US battery tech company Coreshell Technologies has agreed an eight-year LFP supply deal with South Korea’s L&F Corporation in a move to offer a “fully China-free” nattery materials option.
Corsehell said on July 14 the cathode active materials supply agreement eliminates “the final risk” in the battery supply chain in terms of foreign entities of concern (FEOC) — giving defence suppliers, OEMs and energy storage customers a fully China-free option.
Coreshell, which develops high-performance batteries that replace graphite with domestically sourced metallurgical silicon, said the agreement marks a pivotal step in onshoring one of the most critical sourcing bottlenecks in the battery supply chain.
Coreshell said the deal gives it access to one of the largest non-Chinese sources of LFP, delivering a battery supply chain that is fully compliant with emerging US sourcing requirements.
“As US policy increasingly restricts battery materials sourced from FEOCs, manufacturers are facing growing pressure to build FEOC-free supply chains.
“Today, the overwhelming majority of LFP is produced in China, leaving battery manufacturers exposed to geopolitical disruption, changing trade policies, and volatile lead times.”
Coreshell said its proprietary nanomaterials enable metallurgical-grade silicon, sourced in the US, to perform reliably in lithium ion battery cells, eliminating the structural degradation that has historically limited metallurgical-grade silicon at scale.
Combined with L&F’s LFP cathode active materials, this is the only verified, full-cell compliant supply chain combination available at commercial scale, the company claimed.
“This agreement completes what we’ve been building toward — a battery manufactured in the US that’s fully free of Chinese minerals and components from anode to cathode, and that meets the highest compliance standards available,” said Jonathan Tan, CEO of Coreshell.
Batteries International reported analysis earlier in July that eight of the top 10 integrators worldwide are now headquartered in China as the country continues its dominance of the international battery storage market.
Energy data analytics firm Wood Mackenzie said non-FEOC sourcing requirements in the US will start at 55% of project costs in 2026, rising to 75% by 2030, a trajectory that will significantly constrain the ability of Chinese manufacturers to supply into the US market.
