Latest news with #energystorage
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Tesla's $4.3B Battery Pivot Just Shook the Supply Chain--But Investors Didn't Cheer
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has just locked in a $4.3 billion deal with LG Energy Solution to source U.S.-made lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteriesmarking a potential turning point for its energy storage business. The agreement, disclosed through LG Energy's regulatory filing, spans three years starting August 2027, with options to extend up to seven years and expand volumes. A person familiar with the matter confirmed Tesla as the customer, though both companies have declined to comment further. The move comes as Tesla looks to ease reliance on Chinese battery suppliers and offset the pressure from recent tariffs introduced by President Donald Trumptariffs that Tesla warned could disproportionately affect its Megapack unit. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Sign with IST:AKBNK. Investors have taken notice, as this is the second major South Koreabased supply chain deal Tesla has struck in less than a week. Just days earlier, it signed a $16.5 billion semiconductor contract with Samsung to manufacture its next-gen AI6 chip in Texas. Tesla has been vocal about its limitations in scaling LFP battery production domestically. CFO Vaibhav Taneja acknowledged in the April earnings call that existing equipment in its Lathrop factory could only support a small fraction of what's needed. He noted that Tesla has been actively working on building out non-China-based capacity, but admitted it will take time. This deal could represent a meaningful step in that direction. LG Energy has already begun LFP battery production in Michigan and is expanding output at a joint venture facility with GM in Tennessee. While Tesla shares were down nearly 1% as of 11:25 a.m., the move may reflect broader market sentiment or investor caution rather than a direct reaction to the LG Energy announcement. Meanwhile, CATLTesla's Chinese battery suppliersaw its shares plunge 7.7% in Hong Kong, marking their steepest single-day decline since listing. Markets may be beginning to price in a longer-term pivot in Tesla's procurement strategy, one that increasingly favors U.S.-built components amid a more protectionist trade environment and softening energy segment performance. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
CTV News
5 hours ago
- Automotive
- CTV News
Tesla signs US$4.3 billion LGES battery deal, source says, reducing China reliance
An electric plug decal is seen on the back of a Tesla electric car in Trenton, N.J. (AP / Mel Evans) SEOUL — South Korea's LG Energy Solution (LGES) has signed a US$4.3 billion deal to supply Tesla with energy storage system batteries, said a person familiar with the matter, as the U.S. company looks to reduce reliance on Chinese imports due to tariffs. The lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries will be supplied from LGES's U.S. factory in Michigan, the person said on condition of anonymity because the details were not public. LGES announced earlier on Wednesday that it had signed a US$4.3 billion contract to supply LFP batteries over three years globally, without identifying the customer or saying if they would be used in vehicles or energy storage systems. The South Korean company said last week it would try to offset sluggish electric vehicle demand by increasing sales of storage batteries thanks to a global surge in demand for power driven by data centers to train artificial intelligence. 'In accordance with our agreement, we are unable to disclose the customer's identity due to confidentiality obligations,' LGES told Reuters. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tesla Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said in April that U.S. tariffs had an 'outsized' impact on its energy business, since it sources LFP batteries from China. 'We will also be working on securing additional supply chain from non-China-based suppliers, but it will take time,' he said. Tesla this week also announced a US$16.5 billion deal to buy chips from Samsung Electronics' factory in Texas as South Korean companies expand their U.S. presence to meet local demand. Three South Korean cabinet-level officials met U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Washington in a push to close a trade deal ahead of an August 1 deadline for 25 per cent tariffs on U.S. imports from South Korea to kick in, Seoul said on Wednesday. U.S. production LGES is one of the few U.S. producers of LFP batteries, a battery chemistry long dominated by Chinese rivals that have little presence in the U.S. market. It started production of LFP batteries at its Michigan factory in May. The company said it was considering converting some electric vehicle battery production lines in the United States to cater to energy storage systems in response to slowing EV demand. LGES said the contract would last from August 2027 to July 2030 and included an option to extend the deal period by up to seven years and to increase supply volumes depending on discussions with its customer. 'Other players, including South Korean firms like Samsung SDI and SK On, have yet to enter the U.S. LFP market, allowing LGES to enjoy a first-mover advantage,' said Cho Hyun-ryul, a senior analyst at Samsung Securities. 'While rivals have announced plans, LGES remains the only one actively producing at scale.' Tesla's energy storage and generation business accounts for just over ten per cent of its revenue but it has been a bright spot for the company as it struggles with slowing car sales and upcoming cuts to U.S. government support for EVs. 'Energy is growing really well despite headwinds from tariffs and various supply chain challenges,' Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on an earnings call last week. 'I think not that many people appreciate just how gigantic the scale of battery demand is.' Tesla has said its first LFP cell manufacturing facility will be online by the end of the year, but the in-house factory in Nevada will likely account for a small portion of its demand. --- Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Jamie Freed
