#lithiumbattery-industry

#lithiumbattery-industry

San Jose fire officials warned that lithium-ion batteries are highly toxic when ablaze due to 'highly irritating gases' like carbon monoxide.

Lithium-ion batteries are used in so many of the tech items we own today - phones, laptops, tablets, wireless headphones, e-bikes and scooters, cameras, portable chargers, and vapes. Every American household has roughly 40 lithium-ion batteries inside, according to the United Fire Authority.

On average, fuel prices are up almost a dollar per gallon, or 25 percent, according to AAA. For a nation as addicted to the automotive as we are, that's bad news. Except, of course, for electric vehicles.

China controls the overwhelming majority of global rare earth processing capacity, a figure that has remained structurally stable for nearly two decades despite sustained Western policy attention. The problem has never been geology. It's always been industrial chemistry at scale.

Demand for lithium is fueling a modern-day gold rush. The industries that define our modern world, like artifiial intelligence (AI), robotics, EVs, and energy, all depend on lithium, which is used to make batteries and other energy storage systems. Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella believes that the AI race will be won based on energy costs, not on who has the best models.That's why lithium demand is projected to grow a staggering 5X by 2040.

Helping, Deutsche Bank upgraded ALB to a buy rating with a $185 price target. Analysts at Baird also upgraded ALB to a buy with a price target of $210. "We are incrementally positive given the recent increase in lithium prices... and our view that demand strength stemming from stationary storage will continue to propel ALB higher," Baird analysts wrote, as noted by Seeking Alpha. Analysts at Truist also just upgraded ALB to a buy rating with a price target of $205.

Last year, the company's profit fell 45% compared with 2024, driven in large part by falling sales of its electric vehicles. Investors anticipated the decline in sales, but Tesla still beat Wall Street earnings and revenue estimates thanks to its energy storage business. Tesla deployed a record 46.7 gigawatt-hours of energy storage products in 2025, a 48% increase from last year, according to the company's official filings.

The Tesla CEO argued that too many companies are underestimating their exposure to geopolitical risks posed by fragile supply chains, particularly for critical materials used in electric vehicles and energy storage. "There are so many companies out there that are asleep at the switch with regard to geopolitical risk - or they just have their head in the sand and hope nothing bad will happen," Musk said. "I'm way more paranoid than that."