Sila raises $300M to expand US EV battery-material plant

Battery materials startup Sila announced Tuesday that it raised $300 million to expand its factory in Washington state, aiming to produce enough anode material for more than 100,000 EVs. The round was led by Atreides Management and Sutter Hill Ventures, with participation from several other venture firms; Sila has previously raised about $1.3 billion across earlier rounds, according to PitchBook.

The expansion arrives as U.S. electric vehicle demand has softened in the wake of the Trump administration’s efforts to hamstring the propulsion technology. Sales remain depressed in the U.S., down this year relative to 2025, when demand spiked ahead of the sunset of federal tax credits. Elsewhere, EVs are taking a bigger slice of the market: global sales are up 27% year over year, according to Benchmark Minerals Intelligence.

Most lithium-ion batteries today use graphite anodes, and Chinese companies control about three-quarters of that supply chain, according to Benchmark Minerals Intelligence — pushing automakers outside China to look for alternatives not subject to tariffs. Sila’s anode material is one of the few available in sufficient quantity, and it can store up to 40% more energy than traditional graphite anodes while charging faster. Sila has been developing the material for the last 15 years. Its founder and CEO, Gene Berdichevsky, previously worked at Tesla, where he was the seventh employee. Sila has previously announced deals to supply its anode material to Mercedes and Panasonic, and it sells to companies including Whoop, drone manufacturers, and satellite makers.

Sila began production at its Moses Lake, Washington, plant last September; the factory can currently make up to 2 gigawatt-hours of silicon-carbon anode material, and the new funding will let it scale to tens of gigawatt-hours per year — enough to power more than 100,000 EVs. Beyond EVs, the anode material also feeds a growing energy-storage market, as AI data centers become major buyers of grid-scale batteries that back up power and enable around-the-clock use of solar and wind.

Why it matters

A domestic alternative to Chinese graphite that clears the sufficient-quantity bar gives automakers a tariff-proof option just as EV demand splits between a shrinking U.S. market and accelerating growth elsewhere.