CNGR Advanced Material Appoints Zou Chang as CFO and Wen Zhan as Board Secretary

Amprius Technologies announced in late September 2026 that it entered into a US$75 million fixed-price Other Transaction Agreement with the U.S. Government for Project acCELLerate, alongside a separate U.S. Department of War IBAS grant, to build secure domestic high-energy density battery production for small unmanned aerial systems. The awards position Amprius to retrofit an existing South Korea-linked EV battery line into a U.S.-compliant facility capable of producing 12 million silicon-anode cells annually for NDAA-compliant defense customers. The company had already lifted its August 2026 guidance to at least US$140 million in full-year revenue with a narrower net loss. Amprius' narrative projects US$415.0 million in revenue and US$53.6 million in earnings by 2029, yielding a US$22.12 fair value, while the most cautious analysts assume about US$362 million of revenue and roughly US$40 million of earnings by 2029. The growing dependence on government-backed drone programs also concentrates risk should procurement cycles shift.

Arkema announced a €10 million expansion project for its Global Battery Center of Excellence in Oullins-Pierre-Bénite, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. The investment will triple the center's footprint and modernize its research infrastructure, including a significant increase in the digitalization of R&D activities. The expansion builds on the Group's global battery R&D network, which spans France, China, South Korea, Japan and the United States, and follows the September 2025 inauguration of a solvent-free battery electrode manufacturing laboratory in Normandy. Arkema said the project will let its researchers replicate customers' manufacturing conditions to accelerate integration of its advanced materials into cell makers' production processes and support batteries with greater energy density, faster charging and enhanced safety. Chief Technology Officer Armand Ajdari called the investment a major milestone in Arkema's ambition to support the rapid evolution of the battery market. The project received support from the French Research Tax Credit and the French State as part of the France 2030 program.

The 15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the New Battery Industry, jointly formulated by seven departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, was officially released on September 28, proposing that all-solid-state batteries achieve initial large-scale application by 2030. Boosted by this news, the solid-state battery concept surged again on the morning of September 30, with Transart Technology, Shanghai Xiba, and Xin Ya Zhi Cheng hitting limit up, while lithium battery materials company Lopal Technology was pulled up to a 9.99 percent limit-up. The plan makes arrangements for developing advanced battery materials and high-end manufacturing equipment, proposing to develop isostatic pressing equipment for solid-state batteries, and to develop solid-state electrolytes such as sulfide and halide materials with high air stability, as well as high-performance polymer composite solid-state electrolytes. Lopal Technology recently stated that its solid-state battery precursor product D392 is a high-nickel ternary precursor material tailored for solid-state batteries and launched by its wholly owned subsidiary Sanjin Lithium. Through measures such as element doping and structural adjustment, it has been made more stable, safer, and longer-lasting, and can better solve problems in solid-state batteries such as cracking of cathode materials and high-temperature decomposition of materials.

Chinese battery maker Gotion High-Tech will invest 1.1 billion euros, or 1.25 billion dollars, in Volkswagen's plant in Valencia in eastern Spain. As part of a broad partnership plan to jointly build a European battery supply chain, the investment will give Gotion High-Tech a 49 percent stake in VW battery unit PowerCo's Valencia plant, with PowerCo retaining a majority stake. The plant will become the European production base for lithium iron phosphate batteries. PowerCo, meanwhile, will invest 470 million euros in two of Gotion High-Tech's sites, a battery plant in Suraly in southern Slovakia and a new cathode materials production facility in Kenitra in northwestern Morocco, taking a 49 percent stake in each. Volkswagen is Gotion High-Tech's sole largest shareholder, holding 24 percent.

NextSource Materials Inc. has executed a binding Share Subscription Agreement with Japan's Hanwa Co., Ltd. and the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security, or JOGMEC, for a US$30 million strategic investment in its Battery Anode Facility in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Under the agreement, Hanwa and JOGMEC, through a jointly owned investment vehicle, will acquire a 15% equity interest in the UAE BAF project company, with NextSource retaining 85% ownership upon closing. The investment includes the consortium's contribution to capital expenditures for the first phase of the facility, which is designed to produce approximately 14,000 tonnes per annum of anode material with ramp-up expected to begin in H2 2027, followed by planned expansion to approximately 30,000 tonnes per annum. A related Shareholders' Agreement is expected to be executed shortly to govern the funding, development, construction and operation of the project, which is advancing through pre-EPC mobilization following the Final Investment Decision announced on May 12, 2026. NextSource said it is in advanced discussions with additional strategic investors regarding a further 35% interest in the UAE BAF project company and is progressing debt financing talks after multiple expressions of interest from prospective lenders.

Smackover Lithium has amended its binding commercial offtake agreement with Trafigura Trading LLC for the South West Arkansas Project, adding an option to deliver up to an additional 4,000 metric tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year on top of the initial 8,000 metric tonne per year commitment. Combined, the maximum possible volumes to be delivered to Trafigura on a take-or-pay basis has increased to 12,000 metric tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year over the 10-year Agreement beginning at the start of commercial production, with pricing and other key commercial terms remaining confidential. Because the additional volume is deliverable solely at Smackover Lithium's election, the partnership retains the ability to allocate that volume to other strategic customers in the future, and an additional offtake agreement is not required to move forward with Project financing. Together with the recently announced binding take-or-pay agreement with LG Energy Solution for 8,000 metric tonnes per year, total possible commitments have now reached 20,000 metric tonnes of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year, exceeding the Project's initial target of securing customer offtake for roughly 80%, or 18,000, of the 22,500 tonnes of annual nameplate lithium carbonate capacity in its initial phase. Smackover Lithium, a partnership between Standard Lithium and Equinor formed in May 2024 in which Standard Lithium holds a 55% interest and Equinor holds 45%, said due diligence is well underway with three major Export Credit Agencies on a senior secured, limited recourse debt financing package of around $1.1 billion, and it continues to target a Final Investment Decision later this year before moving into construction, enabling first commercial production of battery-quality lithium carbonate in 2029.