Trade, geopolitics, and growth are shaping the US battery market

Andy Miller, chief executive of Benchmark, opened Giga US 2026 in Washington, DC by outlining a rapidly evolving energy security landscape in the US, shaped by trade policy, geopolitics, and rising demand from emerging markets such as data centres.

“Central to all of that and what's really become the bedrock in the question of how we reach true energy security, I believe, is the ability and the efficiency to store that energy,” Miller said. “All roads lead back to batteries.”

Batteries are central to energy security

Miller emphasised that batteries are now central to energy security, with demand extending beyond electric vehicles (EVs) into stationary storage, defence, and emerging applications such as robotics. “Energy security now very much does mean energy storage and the ability to store energy,” he said.

For much of the past decade, the automotive industry was the key driver for the US’ electrification push. While the pace of full electrification in the US automotive sector has slowed, Miller noted that underlying battery demand remains intact but is becoming more diversified.

“There's no doubting that the shape of that pathway to electrification has absolutely changed over the past couple of years,” he said, noting that rapid expansion in stationary storage is reshaping demand.

“In Q1 26 alone the US installed almost 10GWh of stationary storage battery capacity,” Miller said, adding that a single grid-scale project can represent “the equivalent of tens of thousands of electric vehicles”.

Watch Andy Miller's opening keynote here.

The US battery supply chain is retooling

This shift from EV-dominant to more diversified demand presents both an opportunity and a challenge. Miller highlighted the need to retool a battery supply chain originally built to serve EV demand, in order to support a broader range of applications.

“How we retool that in the medium term to feed these new emerging markets and applications is going to be central to the future competitiveness of not just the automotive industry here in the US but a number of major emerging markets as well,” he said.

Despite market uncertainty, US battery manufacturing ambitions continue to expand. Planned capacity by 2030 has increased by 30% compared with three years ago. However, Miller warned that upstream supply chains remain a key constraint.

At a global level, supply and demand growth for key battery inputs appears broadly aligned, but this balance breaks down regionally. “We are in a significant deficit on the pathway we're on today to meeting the demand needs of North America,” Miller said.

He concluded that coordinated action across industry and policymakers will be critical to building a resilient domestic battery supply chain and advancing US energy security.

“That's why we're here today,” Miller said. “And that's why we're delighted to have such a great cross section of the industry and stakeholders and policymakers with us here today.”

Benchmark hosts a wide range of events throughout the year, dedicated to the full mine-to-gride supply chains that are key to the energy transition. To find out more visit our Events page or fill out the form below and one of the team will be in touch.