SAN JOSE, Calif. & WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Lyten, the supermaterial applications company and world leader in lithium-sulfur batteries, announced today that it has received multiple Letters of Interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) in support of a funding package of up to $650 million for the expansion of lithium-sulfur battery manufacturing in Silicon Valley, CA, and Reno, NV, and lithium-sulfur battery delivery to international customers.
EXIM is the official export credit agency of the U.S. Federal Government, whose mission is to support U.S. jobs by facilitating the export of American goods and services. One of the agency’s objectives includes strengthening America’s supply chains through its “Make More in America” initiative. Financing for Lyten would support EXIM’s mandate to accelerate U.S. competitiveness in Transformational Export Areas (TEAs) and EXIM’s commitment to deepen U.S. economic ties in the Caribbean. EXIM has current exposure to US$34 billion in lending across 148 countries around the world (2023 Annual Report). The default rate across the portfolio is 0.98%, reflecting the high standards of credit required to obtain EXIM financing.
Lyten recently announced the location of the world’s first lithium-sulfur battery gigafactory in Reno, Nevada. The facility is scheduled to come online in 2027 and reach 10 GW annually at full capacity. Additionally, in November, Lyten announced the acquisition of Northvolt’s battery manufacturing facility in San Leandro, California, which Lyten intends to ramp up for commercial sales in the second half of 2025.
Dan Cook, Lyten Co-Founder and CEO stated, “We are thrilled to work with EXIM as a financial partner to scale U.S. lithium-sulfur manufacturing to meet rapidly growing global customer demand. Lyten’s Lithium-Sulfur batteries are a U.S. innovation and rely on a U.S. materials supply chain. The San Leandro and Reno factories will make the U.S. the world’s leading manufacturer and exporter of lithium-sulfur batteries.”
Lyten’s Lithium-Sulfur battery cells have higher energy density and are up to 50% lighter weight than current lithium-ion batteries. Lyten’s cathode, anode, and cells are fully manufactured in the U.S. from abundantly available local materials, eliminating the need for mined minerals like nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite. Lyten’s use of low-cost, local materials makes Lyten lithium-sulfur a lower-cost and higher-performing battery than lithium-ion at scale.
EXIM and Lyten are working together to finalize the financing terms to support multiple Lyten customer MOUs to supply battery energy storage systems (BESS) to Trinidad and Tobago and other CARICOM nations from the recently acquired San Leandro facility. Lyten’s planned BESS solution utilizes the unique properties of Lithium-Sulfur to deliver superior temperature range performance, low self-discharge rate, and ultra-lightweight to support distributed BESS deployments in challenging geographies.
“Tropical regions make up 40% of the world’s population and are the fastest growing population base on the planet. The growing energy demand within these regions increasingly relies on solar power generation, but current lithium-ion battery technology to store that energy does not perform well in hot conditions, making efficient storage of that energy challenging. Lithium-Sulfur’s performance actually improves in hot conditions, making it a perfect solution for energy storage in the global south,” stated Celina Mikolajczak, Lyten’s Chief Battery Technology Officer.
Investors in Lyten include Stellantis, FedEx, Honeywell, Prime Movers Lab, the Walbridge Group, Luxembourg Future Fund, and the European Investment Fund. Lyten has an ongoing Joint Development Agreement with Stellantis. Earlier this year, Lyten announced it has partnered with leading defense manufacturer AEVEX Aerospace to demonstrate lithium-sulfur battery powered unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) that are fully compliant with the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Lyten also recently announced that its battery cells were selected for demonstration aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025 for use in a wide range of space applications.
About the Export-Import Bank of the United States
EXIM is the official export credit agency of the United States of America. EXIM is an independent Executive Branch agency with a mission of supporting American jobs by facilitating the export of U.S. goods and services.
As published in its 2023 Annual Report, EXIM had a current exposure of US$34.07 billion in lending across 148 countries around the world. The default rate across the portfolio is 0.98%, reflecting the high standards of credit required to obtain EXIM financing. Furthermore, EXIM’s charter requires that it supplement and encourage, not displace, private capital.
About Lyten
Lyten, founded in 2015, is a supermaterial applications company that has received more than $425 million in investment. Lyten’s proprietary processes permanently sequester carbon from methane in the form of 3D Graphene, and they utilize the tunable supermaterial to develop decarbonizing applications. Lyten is currently commercializing next-generation lithium-sulfur batteries for use in transportation, aerospace, space, consumer electronics, and energy storage markets; next-generation high strength, low carbon footprint composites; and next-generation sensors that significantly increase detection sensitivity and selectivity for use in environmental, automotive, industrial, health, and supply chain applications.
The company lists more than 500 patents granted or pending and is currently manufacturing Lyten 3D Graphene material, lithium-sulfur batteries, and other applications in San Jose, California. Lyten was awarded Fast Company’s #8 Most Innovative Energy Company and named one of America’s Top Green Technology Companies by Time, both in 2024.
