Coreshell Technologies has signed an eight-year supply agreement with South Korea’s L&F Co., Ltd. to source lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode active material outside China, strengthening the resilience of its battery supply chain.
The agreement addresses what Coreshell describes as one of the battery industry’s most expensive and performance-critical components. Cathode active material plays a major role in determining a lithium-ion battery’s energy density, cycle life, safety and overall cost, yet it has remained one of the least resilient parts of the global supply chain.
Combined with the company’s existing partnership with Ferroglobe for metallurgical silicon anodes, Coreshell says it is now the only battery manufacturer to have established a scalable supply chain outside Chinese dominance for both the cathode and anode. The result is a battery free from materials sourced from U.S. Foreign Entities of Concern (FEOC), with a supply chain that can be traced from raw materials through to finished cells.
L&F, one of the world’s largest producers of LFP cathode active materials, manufactures at commercial scale in South Korea without relying on China. Together with Coreshell’s US-sourced silicon anode, the agreement provides customers with access to batteries that meet current U.S. FEOC sourcing requirements.
The company said the duration of the agreement is particularly important for defence, electric vehicle and battery energy storage system (BESS) programmes, which often require several years to qualify and launch. An eight-year supply arrangement is intended to provide long-term confidence that critical materials will remain available throughout the life of major projects.
Coreshell also highlighted the growing importance of FEOC compliance. Under the US National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), defence systems are required to be free of FEOC-sourced materials by 2027. As South Korea is not classified as a Foreign Entity of Concern under US policy, L&F’s cathode materials already satisfy current NDAA, OBBB and US Department of War sourcing standards, supporting battery manufacturers serving defence, EV and energy storage markets.
Image: Coreshell”s FEOC-free battery
