the latest in engineering, tech, space & science - delivered daily to your inbox.With over a decade-long career in journalism, Neetika Walter has worked with The Economic Times, ANI, and Hindustan Times, covering politics, business, technology, and the clean energy sector. Passionate about contemporary culture, books, poetry, and storytelling, she brings depth and insight to her writing. When she isn’t chasing stories, she’s likely lost in a book or enjoying the company of her dogs.