The US government has signed nearly $2 billion in deals looking to strengthen the US’s supply chain security for critical minerals and technologies. The capital takes multiple forms from equity loans to direct investments. The largest is a $1.4 billion conditional loan to Sila Nanotechnologies, a US-based silicon anode company. The company currently operates a facility in Moses Lake, Washington with plans for a second phase of production towards the end of the decade. This latest round of funding builds on the plethora of investments the US has made in the battery and critical mineral space over the course of Donald Trump’s second presidency such as investing in MP Materials’ rare earths project and Ivanhoe Electric’s Santa Cruz copper project. “While the Trump Administration continues to invest in critical minerals, know-how, and strategic technologies to build a mine-to-magnet supply chain, these recent investment announcements also reflect the US ambition to build a next-generation mine-to-battery supply chain to reduce its dependence on China,” said Bryan Bille, Benchmark’s policy and geopolitics principal.

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, specialising in EV and battery supply chain research and insights, reports that 1.85 million electric vehicles (EVs) were sold globally in July 2026, bringing year-to-date (YTD) 2026 EV sales to 11.5 million. In July 2026, EV sales increased by 9% year-on-year (y-o-y). 

The worst winter storm in Argentina’s Puna region for years has cut land access to one of the country’s largest brine lithium salars, Hombre Muerto, from 19–27 July, where the road opened only for 4x4 vehicles. While the disruption in raw lithium tonnage is likely to be negligible, the situation is likely to encourage changes to permit conditions and greater requirements for operators to contribute to road maintenance. Satellite imagery shows up to two metres of snow on the roads into Hombre Muerto. Several Rio Tinto and Zijin employees and contractors were brought out after being stranded, four of them isolated for more than three days. Galan's camp, wellfield roads and evaporation ponds at Hombre Muerto West under a metre of snow. Rio Tinto suspended operations at both Fenix and Sal de Vida preventively.

BMI's latest lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide and spodumene data shows where price risk is concentrated across the next 12 months, and what that means for procurement, offtake and hedging decisions.