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Australia Boosts Clean Energy Plan to Meet Lofty Renewables Goal
Australia will expand its flagship clean power program by a quarter to meet an ambitious target to more than double renewable energy generation by the end of the decade. The government's Capacity Investment Scheme, which guarantees project builders a minimum power price, will support another 3 gigawatts of renewable generation — enough to supply 1 million homes, Energy Minister Chris Bowen is due to announce later on Tuesday. It will also back 5 gigawatts of energy storage, which will support an additional A$21 billion ($14 billion) of investment.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why SES AI Stock Rocked the Market Today
Key Points The company announced a strategic acquisition. If all goes well, it will soon be the owner of energy storage systems purveyor UZ Energy. 10 stocks we like better than Ses Ai › A big-ticket acquisition, plus a reaffirmation of full-year revenue guidance, provided electric vehicle (EV) battery developer SES AI (NYSE: SES) with a pleasant share price lift on Monday. The company's stock zoomed more than 15% higher in value, making it quite the outlier on a trading day when the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) rose only marginally. More than 25 million reasons to pay attention to this stock SES AI announced before market open that it has signed a deal to fully acquire energy storage systems (ESS) provider UZ Energy for roughly $25.5 million. That price is subject to adjustments based on financial milestones that weren't disclosed. UZ Energy, which is privately held, specializes in the design and manufacture of ESS technology for both the commercial and industrial markets. SES AI said that the company has deployed more than 500 megawatt-hours of such storage in more than 60 countries, without a single incident. ESS solutions are used in data centers, more than a few of which are expanding their capabilities to handle the vastly increased resource needs of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. In its press release touting the deal, SES AI quoted its founder and CEO Qichao Hu as saying of the data center segment that "This acquisition of UZ Energy launches us into this exciting market, accelerates our revenue growth, and strengthens our Molecular Universe ability to deliver better ESS battery materials and health monitoring systems by providing real-world data to train our models." SES AI anticipates the acquisition will close later this calendar quarter. Annual top-line guidance maintained Separately, SES AI published its preliminary revenue figure. The company anticipates it will post a top-line number of $3.5 million for its second quarter, the official results of which are slated to be unveiled next Monday, Aug. 5 after market close. While that is quite some distance below the $4.3 million consensus of the three analysts following the company, according to data from Yahoo! Finance, management did hold fast to its existing full-year guidance of $15 million to $25 million for revenue in 2025. Should you buy stock in Ses Ai right now? Before you buy stock in Ses Ai, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Ses Ai wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 28, 2025 Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why SES AI Stock Rocked the Market Today was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Tesla Vet Ousted as Battery Startup Snaps Up $200M Deal from Bankrupt Rival
Lyten just raised $200 million to go shoppingand it's not wasting time. The California-based startup, known for its work on lithium-sulfur battery tech, is scooping up assets from bankrupt battery maker Northvolt AB. That includes a Polish energy storage factory built for around $200 million and a suite of Northvolt's intellectual property. The move signals a strategic shift for Lyten: from making next-gen battery cells for the U.S. EV market to owning more of the value chainand going aggressively after high-demand segments in Europe like grid storage and military drones. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Sign with MSFT. Behind the scenes, Lyten is doing more than just acquiring hardware. It's reorganizing fast. About 45 employees were let go last week, including Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) veteran Celina Mikolajczak, who helped steer Lyten's lithium-sulfur chemistry toward commercialization. While Norman, Lyten's sustainability chief, didn't disclose how much the Northvolt deal cost, he made one thing clear: Lyten is repositioning for hyper-growth in tightly defined geographies, chasing opportunities where other players are pulling back. Mikolajczak, for her part, called the tech breakthrough a major winone that defied expectations. The Gdansk plant will fire back up in Q4, initially using conventional nickel-based cells. But Lyten's longer-term bet is to convert it to its proprietary lithium-sulfur techcheaper to produce, free of China-dominated inputs, and positioned to compete with dominant Chinese lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells. This isn't Lyten's first move on the industrial chessboard: it previously acquired a lithium-metal facility in California from Cuberg. With backing from Prime Movers Lab, Stellantis, FedEx, and the Luxembourg Future Fund, Lyten is putting itself on the map not just as a tech innovatorbut as a serious operator in the battery supply chain. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
