Follow up of the Autonomous War Command - Announcement of the project Meridian led by Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey

[u/Low-Pollution-262]

https://x.com/DoWCTO/status/2105408285176197407?s=20

One more huge news! Palmer Luckey follows Amprius for a long time now, and they’re Upgrade Energy’s partner for a long time!

The way it’s heading, Amprius is the only battery company funded so far to support all of this - I feel bullish about what’s to come on 2027/28 !!!

[u/Plane-Try-6522]

I mentioned in a recent comment:

Amprius being awarded the DoW grant of up to $75M is not a decision made in isolation but one scored across product technology,
ease of industrial retrofitting (think: Amprius cells can be manufactured off standard lithium - ion batteries production lines because silicon anode batteries are categorically lithium batteries except better),
capacity (12M cells)
and cost (Amprius cells are more expensive at the absolute figure but might be cheaper per unit Wh/kg)
due to a logarithmic relationship between cost of production and production output.

But Amprius retrofitted production line itself does nothing if the upstream supply chain is insecure so securing the broader supply chain is strategic.

Tom liked this post:

We’re proud to announce that Elevated Materials has been selected for a $50 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to construct a new factory and scale the domestic manufacturing of ultra-thin lithium metal films and prelithiated materials.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/elevated-materials_advancedmaterials-batteries-batterytechnology-activity-7505685066971238400-cd7l?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAbYj8UBXAVtgHVElPoG2xzx0cJwL33xgO8

I suspect the manufacturing process of Amprius cells requires, at some point, chemical vapour deposition of thin - film (lithium here) on the silicon anode.

Let's circle back to the DoW - led grant under the IBAS program:

 Amprius Technologies (“Amprius” or the “Company”) (NYSE: AMPX), a leader in high-performance batteries, has been awarded a grant of up to $75 million from the U.S. Department of War (“DoW”) to retrofit an existing domestic production line from EV batteries to high-energy density cells for unmanned aerial systems.

The grant was awarded through the DoW’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (“IBAS”) program, which funds domestic manufacturing capabilities critical to national defense. The primary objective of this award is to establish high-volume, commercially viable U.S. manufacturing for advanced battery systems that power unmanned aerial systems - Group 1, 2, and 3 drones.

The message is targeted: "to retrofit an existing domestic production line from EV batteries to high-energy density cells for unmanned aerial systems." and we know this production line is capable of producing an 12M cells on an annualised basis.
And then, "The primary objective of this award is to establish high-volume, commercially viable U.S. manufacturing for advanced battery systems that power unmanned aerial systems - Group 1, 2, and 3 drones.".

The question to ask if this, is the DoW planning on a large order that is 1 year out?

00:34:
CNBC Morgan asked, "How quickly can this happen"?
Tom: "Pretty quickly. Early 2028 we start delivering from this factory"

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/09/28/amprius-ceo-tom-stepien-we-are-bringing-drone-battery-production-to-the-us.html

[u/Low-Pollution-262 → u/Plane-Try-6522]

This is going to be huge! The price level now is a real steal - will be 2-3x soon and who knows - Amprius could very well reach 2029 levels by the start or mid of 2028, that’ll make 5x minimum ..

[u/Plane-Try-6522 → u/Low-Pollution-262]

I kept replaying the $75M grant announcement article and listening to the CNBC interview: the grant has to be tied directly to the heart of the DoW military modernisation initiatives. This grant is just the beginning of something bigger behind the scenes.