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Big Tech lands an early win in legal battles against publishers
Big Tech lands an early win in legal battles against publishers

TechCrunch

time12 hours ago

  • Business
  • TechCrunch

Big Tech lands an early win in legal battles against publishers

This week, two major AI companies scored early wins in court, with federal judges siding with Meta and Anthropic in separate lawsuits over how their models were trained on copyrighted material. The decisions represent the first real legal validation of AI companies' argument that training models on books, images, and other creative works can be considered 'fair use' — even if those materials weren't obtained with permission. It's a big deal for companies building generative AI, and a potential turning point for the many lawsuits still in motion. Today, on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosts Max Zeff and Anthony Ha were joined by Sean O'Kane (who graciously stepped in while Kirsten headed off to the Nevada desert to see the next big act of Redwood Materials, the startup founded by former Tesla CTO JB Straubel) to dive deeper into the rulings. While neither case sets a precedent yet, Anthony noted that appeals are likely, and broader challenges could ultimately shape how AI companies interact with entire industries going forward. Listen to the full episode to hear more highlights from the week, including: Kalshi's $185M round, and what it says about the rising (and legally murky) world of prediction markets The startup betting on reusable satellites, and why the Department of Defense is paying attention Tesla's robotaxi rollout in Austin, and how it stacks up against Waymo and other AV companies' approaches Equity will be back next week, so stay tuned! Equity is TechCrunch's flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

This massive new data center is powered by used EV batteries
This massive new data center is powered by used EV batteries

