LithiumBank Resources Corp. entered into a development agreement with a leading energy services and technology supplier to provide technical services required to bring the Alberta, Canada-based Boardwalk lithium brine project to commercial production in 2027.
The Catalonia Institute for Energy Research launched a new pilot line to manufacture 3D-printed solid oxide cells for the generation and use of renewable hydrogen. The Institute has already fabricated the first complete devices in this laboratory and is forging strategic collaborations with industry partners.
U.K.-based Octopus Energy is set to spin off its Kraken Technologies arm as a standalone company after selling a $1 billion stake in the artificial intelligence-based division to a group of investors led by New York-based D1 Capital Partners.
The U.S. Department of Defense is getting a 40% stake in a $7.4 billion mineral smelter to be built in Tennessee in partnership with Korea Zinc. The critical minerals smelting and processing facility could produce 540,000 tons of materials in the U.S. per year.
Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar says that Türkiye intends to seal an energy exploration agreement with Syria in 2026 to assess possible offshore energy resources along the Syrian coast.
Quintus Technologies signed a memorandum of understanding with Guangdong Lyric Robot Automation Co., Ltd. to develop integrated manufacturing solutions that combine Quintus’ isostatic press technology with Lyric’s advanced automation expertise for the rapidly advancing all-solid-state battery sector.
In March 2025, AGC Inc. and ORIX Corp. launched Japan’s first horizontal recycling scheme for window glass, marking a significant step in the nation’s circular economy efforts. AGC and ORIX plan to expand the scheme nationwide and see potential to apply this technology beyond window glass to products such as solar panels and automotive glass.
The Trump administration has invited a small group of climate contrarians to help write the next installment of the National Climate Assessment, the U.S.’s preeminent report on global warming. The move would advance efforts by the White House to inject widely disputed ideas about climate change into the federal government’s official appraisal of global warming.
Japan will conduct a month-long test to extract rare-earth-rich mud from the deep seabed near the remote Minamitorishima Island, marking a first-of-its-kind effort to continuously lift material from about 6,000 meters below the surface. The operation, led by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, will run from Jan. 11 to Feb. 14, 2026.
Reports from the semiconductor industry estimate that as early as this year, mass-produced semiconductor glass substrates made by Korean corporations could emerge. SKC and Samsung Electro-Mechanics are currently sending prototypes to customers and conducting tests.
A TechCrunch article overviews the fusion startups that have raised more than $100 million for their projects. Among them, Commonwealth Fusion Systems has raised about a third of all private capital invested in fusion companies to date.
