Industrial Vanguard Vol. 29

Introduction

This past week, Detroit played host to the inaugural ReIndustrialize conference—a gathering of entrepreneurs, investors, engineers, and corporate leaders working to reshape the industrial backbone of America. Conversations centered around the future of manufacturing, energy resilience, defense tech, and supply chain transformation. What stood out most was the optimism: despite global uncertainty, industrial innovation is alive and accelerating.

In this issue, we track $500M commitments to rare-earth magnets, surging venture funding in ammonia and photonics, and moves by the U.S. government and global corporates to secure critical minerals, build AI infrastructure, and retool legacy supply chains. As always, Industrial Vanguard highlights the signal amidst the noise.

Materials

• EnergyX acquires 35,000-acre lithium deposit in Arkansas to boost U.S. lithium leadership. Read more

• U.S. copper projects gain urgency as tariffs rise. Read more

• Gen Phoenix receives $15M boost from Tapestry for recycled leather. Read more

• Apple commits $500M for U.S.-sourced rare-earth magnets. Read more

• Minerals and critical data analysis from Axios. Read more

• Aura Materials raises $196.4M via U.S. public listing. Read more

Energy

• SP Global explores LMR battery chemistry as LFP alternative. Read more

• Trump headlines AI + Energy Summit in Pittsburgh. Read more

• Sumitomo invests in hydrogen startup Independence Hydrogen. Read more

• TeraWatt closes first tranche of Series C to scale lithium battery tech. Read more

• Amogy raises $80M for ammonia-powered ships and data centers. Read more

• Google inks major hydro power deal with Brookfield. Read more

• China imposes export restrictions on EV battery tech. Read more

• Axios recap: Top 5 takeaways from AI-Energy Summit. Read more

• Blackstone to invest $25B in AI data centers and energy. Read more

• Chariot Defense emerges as battlefield energy startup. Read more

Design & Development

• SpaceX commits $2B to Elon Musk’s xAI. Read more

• Foundation EGI raises $23M to launch engineering intelligence platform. Read more

• Google to invest $25B in AI and data centers in PJM grid. Read more

• Bifrost Electronics raises $2.5M seed. Read more

• Axios on whether AI boosts software developer productivity. Read more

• Colorado quantum hardware startup raises $2.5M. Read more

• IntuigenceAI creates agentic engineers, raises $10M. Read more

• Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab valued at $12B. Read more

• Q.ANT raises €62M for photonic computing. Read more

Manufacturing

• Canada, EU delay tariff retaliation. Read more

• 36ZERO Vision raises €3.6M for AI visual inspection. Read more

• AI-powered robots now carve statues; buildings next? Read more

• Firestorm drone-printer raises $47M. Read more

• Hadrian raises $260M for defense manufacturing automation. Read more

Supply Chain & Logistics

• Earth’s crust may enable better airplane navigation. Read more

Recycling

• Gen Phoenix closes $15M round, inks 3-year supply deal. Read more

Venture Capital & Private Equity

• PE deal volume ($1B+) begins ticking up again. Read more

• Decile Group raises $14M seed round. Read more

• Trump Executive Order to expand private market access via 401(k)s. Read more

Markets, Policy & News

• Industry leaders praise Trump’s tax cuts. Read more

• Can Pittsburgh’s steel mills become the next AI hub? Read more

• Axios: Bright spots remain for clean tech investors. Read more

• Nvidia wins approval to sell AI chips to China. Read more

• Trump shifts tariffs again to reset global trade terms. Read more

• Trump touts AI hub investments in Pennsylvania. Read more

Closing

Thank you for reading Industrial Vanguard — where we track the weekly pulse of innovation across materials, energy, manufacturing, supply chain, recycling, and policy.

If you enjoyed this edition, consider forwarding it to a colleague or friend. Let’s build the future of industry, together.

Until next week, The Industrial Vanguard Team