The Bulletin Board – CABOT

Cabot expands its battery materials at home

Cabot Corporation

Cabot Corporation is expanding its North American battery materials production, backed by a modified $50 million grant from the US Department of Energy.

Cabot Corporation has announced it will expand its North American battery materials platform, supported by a modified $50 million grant from the US Department of Energy’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, alongside around $75 million of Cabot’s own investment.

The money will grow domestic production of advanced conductive additives, the materials that help a battery’s electrodes carry current, at two existing sites: Franklin, Louisiana, and Pampa, Texas. The plan redirects funding from an originally announced Michigan project into a two-site brownfield expansion, using existing plants to move faster. It is designed to meet rising demand from energy storage, AI infrastructure and data centres, grid modernisation and electrification.

At Franklin, Cabot will expand production of its LITX battery-grade conductive carbons. At Pampa, it will establish the first commercial-scale production of carbon nanostructures, its most advanced conductive additive, part of the ENERMAX family. Both projects are expected to be operational by the end of 2028.

It is another step in building a secure, domestic supply of the specialist materials that batteries depend on, and a reminder that the battery supply chain is about far more than the cells themselves.

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