America's Battery Gambit: DOE Bets $50M on a Critical Materials Disruptor

SANTA CLARA, CA – September 15, 2026

The U.S. Department of Energy’s recent selection of Elevated Materials for $50 million in federal funding is far more than a routine grant. It’s a calculated move in a high-stakes geopolitical chess match, a direct investment in a foundational technology that could redefine the performance limits of batteries and, in doing so, help secure America’s industrial future. The funding, which will be matched by private capital to build a new $100 million manufacturing facility, signals a crucial shift in strategy: moving beyond simply assembling batteries to mastering the advanced materials that power them.

Elevated Materials, a developer of ultra-thin lithium films, now finds itself at the epicenter of a national effort to onshore the battery supply chain. The company’s planned 3.5-gigawatt facility is not just another factory; it is a strategic asset designed to mass-produce a component that has long been a bottleneck for next-generation energy storage. As the world pivots toward electrification, this investment underscores a stark realization in Washington: the race for dominance in electric vehicles, grid storage, and defense technology will be won or lost at the molecular level.

A Strategic Salvo in the Global Battery Race

This $50 million award is a key deployment from the DOE's Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing Grants program, an initiative funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It represents a deliberate policy to counter decades of offshoring that left the U.S. critically dependent on foreign nations, particularly China, for battery components and processed minerals. By fostering domestic production, the program aims to build a resilient supply chain immune to geopolitical shocks and trade disputes.

Elevated Materials was one of just seven companies selected in this funding round, highlighting the strategic importance of its specific technology. The government’s goal is not merely to subsidize manufacturing but to cultivate a complete domestic ecosystem, from raw material processing to advanced component production and, finally, battery assembly. According to one industry analyst, this targeted approach is essential. “For years, the focus was on gigafactories,” the analyst noted. “Now, policymakers understand that without a secure supply of the advanced materials that go inside the batteries, those factories are just empty buildings waiting on a shipment from overseas.”

This initiative is central to the administration's ambitious climate and industrial goals, which include ensuring electric vehicles make up half of all new car sales by 2030. Achieving this requires a domestic battery manufacturing capacity to support an estimated 10 million new EVs annually. The investment in companies like Elevated Materials is a foundational piece of that puzzle, designed to ensure that the batteries powering those future American cars are built with American technology and materials.

The Material That Changes Everything

At the heart of this strategic bet is ELi™, an ultra-thin lithium metal film produced using a proprietary manufacturing process. For decades, the holy grail of battery research has been to replace the graphite anodes found in conventional lithium-ion cells with pure lithium metal. On paper, lithium metal offers a theoretical energy capacity nearly ten times greater than graphite, promising batteries that are dramatically lighter, smaller, and more powerful. This could translate to EVs with a much longer range, smartphones that last for days, and even electric aircraft.

The primary obstacle has been safety and stability. Lithium metal is notoriously prone to forming microscopic, needle-like structures called dendrites during charging, which can pierce the battery’s internal separator, cause a short circuit, and lead to catastrophic failure. Elevated Materials’ technology directly addresses this challenge. Using a technique called roll-to-roll vacuum deposition, borrowed from the semiconductor industry, the company creates an exceptionally dense and uniform layer of lithium metal, often less than five microns thick. This pristine, tightly bonded film suppresses dendrite formation, enabling a safer and longer-lasting battery that can also charge significantly faster.

“We developed this technology in California with support from DOE R&D programs and are proud to have been selected by the Department of Energy to now ramp it up to giga-watt scale,” said Jim Cushing, CEO of Elevated Materials. This scale-up is critical. While the technology has been proven, the ability to produce it reliably in vast quantities is what will unlock its market-wide potential.

From Semiconductor Precision to Battery Dominance

Elevated Materials’ unique competitive advantage stems from its origins. The company was carved out of Applied Materials, a global leader in the semiconductor equipment industry. This heritage provides it with decades of institutional knowledge in materials science and precision vacuum deposition—the very processes required to create its flawless lithium films. While traditional battery manufacturing often involves chemical slurries and coating processes, Elevated’s approach mirrors the meticulous, controlled environment of a chip fab.

This cross-pollination of expertise is a powerful example of how innovation in one advanced industry can disrupt another. The ability to deposit a perfectly uniform layer of highly reactive lithium metal onto a substrate, roll after roll, is a manufacturing feat that gives the company a significant edge.

This technological prowess is amplified by its financial backing. As a portfolio company of TPG Rise Climate, Elevated Materials has access to not only capital but also a network focused on scaling climate solutions. The investment thesis is clear: combine Applied Materials' deep technical know-how with TPG's business-building expertise to create a market leader in a critical decarbonization sector. This fusion of Silicon Valley manufacturing DNA with strategic climate-focused capital creates a formidable force for scaling a technology from the lab to the global market.

From Lab to Gigawatt Scale

The new facility represents the critical transition from innovation to industrialization. The company has already demonstrated significant market traction, having shipped over 250,000 meters of its ELi™ material to more than 30 customers worldwide, including a single order exceeding 100 kilometers. This existing demand from EV manufacturers, consumer electronics companies, and defense contractors validates the technology's performance and commercial viability. The DOE funding is an accelerant, not a speculative bet.

The planned 3.5 GW annual capacity is a statement of intent, providing enough advanced anode material to meaningfully impact the domestic supply chain. This output will support the next generation of anode architectures across graphite, silicon, and pure lithium-metal designs, boosting energy density and performance for a wide range of applications. With construction on the new facility set to begin, the race is on to translate federal investment and manufacturing prowess into a secure, high-performance domestic battery ecosystem.