Fast Company

time19 hours ago

  • Automotive
  • Fast Company

This massive new data center is powered by used EV batteries

Over the last two months, a first-of-a-kind project has taken shape at an industrial site in Nevada: the world's largest microgrid built with used EV batteries, designed to power an adjacent data center. It's the first of a series of microgrids planned by Redwood Materials, the battery recycling company now valued at more than $5 billion. The company is taking in a quickly-growing volume of used EV batteries—tens of thousands over the last year, and perhaps hundreds of thousands over the next 12 months. Most of those batteries still have enough capacity to have a second life before the materials are recycled. And they could help deal with a major energy challenge: how new data centers can come online quickly and cheaply without straining the grid and significantly adding to climate emissions. 'The amount of batteries coming back that have usable life and that are relatively more cost-efficient to deploy has ramped up dramatically in just the last year or two,' says JB Straubel, CEO of Redwood Materials. The company announced its new energy business arm at an event on June 26. Straubel, one of Tesla's cofounders, left the automaker in 2019 to help build a new U.S. supply chain of critical battery materials using the growing pile of battery waste. Last year, the company started commercial production of cathode active material, one key component in batteries, from recycled materials. Its recycling business is already profitable; it generated $200 million in revenue last year. But it also recognized the huge opportunity to put some batteries to work again. How EV batteries can find a second life When a battery is in a car or a truck, 'it's a pretty demanding application,' Straubel says. 'You need a lot of power capability. You really want to charge quickly, usually, so you can go to fast charge stations. And you also need a pretty high percent of your overall initial range that you purchased in the car.' But even when a battery has lost so much capacity that it no longer makes sense for driving, it can still be used to store energy. In that application, charging and discharging can happen slowly. A battery might only have half of its original capacity, but can still reliably support the grid or a microgrid. In some cases, it could be used for years before it's eventually recycled. In the new microgrid, on Redwood's campus near Reno, more than 800 used EV batteries are connected to 20 acres of solar panels. It has enough power to run a new AI data center on the site, built by Crusoe, a company that designs and deploys low-carbon compute infrastructure. The data center operates fully off the grid, without an external backup. 'We still expect [the microgrid] to be very, very reliable,' Straubel says. 'In some cases, it might be more reliable, because we have less failure points.' To make it possible to avoid the grid completely, the team built a relatively large amount of solar power and large battery capacity. In other cases, the company will build microgrids that do have a grid connection, but allow data centers to run on their own renewable energy most of the time. Some projects could also be built with backup from gas generators. But there are advantages to off-grid renewable projects. Why companies want to go off the grid Off-grid projects are faster than other alternatives. Right now, the wait time for a new gas turbine can be as long as seven years. Connecting large new renewable energy projects to the grid also takes years because of long delays in the permitting process. A self-contained microgrid can avoid waiting in the interconnection queue. And if it's fully renewable, like the project from Redwood and Crusoe, it can also avoid the long process to get air quality permits. All that a project needs is simple construction permits. The process to build can also happen quickly. (Crusoe's own data center infrastructure, which uses modular, self-contained small units, is also fast to deploy. The new data center is already running in test mode and will be available for Crusoe's cloud customers to use in the coming weeks.) Because renewable energy is cheap, and Redwood's battery system is also affordable, the microgrids can compete head to head with fossil fuels. 'We're seeing prices now that I think are below what you can do with the gas microgrid,' says Straubel. All of this means that even if a tech company doesn't have sustainability as its first priority when it builds a new data center, the microgrid can still be a compelling choice. 'It seems that in this moment, speed and power availability is the number-one topic,' Straubel says. 'Maybe number two would be overall economics. Number three is sustainability. Not to say that people don't care about that—I feel that most of our customers care quite deeply about it. But there's a lot of pressure for everyone to grow fast and balance all these other constraints while doing it.' The potential for scale Data center providers that want to use solar power need to find land in the right location. But one recent analysis found that there was more than enough available land in the U.S. to support the massive energy demand from new data centers—far more than even high-end projections that say that we may need a staggering 300 gigawatts of new energy by 2030 to cover growth. That analysis looked at the feasibility of microgrids that were 90% renewable and 10% gas-powered. But it mapped out potential sites in detail, and points to areas that could also potentially be used for 100% renewable projects. Redwood is already working on other microgrids for other data centers. And over time, as more used EV batteries become available, they can play a greater role for the grid overall. 'The volumes in the automotive and transportation sector are so much higher than in the grid sector,' Straubel says. 'Over the long term, I believe that EV batteries—trucks, cars, robotaxis, all of it—will have an extremely significant role to play in really all bulk energy storage.' It can help the cost of energy storage come down, which is key to helping renewables fully scale up. 'Renewables are our cheapest source of generation today,' he says. 'And I think that's only going to expand. But they're intermittent. We have to find a cost-efficient way to deliver firm, reliable, renewable energy if we have a hope of scaling it. And to me, that is really the long-term main application.' The extended deadline for Fast Company's Next Big Things in Tech Awards is this Friday, June 27, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.

Redwood Materials launches energy storage business and its first target is AI data centers
Redwood Materials launches energy storage business and its first target is AI data centers

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Automotive
  • Yahoo

Redwood Materials launches energy storage business and its first target is AI data centers

