Ceramic and glass business news of the week for March 21, 2022

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

Nuinsco identifies very high light rare earth element content in apatite mineralization

Nuinsco Resources Limited announced that mineralogical studies at its Prairie Lake Critical Minerals and phosphate project located near Terrace Bay, Ontario indicate that the Project has amongst the world’s highest known light rare earth element content in apatite.

Egyptian firm to build $38 million architectural glass factory

Egypt’s industrial group Delemar has announced that it is building an architectural glass factory at a cost of around 600 million Egyptian pounds ($38 million). The factory is being constructed over an area of 25,000 square meters near the capital Cairo and will have a production capacity of 50,000 square meters per month, to be more than doubled in 2023.

Şişecam expands its production footprint in Europe

Şişecam held the groundbreaking ceremony of its first European glass packaging facility in Kaposvar, Hungary. The new investment is worth EUR 255 million.

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

C-Therm partners with Rigaku in support of new thermal analysis product line in US

Rigaku, a leader in material characterization, announced a new collaboration with C-Therm Technologies Ltd. to bring Rigaku’s thermal analysis product line to the United States.

Stoelzle joins zero CO₂ glass research project

Glass container manufacturer Stoelzle has joined the ZeroCO2Glas project. The overall goal of the ZeroCO2Glas project is to use an all-encompassing approach to develop a revolutionary glass melting process in connection with a new type of CO₂-neutral and energy saving glass melting furnace.

OTHER STORIES

MPIF Guide to PM Microstructures website updated

The MPIF comprehensive website of powder metallurgy microstructures was recently updated to make the user experience more enjoyable. Several new materials were added including 300 and 400 series stainless steel alloys.

GE eyes offshore wind turbines with superconducting generator

General Electric is working with the U.S. Department of Energy on a superconducting generator that could boost the power rating of offshore wind turbines by 2–3 MW. DOE has provided $20.3 million in funding toward the research.

NSITEXE leads Quadric’s $21 million Series B funding round to enhance AI solutions

DENSO group company NSITEXE, Inc., a designer and developer of semiconductor components, has led Quadric’s $21 million Series B funding round. NSITEXE first invested in Quadric, an innovator in high-performance edge processing, in 2019 to support the startup’s development of edge processing units.

DOE announces $5 million to launch lithium-battery workforce initiative

The U.S. Department of Energy, along with Department of Labor and AFL-CIO, launched a national workforce development strategy for lithium-battery manufacturing. The $5 million investment includes supporting up to five pilot training programs in energy and automotive communities and advancing workforce partnerships between industry and labor.

MARKET TREND

How Russia’s war against Ukraine could make the chip shortage worse

For years, the neon used by semiconductor manufacturers to produce computer chips has mostly come from Ukraine. But faced with the devastating reality of war, Ukraine’s neon industry halted production. Currently, it is unclear whether chip companies have enough time to find and develop new sources of this gas before their backup supplies run out.