Industrial Vanguard Vol. 23

Introduction

Last week’s Society of Automotive Analysts Road Ahead event at Forvia underscored a growing tension: China’s dominance in critical materials and next-gen manufacturing poses an existential threat to Western industrial competitiveness (Forbes summary). That theme echoes across this week's news—magnets, aluminum, semiconductors, and batteries are all in the crosshairs.

Simultaneously, clean energy investments are soaring, but U.S. industrial policy whiplash is adding uncertainty. The AI wave continues to reshape operations, design, and venture capital. And in logistics, robotics and transparency tools are tackling new layers of supply chain complexity.

Materials

• $100M Critical Minerals Deal: Terra Metals, Metalex, and Lunda Resources drive copper-cobalt investment. Read more

• Trump Backs US Steel-Nippon Deal: Despite rising protectionism. Read more

• Space Forge Raises $30M: Making advanced chip materials in space. Read more

• Rare Earth Magnet Crisis: U.S. dependence on China triggers shortages. NYT | Axios

• Steel, Aluminum Tariffs to 50%: Trump expands trade barriers. Read more

• Clarios $1B Recycling Plant: Strengthens U.S. critical mineral supply. Read more

• New U.S. Aluminum Plant?: UAE’s EGA eyes Oklahoma smelter. Read more

• Automakers Scramble for Magnets: Global sourcing reshuffles. Read more

Energy

• First U.S. LFP Battery Plants: LG, Samsung SDI, GM partnership. Read more

• Fast Data Center Power: Ex-Microsoft, BP execs launch venture. Read more

• TAE Fusion Raises $150M: Google-backed energy tech scales up. Read more

• Heron Power Raises $38M: Targeting grid hardware bottlenecks. Read more

• GOP Support for Renewables Fades: Political shifts. Read more

• Data Centers Strain Emissions Goals. Read more

• Global Clean Energy Investment Soars: Now 2x fossil fuels. Read more

Design & Development

• Perplexity’s AI Generates Dashboards. Read more

• Encharge AI Accelerator Released. Read more

• Literal Labs Raises £4.6M: Building faster, greener AI models. Read more

• Ciroos.AI Raises $21M: Agentic AI for ops teams. Read more

Manufacturing

• $3.7B Clean Energy Funding Clawback. Read more

• Anduril Raises $2.5B: Defense-tech leader hits $30.5B valuation. Read more

• GlobalFoundries Commits $16B: Expanding U.S. chip capacity. Read more

Supply Chain & Logistics

• Rivr’s Dog-like Robots Tackle Last 100 Yards. Read more

• LuminX Raises $5.5M: Warehouse AI startup grows. Read more

• Treefera Raises $30M: First-mile transparency for supply chains. Read more

Recycling

• OnePlanet Plans $90M Solar Recycling Facility. Read more

• Refiberd Wins Textile Recycling Award. Read more

Venture Capital & Private Equity

• Liquidity Crunch Driving M&A Surge.

• PE’s Wealth Focused Makeover. Read more

• Global Private Market Fundraising Report.

• North America Leads AI VC Investments. Read more

Markets & Policy

• Quebec Approves Sale of Lion Electric. Read more

• China Retaliates on Tariff Claims. Read more

• GM’s Mary Barra Stands Firm. Read more

• China Monitors Used Car Market. Read more

• Europe Falling Behind in Global Tech. Read more

• U.S. Efforts to Hobble China Tech Stalled. Read more

• Trump’s Student Visa Crackdown Threatens Innovation. Read more

• China Poses ‘Existential Threat,’ Exec Says. Read more