Tucked between two massive buildings in the hills of the Nevada desert, 805 retired EV batteries lie in neat formation, each one wrapped in nondescript white tarps — and hiding in plain sight. A passerby might not realize this unassuming array is the largest microgrid in North America, that it's powering a 2,000 GPU modular data center for AI infrastructure company Crusoe, or that it represents the next big act of JB Straubel, the co-founder and CEO of Redwood Materials. Redwood Materials announced Thursday during an event at its Sparks, Nevada facility that it was launching an energy storage business that will leverage the thousands of EV batteries it has collected as part of its battery recycling business to provide power to companies, starting with AI data centers. The new business, called Redwood Energy, is kicking off with partner Crusoe, a startup Straubel invested in 2021. The old EVs, which are not yet ready for recycling, store energy generated from an adjacent solar array. The system, which generates 12 MW of power and has 63 MWh of capacity, sends power to a modular data center built by Crusoe, the AI infrastructure company best known for its large-scale data center campus in Abilene, Texas — the initial site of the Stargate project. The scale of Redwood's battery collection operation is staggering. Redwood said it recovers more than 70% of all used or discarded battery packs in North America. Today, it processes more than 20 GWh of batteries annually—the equivalent of 250,000 EVs. It has apparently been stockpiling batteries that aren't ready for recycling, with more than 1 gigawatt-hour worth in its inventory already. In the coming months, it expects to receive another 4 gigawatt-hours. By 2028, the company said it plans to deploy 20 gigawatt-hours of grid-scale storage, placing it on track to become the largest repurposer of used EV battery packs. Straubel's confidence in the endeavor was apparent in every detail of the launch event. To illustrate the commitment of Redwood — and by extension, Straubel — everything about the production, from the lights and music to the projection on the big screen were powered by the microgrid. 'We wanted to go all in,' Straubel said, breaking into a wide, toothy smile. Splashy effects for the event aside, the microgrid setup with Crusoe is not a demonstration project. Straubel said this is a revenue-generating operation, which was constructed in four months, and one that is profitable. He added that even more of these will be deployed with other customers this year. 'I think this has the potential to grow faster than the core recycling business,' he Materials has been on an expansion tear in recent years. The company, which has raised $2 billion in private funds, was founded in 2017 by Straubel, the former Tesla CTO and current board member, to create a circular supply chain. The company started by recycling scrap from battery cell production as well as consumer electronics like cell phone batteries and laptop computers. After processing these discarded goods and extracting materials like cobalt, nickel and lithium that are typically mined, Redwood supplies those back to Panasonic and other customers. Over time, the company has expanded beyond recycling and into cathode production. Redwood generated $200 million in revenue in 2024, much of which comes from the sale of battery materials like cathodes. The company's footprint has grown too, and well beyond its Carson City, Nevada headquarters. It has locked up deals with Toyota, Panasonic, and GM, started construction on a South Carolina factory, and made an acquisition in Europe. Redwood Energy is the next step — and one that isn't tied to setting up its systems to be off-grid. The retired EV batteries can be powered by wind and solar, or they can be tied to the grid. In the case of the Crusoe project, the system is powered by solar. 'There's no green intent required here,' CTO Colin Campbell said during a tour of the microgrid. 'It's a good economic choice that also happens to be carbon-free.' The business model addresses a longstanding challenge in the energy storage sector. For over a decade, companies have been promising to build grid-scale storage from used EV batteries, but they've only materialized in small amounts. Redwood, which got its start as a battery materials and recycling company, is creating a new line that promises to deliver gigawatts of much needed energy storage in just a few years. 'This really demonstrates how economical the waste hierarchy actually is,' Jessica Dunn, a battery expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told TechCrunch. That a large recycler like Redwood recognized the profit potential in repurposed EV batteries shows 'where this end-of-life market will go,' she added. Repurposing batteries is a clear business opportunity for Redwood, but it might also be a business imperative. Redwood was founded to build a supply chain that could handle the predicted wave of used EV batteries that will hit the market. But that wave hasn't materialized quite as quickly as some predicted. 'If Redwood didn't enter the repurposing market, then they wouldn't get a share from the repurposed battery. They'd have to wait the five, 10, 15 years until they retired,' she said. In the meantime, other companies would be able to sell the batteries for grid-scale storage, cutting Redwood out of years of revenue. Straubel acknowledged this, noting in an interview that in many ways Redwood Materials started a bit early. 'We started really early, and in a way we started Redwood almost too early,' he said, noting the company initially was collecting consumer batteries and production scrap ahead of the coming wave of EVs. The current state of the recycling market underscores the challenge. 'Right now, the recycling market is mostly manufacturing scrap, consumer electronics, and EV batteries that have failed under warranty,' Dunn said. That has been enough for Redwood to process over 20 gigawatt-hours annually. But it pales in comparison to the 350 gigawatt-hours in EVs today and the 150 gigawatt-hours expected to hit the road every year. Redwood currently has a recycling facility at its 175-acre campus in Sparks, Nevada, and it's developing a 600-acre facility in Charleston, South Carolina. The latter will remanufacture cathode and anode copper foil, both of which contain critical minerals that the U.S. would prefer stayed within its borders. The company previously said that it will be capable of making 100 gigawatt-hours annually of cathode active material and anode foil by the end of this year. By the end of the decade, it expects production to hit 500 gigawatt-hours. 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